Starting out motor caravanning in Britain
Have been (mostly wild) camping in the mountains of Japan for decades, using my much loved and now venerable Honda Stepwagon with its back seats folded down flat. Now spending the bulk of my time in UK and anticipating delivery of a new Vantage Med 5.4 m two berth Ducato van conversion. As a total newbie to camping and motor caravanning in Britian any and all advice appreciated. Expect to be travelling on my own some of the time, and with Japanese partner at other times...
OK, so it's a fairly comprehensively equipped vehicle, but what should I be thinking of acquiring to kit it out for camping? So far, thinking about bedding and pans...
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Vantage med, Welcome home, what a lifestyle change.
Good quality duvet or sleeping bags, minimal lightweight pans, cups and plates, coffee pot, bottle opener - plus notepad and pencil on your first trip out to make a list of other useful items according to storage space available. Good luck.
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Those who camp and caravan in Britain will probably do it differently from those who participate in a similar activity in Japan. There is certainly a huge difference reported in the activities of people who go "over there", or Continental Europe as others call it.
I would suggest to the Op that s/he gets on and does what s/he finds enjoyable. Perhaps a good low hassle way to find out about many things would be to visit one of the caravan shows and take a look at all the equipment and accessories available. Certainly not with a view to purchase on the spot, but to go back home and consider what would enhance what s/he wants to do. It is almost all available through the Internet, and it's delivered to one's door.
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First, thanks to all who have replied to this thread, very much appreciated.
Sorry, I didn't make things clearer in the first posting: still expecting to spend a few months a year in Japan, and still hoping to camp there in the trusty 16 year old Stepwagon now and again. Probably ride the Big White Bird eastwards for a month or three early next year.
In the UK hoping to take delivery of the Vantage Med next month, and hope to be using it in England, Scotland and Wales. Have to make fairly frequent trips to a seriously remote location on the far north coast of mainland Scotland to visit seriously ancient and now ailing mum ... this is one of the initial purposes of the van. To date have been driving up over two days in a car, and will probably not camp en route in the new van as I have a regular and very cheap and comfortable stopover in Perth ... but might extend the journey an extra day and camp on site one night. Also hope to visit old friends in South Wales from time-to-time and do some touring in England.
JVB66 commented that "wild camping" means tent camping in the UK. I suppose it has different usages, but some of the UK van converters' websites mention that their vans are suitable for wild camping, which I've taken to mean off-site camping.
In the fairly wild and seriously remote part of Scotland which I visit wild camping is the norm. You see motorcaravans parked up in all sorts of places - recently many from continental Europe, especially Germany. Scottish friends tell me that it is entirely legal in Free Scotland, but I understand that under the heavy heel of English and Welsh law we are confined to sites.
It's all very different from Japan. I'm going to miss the high mountain country and especially hot spring baths. Japan is basically mountains with most of us living in the flat bits around the edges. And they are high - an easy three hour drive from Tokyo (using motorways but not breaking the 100 kph/62 mph limit) takes me to the Oku Nikko highlands with crystal clear lakes and plateaus all higher than anywhere in Britain. And then there's the sheer joy of soaking up to the neck in hot spring baths - especially outdoor baths. They are all over the place in these volcanic islands, which makes camping without a washroom really easy.
Seems that I'm going to have a lot to learn starting out motor caravanning in Britain, so any more advice - especially about useful kit for the van - will be greatly appreciated.
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