Stopovers with a caravan
This may sound so obvious to some experienced members but my wife and I have been touring in a motorhome for a number of years and have always been able to break longer journeys in lay-bys or large carparks. We have now bought a caravan and have planned our first couple of trips to be short and served mainly by motorway. However, when we travel to Wales and Scotland later this year we will need to break journeys on A roads. Have members any advice about using lay boys with a caravan and are there any recommended stop overs on routes like the A9 north of Perth or the A5 to North Wales? Any recommendations would be gratefully received.
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We too would always suggest finding a camp site and would never consider an overnight in any undesignated area. Just takes a bit of planning. Never owned a motorhome but would still feel very uncomfortable about parking overnight in a lay-bye.
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Hi johnstrivens, many laybys on trunk routes have signs prohibiting overnight stays. But even if they didn't, I personally wouldn't feel safe doing it. My suggestion would be to find a nearby CL. It's surprising what you can find just off the main roads - you might even decide to make it part of the holiday and spend more than one night there! Whatever you decide - happy caravanning.
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Thanks for the interest so far; I didn't mean overnight stops, just comfort breaks in a day's jouney.
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John
You might find Google Earth useful in finding lay-bys on your route. If you have a rough idea when the stops would occur en route you could narrow down your search. Obviously no guarantee that there will be space available but at least you would have an idea of the possibilities.
David
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Although there are lay-bys on the A9 some are just for emergencies, or they are often full of HGV's. The A9 now by passes all of the villages / small towns and these are the services. This is fine solo, not so good when you are over 12 metres long. Depending on the time of year we have occasionally found somewhere to stop, but more often than not regretted trying.
One place I can recommend, that is OK with a van, is the Ralia eco friendly Internet cafe near Newtonmore. There is direct access from the A9 and if you miss the entrance, you can also access it from what is the exit, as this is two way.
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We have certainly stopped in laybys before while towing for a change of driver, snacks, drinks, comfort breaks... The difficulty on some is finding enough space for car&caravan and this will depend on the road you take, but if you can there is no reason why not.
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I think you just have to keep your eyes open for a suitable lay-by, JS, and grab the first one you can get in.
No amount of advance planning will guarantee a lay-by has space when you get there and it’s not as easy as with a MH. However, everyone else manages and you'll be OK.
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My advice would be not to leave looking till the last minute, and avoid the 1pm lunch.
If you have had a reasonably early start, then start looking around 11.30.
Same applies on motorways, the number of caravan spaces is often quite limited.
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We live just North of Perth and there is a number of lay-bys that will take a car/caravan for a short break.
There is also at Bankfoot (just off the A9 about 9 miles) a visitor centre with cafe, shop etc. their car park isn't suitable for car/caravan unless not busy but next to it is a piece of ground that will quite easily take them, many motorhomes use it for a short break and some even for over night. The cafe is good by the way we often cycle that way in the summer months and have a bite to eat
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A few years ago we stopped off for coffee at The Ralia cafe on the A9
http://www.ralia.co.uk/ Its between Perth & Inverness with plenty of parking. It’ll be a stopping place for us in May 😋
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At the north end of Dalwhinnie just past the distillery is an area where you could park up for the night. On Google Maps you can even see a motorhome parked there. I haven't stopped there with the caravan but have stopped there for the night. It's easily big enough for a couple of cars and caravans.
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We like to have a break about 2hrs after leaving home. What I normally do if I am not familiar with the road is start looking for a nice spot about 15 minutes before the 2 hour time. We generally find somewhere suitable within 10- 20 minutes. We also usually see somewhere much better than where we stopped, a couple of miles after stopping 🤔.
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That's an immutable rule of all stopping places, isn't it?
The other thing I've learned, as still fairly new boy, is to look carefully at the layby, checking for 'orrible potholes on the way in, and hopefully noting if it's a very tight exit too, before committing myself. This isn't always possible, but we bounced into a few nasty surfaces while becoming alerted to it.And I got myself into a place where there wasn't an exit, and had to unhitch to turn round, but that's a different story!
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If travelling to Scotland the best site to use for a one night stopover is the one at Strathclyde park. From there you can easily reach the more scenic parts of Scotland.
NB.. If staying at Strathclyde park remember to bring ear plugs. The constant road noise from the adjacent M74 and the A725 can be quite obtrusive.
K
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Unless you are lucky and find a modern deep layby, you will find it very uncomfortable on a busy trunk road. The trucks are very noisy and will rock the van as they pass. Make use of the motorway services, but as KjellNN says, avoid lunchtime when the long lanes you need will most likely be full. Once you are North of Glasgow and in the country it will be easier to find somewhere to pull over.
BillC
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This is one of the better laybys on the A9 Drumochter area, the best one always fills up with people taking photos. Quite a few are right on the road with lorries thundering past and lorries parked up for the night later in the day. Check out the speed cameras on the A9 too.
Having lived up there the A9 isn't somewhere I'd want to stay the night. Slightly better and quieter north of Aviemore. A good pull off nowadays is at the House of Bruar near Blair Atholl for a coffee or lunch/food hall (easier with a motorhome but caravans can get in too.)
Why not have a night or two at Pitlochry, Blair Atholl or the Cairngorms? See a bit more of this beautiful area rather than rush through.
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We've just booked into a newish CL at Carrbridge, just north of Aviemore, so that would be an option for a night halt on your way up, johns.
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