Club Tours(sic) that actually involving touring
Having just spent a short while looking at the Club’s “European Tours” pages on the website I have been unable to find any “Tours”(sic) that actually involve “touring”. The more than a dozen I looked at were all based at one campsite only. None involved moving from place to place i.e. touring.
When we camped in tents, trailer tents and caravans we often used the “spokes of a wheel” method of exploring an area. That is we found a central campsite and used foot, bikes or vehicles to explore. The biggest change that we and many others who move to motorhomes make is the way we usually camp. We are now much more likely to move little and often to explore an area.
With the clubs aim to better reflect and meet the needs of its varied membership do you think it now more likely that the club will plan “tours” that involve touring or was the change of name simply a paper exercise? In the meantime it might help if the holidays were at least accurately advertised, perhaps “European Explorations” or “European Experiences.”
Any thoughts?
Carl
Comments
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I believe the Club calls itself a "touring" club which is a bit strange since throughout most of the summer and weekends in the Spring and Autumn it would be extremely unwise to arrive at a Club site at 5 pm when "touring" and expect to find a pitch without having booked. Unfortunately, that generally reflects the UK in general. Sites, including commercial sites, are heavily booked at peak season. One reason is that the weather is usually rubbish outside of the summer.
I think the overseas "Tours" pretty much reflect the UK sites i.e. pre-book and stay at one place. That's fine if you lack any sense of adventure or maybe it's your first time overseas. If is also fair to say that if you want to go, say, to a popular Mediterranean site in July/August you would be advised to book.
Its a great shame really because it's so much fun just to go as you please. With caravan and two children we used to book Dover/Calais in August with only a vague idea of where we were heading. Never booked, rarely was a site full and we had great and memorable times.
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That is where over the channel it is/was easy to tour because of the thousands of sites, a lot that only were are/were open for a few weeks during the summer peak, or that's what we found, before our age and condition kept us on "staycations"
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I think your points Hitchglitch are really well made. We've been touring Europe for about 40 years, for a month or two at time in recent years and apart from the rare occasion when we headed for “honey pots” in August with the children we have booked less than a handful of sites. One was when we joined a Caravan Club “tour” of the Christmas Markets based then as now at Valkenberg. We had wandered German Christmas markets on our own for a few years previously and decided that it might be quite sociable to join the CC “tour” for a few days during our own actual tour. Our fellow members were very sociable but the “tour” was not great.
I really regret that the club's “European Tours” give a very false view of what it is really like out there and the adventure that awaits campers. As a very long term member of both the CCC and CC/CMC it is very noticeable that the CCC tours involve actual touring.
Carl
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I would agree with Carl and Hitchglitch, from some experience, having once acted as Tour Hosts on a Caravan Club tour. This one was for First-Timers, and as he points out gave very little indication of the freedom that touring in Europe offers. We did do a 'chat' to our group about the fact that there really was no need to book, that you could do everything yourself, and that staying on one site for the duration of your holiday wasn't what most people who 'camp' (for want of a better description for staying on campsites in your own accommodation) in Europe do.
Of our group at least two booked a second Caravan Club 'Tour' but one couple did take up the invitation to do things themselves, and I believe intended to do a long tour of Europe. I hope that many of the others went on to actually 'tour' because I believe that is what is best about European holidays - that total freedom to go where you want when you want.
I think the campsites the Caravan Club offer are also not truly reflective of what is available in Europe, being mostly the more 'commercial' larger sites. A true tour could include stays at the local municipal in a variety of places, or some Camping A La Ferme to make sure that the impression of European sites isn't all 'all-singing, all-dancing' sites with pools, bars and entertainment.
Not only that, but the Caravan Club could do a great deal to encouraging those who want to travel to Europe to just try it, on their own if necessary without the support of the Club and particularly in low season when it is quiet, cheap, and yet still has good weather.
We are currently on a lovely site in the Ardeche, where (over the Easter Weekend) there are just seven occupied pitches out of sixty-odd potential spaces. They could be filled with families, enjoying what they're not able to find in Great Britain - a holiday with their children at peak time on a site with good quality heated sanitary facilities including three bathrooms especially for children, a heated pool (26 degrees and open), a small bar (open) a small shop (open), bread order each morning, and a river alongside the site. And at the moment available to all for 14 euros per night, with an additional 4 euros for each child over 7. Not only that but you can stay 14 nights for the price of 12. I am sitting on my pitch, with our free Wifi typing this with warm sunshine overhead (and it's been like this all week).
I was going to add a post, somewhere, perhaps in the Chat section or UK Sites, a post trying to encourage others to visit in low season and including photos of all the facilities here, the pool, the showers and toilets, the views, the pitches and so on.
When our children were small low-season holidays were the only way we could afford to holiday in Europe. It still is affordable as low season (certainly in France) doesn't include Easter and Spring Bank Holidays. Even adding in the cost of the ferries and getting here, it would probably cost not much more than a two week holiday on a Caravan Club site at similar times.
I put all these points to Hazel when she worked in the Overseas Tours section, and she personally agreed with a lot of them, but sadly it appears (as always) that decisions about these things are made on a commercial basis rather than for the encouragement and good of the members of the Club.
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I think though, that some people just like to be 'organised' by someone.
We recently came back from Madeira, where we traveled all over on the local buses. Others made a bee line for the hotel booking service to book 'excursions', so that they could be picked up at the hotel and dropped off again afterwards, without having to think about which bus, where to catch it, what time it might come etc.
So often we would arrive at a place, having paid one or two euros for a ticket, and see mini buses arrive at the same place with people who had paid maybe 20 - 25 euros.
You pays your money and you takes your choice, I guess.
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I think it's worth reminding ourselves that the club is actually owned by the members. So any profit made by this sort of enterprise actually flows back into the club and indirectly benefits us all.
I'm quite happy to let other people "enjoy" this kind of activity; for my part I enjoy the reduced ferry fares, publications like Caravan Europe and CLs / CC sites in the UK.
The CC is a huge organisation and can cater for a wide range of requirements, many of which I wouldn't touch with the proverbial.
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I think the Club's European Tours are there to encourage or give courage to those members who are a bit nervous about venturing abroad on their own. It's the way we started in 1987. However that was the first and last time we did it but it did give us the push we needed to strike out on our own, first with friends and then on our own. I don't think the Club is as daft as some people make it out to be. It knows full well that there is a large group of members that want that sort of comfort and they seem to be willing to pay for that so they provide the service. I think what puzzles me about the OP's post is that he is obviously a very experienced tourer abroad and why would he need something organised? If the sole purpose is tour with a group there are lots of other opportunities outside the Club, and no doubt cheaper, to do this. We were once on a site in the Italian Lakes and the site was about 25% full. One evening about thirty UK motorhomes arrived on a GB Privilege tour, and it was a tour. The main complaint from those we spoke to was that they didn't spend long enough in one place!!!
David
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Is there a gulf opening up?
There are those with motorhomes who do tour independently far and wide in Europe, but have a range of places to stay which are more conveniently located for them than many traditional rural campsites - which are as empty as Val has described.
And there are those with caravans - the modern ones ever bigger and bigger and not suited to touring in out of the way places - they really do like the sort of 4*/5* campsites which the Club advertises, especially if there are fully serviced pitches. So they like to stay at a destination site instead of touring, and they too don't go to the sort of campsites Val has described either.
And my daughter and husband could only snatch four days off work and took the five year old to Center Parc in Suffolk.
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The best way to tour in Europe is to do just that. We have never bothered to book anywhere to stay. In our motorhome days we invested in All the Aires and did a fair bit of unplanned wandering discovering some real gems. In fact it was a matter of do we turn left, right of go straight on from the ferry.
Now with our caravan the route is planned (sort of) via the ACSI campsites and we do not bother to travel between mid July and mid August. Never had a problem getting a pitch.
We have looked at the Club "Tours" but to be honest the costs are a bit of a joke when compared against a month away touring.
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Try looking at the 'other club' . They have some great real tours. I know I went on the Itsly / Sicily one.
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Generalisation are easy to make and difficult to substantiate. We have a caravan and are away at the moment. We had a limited amount of time and have been upto the Baltic and are now on our way back through Holland and stay on 4 sites. Last year we toured Germany, Austria, Italy, Holland, Czech Republic and stayed on something like 13 different sites and none of them 2/3/4 or 5 star. I will admit that we haven't seen another UK registered vehicle since leaving the Hook of Holland.
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So do we Ian, but we hardly ever see other Club members doing that. Meanwhile the big 4*/5* sites are fully booked for the summer already. Go there, stay there, come back, is very popular.
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We are off in 10 days time and back the middle of July, only one site booked and that is 'Granspette' outward for two days to decide where next and 'Ganspette' again for our return as it gets a bit busy for just turning up in July, and we have our dog to arrange the vet visit.
In between we have a rough idea regarding direction and countries but no fixed dates, weather and location will dictate how frequently we will move on plus most will be ACSI sites of various ratings. Must admit to not being ones that put down roots for a long stay on any one site, there would have to be a lot of nearby interest to keep us there for over a week.
I have never fancied the idea of a Club organised 'tour' but accept there must be a customer base for this and why not.
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Caravan club European tours are good for the first timers we used it back in 1990 for our first trip to France and enjoyed it and learnt a lot, the following year returned on our own steam for half the price, when the kids were young we used so called 4/5 star sites due to them having all the facilities to cater for our children now with kids well gone still go to Europe just don't book any site's and toure were we feel, at the end of the day each one of us requires something different from a holiday, some people like going back to the same site year after year and others just like the adventure of something new each time they go out that's what makes what we due so diverse and enjoyable.
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Can't agree more with David. We 'did' Spain via Dover/Calais, in 6 weeks (4,500 miles home to home), and often did maximum 1 week then move on, but have now slowed down, and longer stays on 4 star sites with excellent facilities, but never stay in one place too long.
In the last 2 years we have been on 3 sites where rallies were present.They often do not socialise with anyone else apart from there compatriots, make more noise than 'normal' campers, and because of there numbers, often manage to get the proprietors to reserve the better pitches for them.
We are leaving for France and Spain in 2 days time, and I now wish I had thought of checking where the rallies are likely to be.
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