Stuck
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Whatever you think of the driver, he did ignore a golden rule in such situations…. don’t blindly carry on and make matters worse. When you see an opportunity to go back, take it. I know that road well and he passed a couple of places where he could turn around and retrace his steps including a NT car park. Having driven down a lane with a green strip up the middle, alarm bells must have been ringing! I have seen motorhomes in the NT car park, so it can be done, but no further.
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As I said previously. In many uk areas David narrow lanes are a way of life, they are where I live and we share them with farm machinery, utility and delivery vehicles on the road and even ourselves with a motorhome and others towing trailers including caravans. It would be a sad day if anyone looking at us from afar and without experience decreed these areas were "no go" There is nothing "shocking" about it except to the unwary.
However every year people pile into popular areas and they need to take care and behave responsibly.
The unfortunate incident on this thread highlights the issues.
I hope everyone has a safe summer holiday.
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I made an error some 7 years ago. Misread a road sign and lost the A-Road that I had been following at a roundabout. Road was fine for a mile and then! I turned around reversing the caravan into a set back field gateway. About a 9 point turn between the gate and a grass bank. I had a round of waves, thumbs up and cheers from 6 or 7 waiting cars.
I thought afterwards why didn't I use the mover?
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ah yes, we all make mistakes all right...
on one of our first forays into France we decided to visit Libourne. nr Bordeaux, and i still dont know why we (I) ignored several large signs highlighting the width restriction ahead....i guess i was relying on the Sat nav to guide us through....lesson learned early...
pictured is the point at which the blood started to freeze....
being 15cm wider than the gap between the two large concrete blocks didn't bode well...
i stopped....not much else to do....and than had to negotiate with the French queue of drivers behind me, to give me some room to reverse back, turn around and remove myself from their hair....
i must say one guy was great...obviously seen it many times before...took charge and directed everyone out of the way....we returned the Gallig shrugs (quickly perfected) delivered our best smiles and waves and off we went...embarrassed but considerably wiser.
in the atlas, Libourne has a large red cross over this road.....we've been back but now pick our route a bit more carefully.
the new van is only 2.12m wide, perhaps i should have another go?
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I used to spend a lot of time on forestry tracks & yes it’s easy to get in a bind but I wouldn’t go into an area that is notorious for narrow & high edged lanes without first doing research. Part of being a driver is spacial awareness, stubbornly driving into an ever narrowing space is madness. Reversing out is always an option-if you can drive in you can reverse out. If it’s a satnav issue then they are not to be slavishly/blindingly followed. They are guides.
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Note to self-don’t wash the truck it’s a waste of time. We have Arable on all points of the compass around us. . .That’s not a complaint mind👍🏻
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I think if a sign told me not to do something and I then went and did it I would call myself a prat if something bad happened and Mrs WN would definitely give me earache over it.
If it just happened and was an unfortunate accident then no problem. We all make mistakes.
We had something similar to BB in Spain. Supposed to go around a small town but we ended up in it and turned left to get to our road. Only the road narrowed considerably further down but only after we had gone around 2 corners. Road was one way as well. So I had a look at the exit width and look at the caravan and realised we could make it with both wheels on the pavement and taking the wing mirrors off. We had a couple of centimetres either side. The locals came out to watch and clapped when we escaped. At least it made their day. There was no width restriction signs and we hadn't been there before. And no we didn't use Satnav.
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Surely, in the case we are discussing, it wasn't a mistake but a choice.
As regards your earlier comment about having sympathy for the driver, I think that the person deserving of sympathy is the unfortunate driver of the rescue vehicle. Also, as others have stated, what about sympathy for any people who were inconvenienced?
This is not judgemental. We all have to live with the consequences of our choices and actions.
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"Stan Markland and Norie Williams, from Hayling Island in Hampshire, were staying at Treveague Campsite, near Gorran Haven, St Austell, when they set off early on Saturday (July 3) to get home in good time.
Using a Caravan Club GPS which, Stan said, was supposed to take into account the width of the vehicle - the couple left the campsite and drove down what they thought was the same road they arrived on."
i wouldnt trust it either, certainly not in an area as they were in....however...
any publicity is good publicity....isnt it?
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Brue, does it offer a what3Words address if the post code is erroneous?🤔
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Yes, bit of a giveaway!
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Similar thing happened to us in Avignon, on our first and so far only MH foray to France. When we were towing I always used to avoid large towns at all costs. Again like you using the sat nav (although in defence, the map didn’t show it either) when it tried to take us into a 2.5 metre high underpass. I saw the first sign but we were trapped in rapidly moving heavy traffic. Like your picture there were bollards ahead but I managed to stop short of them and sat there until someone let me in. Avignon drivers aren’t the most forgiving and there was a lot of beeping.😂 Once I had avoid said underpass, it did immediately reroute us fairly sensibly. Incidentally our sat nav does allow input of dimensions, length height width and weight, although it does of course rely on that info being in the data set. I always check the route as best I can and occasionally find it has taken us down a narrow rat hole. Although a valuable aid they are most certainly not to be trusted.
Oops just realised we are in the UK section. Must be more observant.😀
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Many folks tend to use ‘shortest route’ on their sat nav which can get them into trouble. Even units allowing vehicle dimensions aren’t 100% reliable, all depends on the quality of the mapping data.
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Rocky. Their site map offers details in the "how to find us" section. Many places, inc CAMC ask users not to use satnav on the final approaches (leaving as well.) We've used CLs nearby and a good map is needed but you can still go wrong, especially now when the hedges are overgrown.
Oh dear, beware the hedge cutting days too.
The site is in a very nice area and the site looks good. I like the idea of the walk to the dog friendly beach.
So as BB says there's no bad publicity.
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So it looks as if Stan and Norie might be club members.
Welcome to Cornwall, S&N, here are a couple of tips - get yourself a recent road map and follow it, especially in remote areas. Also, adjust the dimensions on your satnav to slightly oversize. There's no little person behind the screen thinking "The road's exactly the same width so it'll be a tight squeeze, or the hedges have grown so we'd better add on a bit for slack".
Enjoy your holiday but take care on your way.
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Yes, Stan made a good choice, it’s a great little site, definitely worth a visit, However, make sure everything is well battened down if a SW gale is in prospect!
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Thanks👍🏻. I have no interest in going there I just wondered why so few businesses don’t use W3W, it gives a 3 metre square to land on rather than-‘somewhere in this big area’🤷🏻♂️
PS-if W3W isn’t given it can be found by furthere research but it’s a faff.
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Yes that's part of the article, but I didn't quote it as it was in the link.
Yes engage your brain before any activity!
But if you think you're not the road you came in on and your satnav is allegedly supplied specifically for caravan use........... maybe reversing sooner, but that's hindsight, if you think the equipment is set with your dimensions you'd hope it would just be this little bit. Who knows? Older and wiser, but not a great advert for the very expensive club satnav - which folk have commented on in this forum - but to know that you'd need to use the forum and have followed the posts...... I presume the satnav was bought in good faith and unlike the cynical one's accepted it on face value. An easy mistake to make!
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