Motorhome rental and touring in the UK?
Hello. We are a family of three that will be touring the UK (including Scotland) for three weeks in late July and into August. We are looking for advice on whether to travel via a Motorhome (22 ft) or should we get a car to tour.
Our family has rented Motorhomes here in the USA and in New Zealand. Driving on the British side of the vehicle and road doesn't bother me. We enjoy traveling in Motorhomes and find it nice to chat with others at holiday parks.
We plan to visit Bath, Wells, Glastonbury, Stonehenge, Cardiff, Stratford, Cotswolds, Liverpool, Lake District, Glasgow, Oban Inverness, Edinburgh, Durham, York
Our questions are:
1) Is camping and Motorhome touring popular in the UK including Scotland?
2) Is it difficult to find holiday parks? Do i have to book them weeks or months in advance? We usually don't plan very far in advance while traveling so can we get holiday parks at the last minute?
3) For cities, can I park outside and take a train or bus into say Edinbourgh, etc?
4) What about narrow roads? I hear there are many there? I was on some narrow roads in New Zealand and it was no big deal. In the Scottish highlands and in the Lakes District, am I going to have problems?
Thank you for your responses and feedback.
Comments
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Some of us just answered a Kiwi who asked a similar question in the UKSites section here and those answers might help you.
But Airbnb plus a hire car is the way my grown up children travel. Good luck.
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With the extensive itinerary and limited time you have quoted you will probably need to start planning and booking routes now rather than later. The dates are peak season and include a popular Bank Holiday. Cities like York, Cardiff and Edinburgh etc have van parks often within walking distance of attractions. However these are places lots of people want to pitch up on so start looking and booking asap. You might find it easier on smaller roads with a smaller van, also on sites too, so 22ft seems ok. The club does their "experience freedom" van hire, maybe someone from the office can advise you?
Have a good time all of you, lots of nice places on your list.
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Hi jethead,
Welcome to Club Together and hopefully we can give you some useful information to help make sure you have a perfect trip in the UK.
If you book your motorhome hire via Experience Freedom that will give you access to 2,700 Caravan and Motorhome Club sites giving you more options whilst touring in the UK and we also have some suggest motorhome tours which might be useful when planning your visit. Alternatively if you join the Club you will also get a 15% discount on Experience Freedom motorhome hire and free collision damage waiver.
The motorhomes are equipped with Avtex sat navs, which will let you know if a road is too narrow to drive down and give you an alternative route (picture of the sat nav in the motorhome from my colleagues recent holiday attached).
Many of our sites have bus stops nearby so you can get buses into town and city centres.
I hope this helps and have an amazing trip. Let us know what you decide to do and how you get on.
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I very rarely post on forums, but I was intrigued to look at the proposed Lake District tour with Experience Freedom using a motorhome.
Having visited the Lakes with both a motorhome and a caravan on many occasions perhaps I may comment on the proposed sites.
Park Coppice : No buses pass the site entrance and the only bus service available runs from Coniston to Ambleside via Hawkshead which is a 1.5 mile walk from the site.
Borrowdale : A very difficult access over a hump backed bridge at Grange in Borrowdale followed by a narrow set of gateposts and finally a sharp downhill right turn into the site. The only bus service is the 77 which runs every two hours to Keswick and takes either 20 minutes or 1.5 hours depending on the direction of travel.
Kendal : The site is located up a single track road with passing places about 4 miles from Kendal. There is a bus service at Sedgewick, about a mile away but it only runs twice a day.
The sites are ideal for those with a caravan, but with a motorhome it's a non - starter. The irony is that the best sites for those with a motorhome are CCC sites are Keswick and Braithwaite Fold, Bowness. Both sites give a wide range of options for those using public transport
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The irony is that the best sites for those with a motorhome are CCC sites are Keswick and Braithwaite Fold, Bowness. Both sites give a wide range of options for those using public transport
Agreed.....
But you will find that the C&CC are a much more hard nosed business than the CC.
Those two sites have a 5 night minimum stay at peak periods I think and even 3 night minimum stay at non peak times. So neither lend themselves to being part of a "tour".....well not a short one anyway....!
No room for "blockers" with the C&CC........
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