Poor Caravanners!!
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agree with you fully I don't change unless expensive problems occur, out last tow car (last September) was 12 years old and over 155,000 miles, until then I couldn't justify changing it as nothing really was going wrong with it. Sadly it needed a new catalytic converter and exhaust which would have cost more than the car was worth. We changed our van after 7 years as it was getting damp each year. Present van is great.
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I think that it’s partially a feeling of security that encourages people with new cars and new vans to stay on CC sites. They feel orderly and the facilities are normally excellent. I’ve stayed at Black Knowl in the past and in doing so passed one of the Forestry Commision’s basic sites at Aldridge Hill. It’s only 200 yards from Black Knowl. For us, there was no competition, Aldridge Hill outfits aren’t in orderly rows, the eclectic mix of outfits are pitched where their owners chose, subject to minimum spacing rules. Horses and cattle wander freely through the site, the meandering river is crisscrossed with logs and branches which you can sit on and cool your feet. Trees are interspersed with grass cropped by ruminants. We’ve not been back to Black Knowl since, but we’ve been to Aldridge Hill and other Forestry Commission sites on numerous occasions. We’re sited at Aldridge Hill right now, with an unrestricted view across the openness of a decommissioned WW2 airfield. So where’s the competition? Well Black Knowl has EHU, while we have to use a solar panel, and we need a bucket and travel wash to freshen up clothes, rather than the C&MCs washing machines. We have to shower in our van and rely on our chemical toilet. And we cope well, with ease and genuine pleasure so we keep coming back because it really is the perfect site for us. Which makes me rather happy to have such a choice in this beautiful area. Those with new big cars and new big vans may chose the uncomplicated security of club sites, others can indulge in a more self sufficient and back to nature holiday.
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Of course, it might be that more experienced vanners/MHers have discovered that CLS and non facility sites can give them every bit as good an experience as full facility sites. Many of these new van/MH/car owners may be new to the hobby and I guess it's reasonable to think that they'd start out on "proper" sites, which I guess, if we're honest, is what most of us did when we started out.
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Somewhere like Aldridge Hill is very pleasant if you can fit in with the very limited opening times, 24/5-4/6 and then 21/6 to 3/9 so I assume the Centenary site or Black Knowl is convenient for a lot of users. You could take a snapshot of any site at any time and get quite a different group of users.
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If you come from Somerset, you’ll have high expectations of views and lovely countryside, so I’m sure that you’d enjoy this one. Despite being all too familiar with the aches and pains which can affect pensioners, I’m very happy to walk or cycle in the right environment. We rode nearly 20 miles today, mostly off road, with a pub lunch in Burley. Tonight’s dinner for us is salad made with local ham, farm shop eggs and accompanyments from Brokenhurst Sainsburys. Be it in France, Greece, Turkey or anywhere you chose, if it’s warm, dry and simple, I’m going to be happy.
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Those saying that it's each to their own taste have it right of course, but I can't resist adding that several time when we met English caravanners in France this May, with our 18-year old caravan and 14-year old car, a number of these conversations focussed on them bemoaning how complex it was working their modern high spec hi-tech vans, and that they couldn't understand how to get some functions going for ages, and how much more enjoyable it was when they too had a low-tech van like ours.
But it is each to their own preference, as with sites.
It's just sometimes hard to look at other set-ups without thinking "What????" !!0 -
You’d be unhappy if they kept describing the comforts of their own vans, which you may not have. Alde central heating for example, with its sophisticated menu options. So being nice, polite and modest people, they complained a little about their up to date vans, which they chose to buy remember. Since I believe that personal choice is exactly that, I’m guessing that in reality, you both were happy, but in different ways.
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I actually agree with your first two paragraphs but find your last a little perplexing? You seem to imply maybe they are not? just hope?
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Will the EHU posts have a warden call facility to get the toilet cassette emptied I wonder
Oh good heavens - NO ! How plebean would that be. It will all be signaled by wireless. Employment opportunities for the lower classes as "night soil" men too. Back to pre-Victorian era values. Perhaps wardens will wear frock coats and top hats.
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I assumed there will an app for that to call them?
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Moderator Edit:
Comment Deleted User.
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Moderator Edit:
Comment Deleted User.
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You're very probably right, with some of them. - and I suspect you'd be the sort of considerate person who'd take this approach. Fair comment!
... though there was no mistaking the stress accompanying one lady's diatribe on the complexity of their new van, which seemed to be dominating their holiday!
But indeed we each choose what we like.
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... though there was no mistaking the stress accompanying one lady's diatribe on the complexity of their new van, which seemed to be dominating their holiday!
Perhaps that is where her enjoyment lies. Masochism takes many forms.
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Not looked in on here for months and I've really enjoyed this thread. (moderator edit)
We've had four vans only the last one was new and it looks like my car is going to last another year with 200,000 closing in.
Its a choice for me, time or the money...I can't have both so choose time everyday. We've had four weeks away this year since Easter, in three weeks we'll be off to SW France for six weeks and considering squeezing another week or long wk./end before then.
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