Easy peasy approaches to caravan site
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Jenny,
If it will help, I can give you a good list of easy acces sites in Wiltshire/Gloucestershire that you can try.
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I do check Google Earth before going to a new site. It not only helps to see what access is like but helps you find reference points so you know when you are there.
You might however find that with a bit of experience you will become more confident tackling narrower roads.
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While courses are often far away, expensive, and fully booked I am sure there will be members of our Club who would be willing to give you a couple of hours of their time to cover basic stuff and let you have more confidence to get started.
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I wish Nicky would come back and clarify the situation regarding the route planner and the points we made earlier in this thread about it not being LV friendly. It is quite important to know whether it can now be considered safe to follow or not.
Perhaps somebody will report my post, please, so it gets brought to the attention of the staff.
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I suggest to take your caravan out where you live and practice on the Main Roads where you live including roundabouts and junctions and when you have more confidence go a little further but remember take your time and don't get bullied by other traffic.
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Cheers, B2.
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Hello everyone,
I am sorry that I have not been on the forum for a while. I have just been alerted that you were all asking for and rightfully needing,clarification.
Having worked here for six years, I was always under the impression that the Route Planner was friendly for towing but it seems I may have been misinformed.
I have emailed the relevant department and as soon as I have a definitive answer for you, I promise I will come back.
Thanks for your patience. I hope you all have a lovely evening.
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The screen grab (attached) just taken of the club planner clearly shows a disclaimer about routes and suitability for caravans. Would you really want to send a novice up the Pass of the Cattle?
My advice to the OP is use a map, use gps as an aid, but dont reley on it. Yup google earth is a very useful tool. Don't forget, the people who will really know, will be the site owners/wardens. Phone them and ask. Compare what the say with what you see on street view/google earth.
Never feel pressured into doing something that you don't feel confident in. You can stop at any time of your choosing.
Enjoy your caravan. You'll soon get into the swing of it.
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Jenny Hi, all the points on here given by experienced tuggers are very valid but I have found a lorry sat nav very useful as you can put in your outfit weight and length and it will not direct you down narrow lanes or roads and helps with planning as you can project the route ahead of your journey and have another view apart from Google Earth....All adds to more confidence,,, good luck , relax and enjoy......Sg2.
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Thanks for responding, Nicky.
It certainly looks as if you've been under a misapprehension regarding the route planner as I doubt anything has changed to make it either LV friendly, or to enable it to show the club's recommended routes, but I'd be delighted to be proved wrong.
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Hello Jenny and everyone,
Thank you for waiting for a response, which I have for you now.
JohnDH is correct with regard to the disclaimer attached to the route planner:
Routes provided may include roads unsuitable for vehicles towing trailers or caravans. There may also be specific weight, width or height restrictions.
For caravan-friendly local directions, please use the directions on the relevant Club Site or Certificated Location site details page or refer to your Sites Directory for the final approach.
I am so sorry that the route planner is not currently "caravan-friendly" and we do understand that it makes sense that we implement this feature. It is on our list of things to improve.
Due to other projects going on at the moment, it is not something we will be doing any time soon but it is something we plan to do in the future.
The Avtex Garmin Sat Nav on the Member offers page will have "caravan-friendly" routes and it is very clever in that, Members input the outfit dimensions, so it takes that into account when routing.
Unfortunately, this has proved very popular so it is currently sold out but the supplier, Capital Outdoors, are expecting more stock very soon.
Just a reminder that if the approach is not suitable for towing, it will clearly state that on the site information page of the Sites Directory.
For instance, under Knaresborough (page 195), it states, care required for larger outfits through Knaresborough.
Thanks again to all of you for your patience in this matter. Have a lovely day. I believe Spring has sprung here!
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Hi Nicky,
Here's a thought! I, like I'm sure, many others probably do these days, tend to use Google maps on my phone as the 'sat nav'. What about the Club developing an App for Android and Iphone which works like the Avtex Garmin, and somehow overlays Google maps already available? My guess is that someone will do it at some stage. I'd certainly be interested.
David
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The Avtex Garmin Sat Nav on the Member offers page will have "caravan-friendly" routes and it is very clever in that, Members input the outfit dimensions, so it takes that into account when routing.
I may be wrong but I thought that one problem is that the mapping information available does not have detailed road widths and that such software no matter how good was likely to produce results that were therefore unreliable anyway.
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Any of these devices are only as good as the programming. A few years ago we were going to Durness in the far north west of Scotland. The Sat Nav refused to give a route, and kept putting up a box stating there was none available.
A little bit of messing about showed there were a few small sections of road that had not been digitised. So as there were no alternative roads in that part of Scotland, as far as the Sat Nav was concerned you could not go there. Once we passed the missing sections it was quite happy to carry on.
If a section of road had the wrong width input or not input at all, even a more fancy Sat Nav like the Avtex could lead you up an unsuitable road. I would always review the route when towing, no matter how good the device is supposed to be.
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Tis lucky there's only one major road goes to Durness, then.
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The recommended satnav is nearly £300 which is a major disadvantage compared to google maps for me.
My satnav cost less than a tenth of that and I can programme it with the height and length of vehicle so it avoids unsuitable routes
I still use the directions on the site page because they are 'free'.
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Yes. I agree about towing courses being good. My hubby did that before we bought but as we are inexperienced we aren't confident yet so looking for easy routes into sites to practice and improve our judgement and skills
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We are going away every other weekend and throughout August. Last time was Wells and next is near Sand Bay then to Lea near Preston in Lancashire. August will be in Devon and Cornwall. It is all very exciting and when we are close by we go and have a drive through the route. We cancelled our first trip to Chew Valley as they route was too difficult for complete newbies
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Yep hubby has done the manoeuvring course and we have a motor mover thank goodness. Thank you for your encouragement
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I find your remarks rather strange.
why are you answering this section with such a negative tone?
my husband and I have driven minibuses for 35 years, we both have towed a trailer for many years, my husband has been on the manoeuvring course where he was complimented on his skills and confidence.
our favourite campsite is Cloud Farm in Devon but we would not be so arrogant or over confident to attempt that. Arrogance on that approach would be an accident waiting to happen. We have seen a couple of caravan getting themselves in trouble there even experienced people
It has been our many years of visiting wonderful campsites out in the sticks that makes me ask is there a book which tells us about approaches
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This is my understanding too. The satnav software is only able to react to programed information such as statutory width or speed restrictions and possibly gradients.
As I've posted before I use the caravan version of CoPilot on a tablet that picks up on this sort of information but it also tells me that some sites are inaccessible due to width restrictions on the roads leading to caravan sites. So, as others have said I check the approach routes on Google Earth and discard those with single track access unless it's short. In fact I'm on one now where the access off a main road is single track for a 1/4 mile without passing places but I could see most of the route from the main road.
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Yes we have had the training and are confident drivers
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Wow. That will be absolutely brilliant. Thank you very much
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so if you have the correct car licence you can buy a caravan set off without any knowledge or training and get yourself into a load of danger I find that strange ,just for the record I have been a lorry driver for 30 yrs and I trained to do my job my point is if you lack the ability and confidence get training before setting out
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