Our caravan year, 2018
We have been away a total of 265 nights in our caravan in 2018. This comprised a total of 53 site visited, of which 4 were on CC sites, 3 on Commercial sites and the remainder, 46, on CLs. We used 40 different CLs and 19 sites were new to us last year, (1 CC, 1 Com & 17 CLS), at an average overall cost of £12:63 per night. The furthest north we stayed was Davochfin CL, Dornoch, and the furthest south was Mount Pleasant Fm, Redruth. The most interesting sites, for me anyway, were White Water Park CC site, Stockton-on-Tees during the "Beast from the East"; Bogroy CL, Carrbridge; and Venndown Farmhouse, Bude. There were very few that we would not consider using again, and plenty that we would not hesitate to revisit.
All in all it's been a good year touring for us.
What are your stories?
Comments
-
I can’t compete with that, Nellie, although technically it could be said we spent 365 nights in a caravan of one sort of another😋. Was that a record for you in terms of nights away?
I haven't totted up the sites we used but we were away 50+ nights staying usually only 1-2 nights per site. We saw some fantastic places and the Outer Hebrides was by far the highlight of the year. Sadly, the Isle of Man will be remembered for the wrong reason - namely the horrendous ferry crossings. All in all, it’s been a good year with varied sites and extremes of weather.
Thanks for the insight into your year. Roll on the 2019 season.
3 -
A quiet year for us, due to family events we had to curtail many of our plans. I really enjoyed meeting up with fellow CTers, Oneputt and Millie and on the same trip I followed up a Samuel Pepys literary trail which was a small ambition fulfilled.
Oh and getting a dog buggy for our ancient terrier proved to be a godsend.
3 -
I doubt many would touch that total and variety Nellie, another lovely year spent touring. Most of it with nice weather as well. I confess we don’t tot ours up, but we do get around a bit, including staying in cottages as well. At a guess, we have probably been away around three months this year, not bad considering OH had major surgery mid May. Like you we loved Venndown Farm CL, and two more favourites in Toynes House and College Farm. We used a few more Club Sites this year, including our first ever stay at Rowntree Park. We didn’t get as far away from home as much, mainly due to hospital requirements, but we did get up to Northumberland and Borders, and down to Cornwall. At the moment, only two outings are planned, but we shall be off soon no doubts.
Really enjoyed meeting up with a few folks as well👍
Edit: our dog chariot has had plenty of use as well! Sorry but photo won’t upload☹️
1 -
Blimey NTH 265 away days! As much as I love travel I don't think I could ever be away from home for that many days of my own free will! I thought I was dong well to achieve 149 days away.
Our year started badly with a holiday we had booked in 2017 for the beginning of the year being cancelled by the supplier. A 49 day winter trip to Spain was rapidly substituted. Further trouble lay ahead and a planned trip to Croatia had to be shortened to 25 days due to delays in departure due to the red tape required by the DVLA in renewing my driving licence. Still it all ended well and so did the rest of the year touring the south west of England.
The average site fee I paid in 2018 was £15.53 with £29.90 being the top nightly rate paid and £7 the lowest. 50 percent of nights were spent "over there",, 15 percent were spent on C&MC sites and 9 percent on CLs.
peedee
0 -
Our year started with the 'Beast from the East' at Brighton and other trips reached Woodbridge in the east and Penzance in the west. A foray into Normandy and Brittany added to the mix and a grand total of 51 nights away at 21 different stops with an average cost of £13.66. Total mileage was surprisingly quite modest at 2300. Non-vanning accounted for a further 19 nights on a cruise to Greenland and Iceland, so overall a chilly year.
0 -
Compared to the rest of your, our 58 nights looks fairly small, however that is one of our best years yet. The majority was spent on CL's with the odd CMC site (Whitewater) thrown in. Our first grandchild was born in May in Germany (son in forces) so have spent a couple of holidays there visiting and with both of us working full time, have only managed a couple of longer holidays away in the van - one at a lovely CL in North Devon and one at one of our favourites near Pickering.
Hopefully more happy times away in 2019
0 -
Nellie
I am always in awe at the number of nights you spend away in your van. The best we have ever done was 121 nights one year which included two trips to Europe that year. We always find we do more nights when visiting Europe as we tend to stay away between six and eight weeks as it makes more economic sense re crossing etc. In the UK only tend to have breaks of between three and fifteen days. This year we have been away for 62 nights, all in the UK, plus another couple of nights in London in a hotel to attend a wedding. We have used a mix of CMC sites, C&CC sites and a handful of commercial sites, the choice being down to location. I don't think your touring record will be under threat from us
Enjoy your travels in 2019.David
1 -
I am surprised you managed 100 days at home Nellie!
We need to get organised this year I can see. Gertie is having a day out this week, only to Clumber Park for day, but we will take dogs and bikes and have a nice full day out, complete with catering and relaxation facilities! Might need the shower as well if I fall off!
0 -
That’s astonishing. You should be able to get a council tax reduction on your main residence!
0 -
I think for Nellie the caravan is the main residence isn't it?
Well done to you, OH and Flyte!
We've had 165 days away in 2018, a combination of trips in the tourer, stays in the static and 2 foreign trips, to Costa Rica in January and the Sorrento area in September. Haven't kept a record of mileage or costs though!
Looking forward to more excitement in 2019,
1 -
2018 was our first full year back caravanning after 4 years with a motorhome. We managed 81 nights away which we were pleased with. The furthest north we went was to Stonehaven where we stayes at the CC site this was our first trip up that way and we loved it we plan to go back at some point this coming year. The furthest south we went was to the Isle of Wight in the summer where we spent 2 and a half wonderful weeks at Southland CC site. What a great island and the weather was wonderful. We also visited the Lakes a couple of times for long weekends using both CC and C&MC sites. We also visited Berwick a couple of times and made our annual trip to Moffat C&MV site for the classic car show in June. We also spent a lovely week in October in York at Beechwood Grange CC. As well as this we were away a lot of weekends at our normal "local" sites Ayr Craigie, The Ranch CC, Lomond Woods holiday Park and Strathclyde Park CC.. One site we used for the first time this year was the Woods AS near Stirling it was great brilliant views and the on site restaurant was great and being only an hour and a half from home it ia handy so we are hoping to use it again. Hope everyone else had a nice year too
0 -
We are determined to cross the Pennines this year. It’s so easy for us to use A1 as our main highway, both North and South, but we need to head West from home, haven’t done this for a few years. Got a few events Manchester way, so sound excuse for going on from there. It’s mainly the awful road links East to West that put us off, M62 is awful.
Our planned day out in Gertie has extended to a couple of nights already. She’s going to need a clean out on return no matter how long we go, so might as well have a couple of nights!👍Won’t be Clumber though. Forecast is decent as well.........
1 -
We tend to go up and down and not across too. I can't face the M62 on a Friday evening, although we do pop over to Blackpool once every couple of years for the illuminations.
0 -
Not a bad year for us with a total of 123 nights away using 35 sites with 33 of those for the first time. The sites have been 2 CC, 1 CCC, 2 UK Commercials, 11 CLs and 19 sites abroad.
Add in a couple of AI holidays abroad ( 18 nights) and we are quite pleased but I am sure there is room for improvement in 2019!
1 -
The first part of 2018 went according to plan, the second was a bit more frenetic but even allowing for the fact that we attended 8 funerals at various times of the year we still managed to have a very decent touring year. 132 nights away in the caravan, which is about par for the course.
We even managed to stay on 6 CMC sites this year and 9 CLs and a large chunk of time in the Netherlands and Germany. Don't keep detailed costing, just know that we didn't exceed our imaginary budget and paid what we had to abroad, which wasn't too bad using ACSI card so of the time and long stay discounts. Enjoyed our winter caravanning and liked the Bristol site for ease of access to the city, ditto Warwick. Found a lovely local CL site for August.
All in all, I hope we have as much fun and luck this year as last, although as I write this I've just had to cancel our first outing from Saturday in the Lakes as MIL has been referred for an emergency appointment to our local hospital and we have no idea when that will be. Such is touring life.
Enjoy your 2019 touring whatever you do and wherever you go.
2 -
It’s mainly the awful road links East to West that put us off, M62 is awful.
TTda, whilst I mainly agree with your sentiments about the M62 I notice that we used it to get across to Yorkshire/Lincolnshire on no less than 4(x2) occasions in 2018 and didn't find it a bother once. Busy, yes, but no hold ups on any journey. Mind you I do take the long way around the M60 just after Rochdale and rejoin the M56 after Stockport. About 10 miles longer but infinitely less stressful.
So no excuses. Get yourself over.
(and the locals are sort of friendly)0 -
We are wusses I agree.
It will happen this year. Some fabulous exploring to be done over there. Finished cleaning and sorting MH out this afternoon, she’s ready to roll. Had a dear friend taken very seriously ill between Xmas and New Year, so just need to confirm our help isn’t needed at the moment, and we might just be off at the drop of a hat. Only local, but a great little CL.
0 -
Not quite the most, but it's been about that number for the last 6 yrs at least, the lowest was 255 in 2016 and the highest 266 in 2013. I'll have to look back at some old diaries to see if the number has changed much since I retired.
I forgot to add that we met some great people, too.
Are you thinking of more island hopping in 2019, as you certainly have seen many in the last couple of years?
0 -
It's close to your record, Nellie!
Yes, we've been doing the islands that we shied away from while we had Stanley as he struggled on ferries. We've considered the Channel Islands but sites are limited and most don't seem to open until mid-May. I think getting around on the islands could present problems in a MH, even though ours is pretty small so, overall, I think a hotel and car win. We've also thought about Ireland, especially NI. Watch this space…
We've met some good people too, renewed friendships and made new ones.
Have a great 2019.
2 -
You have a great year too TW, and all others too of course.
1 -
Whilst we cannot get anywhere near your total of nights Nellie, I have just totted up our nights away and it's a record for us 73 !!
As we are both working it's been mainly weekends with 3 longer trips of a 7/8 nights. We visited 18 sites a mix of CAMC and CL'S. All the CL'S were new to us this year and we enjoyed all of them and hoping to get back to a few of them this year.
First trip of this year is this weekend.
0 -
That's very well done H&T, and I do like the thought of a full year of new CLs, but very much doubt that we'll be doing that.
Enjoy your trip this weekend.
1 -
We've considered the Channel Islands but sites are limited and most don't seem to open until mid-May. I think getting around on the islands could present problems in a MH, even though ours is pretty small so, overall, I think a hotel and car win.
Glamping is another aternative TW. I did this this year for four nights with one of my sons to visit the air show on Jersey. If the opportunity arises, may do the same again this year.
peedee
0 -
We found it easy to move round Jersey with our first motorhome which was smaller than our present one. Plenty of good parking spots. Caravans have to go direct to the sites they have booked, no other movement is allowed. Many people with motorhomes hire small cars and the bus service is good too. We would do much the same on Guernsey. You need to get parking discs on both islands, available on the ferry etc.
0
