Afraid of Snakes
Anyone who has been out and about this last week towing a caravan will, I suspect, have a story to tell about gales and how difficult/scary/hairy* (please delete as applicable) it was driving and managing to steer. I had a long tow to do from Strathclyde Country Park Club Site, just south of Glasgow, to The Firs Club Site, near Belper in Derbyshire. I figured it would take me about five hours, six at the most. Wrong! Leaving Strathclyde Country Park and getting underway is very simple as it’s adjacent to the M74 and so you’re on your way immediately. I’d filled up with a tank of diesel the night before so thought I’d only need one break for coffee and a snack en route - wrong again! My Bailey 430-4, although a 4 berth van with fixed bed (ideal for me as I’m living in it while on tour!) is lightweight enough to be towed easily by my SEAT Altea but it needed all the turbo power of the engine to pull the van up slopes on the motorway and it for much of the first couple of hours I barely managed to get above 50mph. So far on this caravanning adventure of mine, after I’ve steeled myself for packing, checking and hitching and exiting, the towing/travelling part has been relatively smooth and relaxing. Not this trip. I found I had to have my wits about me every second as the caravan was being pushed left and right by the wind. The Alko hitch is very secure and up until this journey the Orion has just felt like it’s part of the car, but I guess every system has a straining point! This was to be it for me.
I’ve noticed that caravanners love to tell scary stories to newbies like me. I’ve been told of the horrors of the people who drove off with the stays still down, gouging channels out of the roadway; I’ve been told of the departing caravan, towed by caravanners of 30 years experience, whose hitch came off the towbar and then crashed and wrote-off the caravan; but mostly I’ve been told about the horrors of the “snake” and asked if I’d experienced one “yet”. I’m not particularly keen on live snakes, but I was definitely not looking forward to encountering the caravan-towing variety. I didn’t like the idea of this “yet” either, making it sound inevitable somehow, and thought “hey, if I’m careful driving, which I am, this shouldn’t happen” - but I hadn’t bargained on a high wind.
I reckon in the Southern Uplands on the A74(M) last Sunday there were gusts of up to 70 mph, so the effect of a large vehicle passing, such as a coach, made the resulting vacuum effect even worse and on one downward slope I realised I was involved in the dreaded “snake”. I looked into the mirrors and yes, the van was moving from side to side behind me and I could really feel the tension through the steering wheel. The thing is: you’ve only seconds to react and so, in a blur, my thoughts were something like “what is it you’re supposed to do when this happens? Or rather, what is it you’re NOT supposed to do?” I knew I’d read about it in a couple of manuals before I started caravanning, but reading’s one thing, there’s nothing like hard experience. So I decelerated, didn’t use the brakes and didn’t steer hard, just kept contact with the steering wheel and......everything calmed down and the snake....disappeared! Later that day I looked it up in the manual and it more or less said to do the same thing I did....so I’m relieved I came through another test.
Four days later and the winds are still high and the Orion is being buffeted again - but it’s pitched firmly on a lovely level hardstanding here at the The Firs and despite the wildness of the weather I cam witness evidence of Spring in the hedges as the leaves begin to push out. Oh to warmer days when I can finally sit outside in the countryside!
Next week to a CL near Bracknell and then the Caravan Club’s Gatwick site. More news later!
www.birdsongthetour.com
