Distance between pitches

SallyD
SallyD Forum Participant Posts: 85
edited November 2021 in UK Campsites & Touring #1

Has anyone noticed how more often these days the distance of 3 metres between pitches is being eroded? Sometimes it is impossible to have car, caravan & awning sited without the next door incumbents being nearer than the ruling specifies. We found this at Plymouth Sound this year and also Exebridge. Has anyone got any examples?

Comments

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,142 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 2021 #2

    I think you may have misunderstood. It’s not 3m between pitches but the fire gap is measured between outfits as the site rules describe.

    "To avoid the spread of fire, there must be at least 6 metres spacing between facing walls of adjacent caravans, motorhomes or trailer tents and a minimum clear space of 3 metres between adjoining cars/awnings/tents in any direction."

    It pays to speak to the wardens if you think the spacing rule has been breached.

  • eurortraveller
    eurortraveller Club Member Posts: 6,829 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 2021 #3

    Sally, I sympathise. Three metres to a neighbouring awning is ridiculously close. No one would want me so close to them so I took pity on them years ago and went elsewhere. 

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,303 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 2021 #4

    I’ve not seen any problems on HS pitches. However, some of the grass awning pitches at Tewkesbury are so tight on spacing, that unless everybody is very accurately pitched, the 3 metres would be compromised.

  • Cornersteady
    Cornersteady Club Member Posts: 14,427 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 2021 #5

    Yet you were recently posting a photograph of service station overnight area where you could almost touch the next outfit,  well certainly less than 3m anyway, and you sort of indicated that the club should follow that example but would be reluctant?

  • Cornersteady
    Cornersteady Club Member Posts: 14,427 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 2021 #6

    Examples Sally? No but then I only use HS and SP. 

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,142 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 2021 #7

    I wonder if sites being busier this year is creating the impression of tighter pitch spacing? 🤔

  • eyebrowsb
    eyebrowsb Forum Participant Posts: 554
    edited November 2021 #8

    I think it's a combination of sites being busier and incorrect pitching (ie) parking on the 'wrong' side of the peg .......  Twice this year, we've had to ask people to pitch correctly.  It seems that some people either can't be bothered to look at the pitching instructions given on arrival, or they simply couldn't care less!  We were told to eff off by one motorhomer when we politely asked him to pitch correctly surprised

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
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    edited November 2021 #9

    If the information I have been given is correct it seems that the "temporary "? New members who have joined because they have not been able to have ,their usual hotel overseas holidays  are ,under the impression that having to look out for others , as with the increase in non arrivals also it seems attributed., to the same "members"? that they do not need to comply

    I have seen a notice on cc sites this year trying to give advise to new members?,  

    The last paragraph. was interesting as it states, that club sites have a quiet period between 2200 hrs and I think 0700hrs?

  • eyebrowsb
    eyebrowsb Forum Participant Posts: 554
    edited November 2021 #10

    Well that's interesting JVB .. because the very same motorhomer who told us to eff off was playing very loud (what I would call club) music until well after midnight!  Fortunately, they left the next day laughing 

    Hopefully, next year they'll  be able to have their 'usual' holiday in Ibiza or some such place and leave the rest of us in peace!

  • Graydjames
    Graydjames Forum Participant Posts: 440 ✭✭✭
    edited November 2021 #11

    Admittedly it was Bristol, which always had a bit of a problem with pitch separation due to the lack of any indication of demarcation, but on my last visit in July I saw some quite astonishing examples of bad pitch separation. I photographed one example but I won't post it here to protect the owners' privacies.

    However, over the last year or so, I too, like the OP, have seen increasing incidences of bad pitching and poor car parking. 

    At Ayr in September one caravan had two cars on the pitch. He had no awning such that, had the caravan been correctly sited, there could have been a car either side of the van. As it was, he had pitched with the peg a couple of feet inwards from the corner. Hence one car had to be parked laterally at the front of the van and was partly on the road. Other outfits had to squeeze by and in some cases drive on the grass opposite. 

    Also at Ayr a motorhome had parked completely the wrong side of the peg.

    I have also seen awnings creeping onto the grass between pitches. I did wonder if they were getting bigger - but i have no clear evidence for this.

    What always gets to me is that site manages rarely seem to do anything about these issues.

    I won't challenge the perpetrators of these misdemeanours. To so invites confrontation (as proven by one of the comments above), and I won't get involved. Contrary, however, to  the opinion often expressed in this place, I do not believe that my silence should invalidate my right to express my irritation here or on site reviews.

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,303 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 2021 #12

    While we were at Brecon in September. As we came back from a walk two ladies in a MH reversed into the pitch alongside us on the wrong side of the peg. I wandered over and mentioned to them, that before they set up they might want to reposition it, as the warden was likely to insist when he drove past bin emptying. They were very pleasant and explained although they had been given information, it was there first time on a CAMC site, normally using the other club. There it’s OK anywhere on the hardstanding and they were somewhat confused, especially as we were nose in.  They did reposition it on the correct side. Being shown to your pitch does have some advantages.

  • eyebrowsb
    eyebrowsb Forum Participant Posts: 554
    edited November 2021 #13

    I really don't understand the excuse of "first time on a CAMC site, normally using the other club".  In my experience (I may be wrong!) but when you check in on a CAMC site, the site manager asks if you've been before etc ...  He or she will then give you a map of the site and will also point out  pitching instructions which are clearly printed on the reverse side of the site map and usually highlighted specific to your outfit (ie) Caravan or Motorhome.  

    Maybe it's just me, but I don't understand how people are so easily confused?

  • thunderstruck
    thunderstruck Forum Participant Posts: 1
    edited November 2021 #14

    we saw a novel approach the other day

    the caravan was parked a bit out of position so they just moved the peg .... sorted

  • eribaMotters
    eribaMotters Club Member Posts: 1,193 ✭✭✭✭
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    edited November 2021 #15

    This has been covered many times and I'll get moaned at, BUT, the printed pitching instructions clearly say GUIDE and the clue is in that word. It is not a rule. The important bit is you must abide by the fire break distances, on that there is no leeway. You can pitch nose in or nose out, you can also if the warden has given you clearance park across the pitch.

     

    Colin

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,142 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 2021 #16

    No, that’s far from "sorted" 😤

  • Unknown
    Unknown Forum Participant
    edited November 2021 #17
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  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,303 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 2021 #18

    Well in the case of these two ladies they were clearly confused. They certainly were not deliberately trying to pitch differently and moved the van when I explained the  error.
    In some cases I think it is deliberated as the offender has erected a 3 / 4 metre wide drive away awning. I observed this a couple of years ago at Black Knowl, when waking to the facilities. A few hours later it was gone and the MH properly positioned.

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
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    edited December 2021 #19

    Many club site staff are wise to that ,,  if using sites as often as us, you will note that the pitch marker has an indicator be it paint or some other method that  marks the correct distancing wink

  • GTP
    GTP Club Member Posts: 536
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    edited December 2021 #20

    Maybe it's just me, but I don't understand how people are so easily confused

    It's the same with the " 2 metre dog lead" and "Dogs must be kept on a lead at all times"....very confusing to some people.

  • GTP
    GTP Club Member Posts: 536
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    edited December 2021 #21

    Not so JV....And i have used many club sites this year...very few had a clear marker, most with just the hole in the ground where the marker should have been... Also saw quite a few Motorhome users move the the marker ...although i do believe these were temporary members with a hired motorhome...

  • eribaMotters
    eribaMotters Club Member Posts: 1,193 ✭✭✭✭
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    edited December 2021 #22

    I suppose if hard standing pitches were standard then this discussion would not need to take place. You would be allocated a gravel area that you site everything on, car and van or motorhome along with awning or canopy of your choice. You would not be allowed to go out of this area and between your pitch and the next would be a strip of sacred grass that ensures fire regs clearance distances. You could pitch nose in or our so that you can face your neighbour who you are travelling with or in the opposite direction for a bit of privacy. You would be able to park across the pitch with the back of your van wherever you want, to avoid the wind, enjoy the view or just gain a bit of privacy from the toilet block opposite. 

    I suppose this is a bit of a radical view but, but you've paid rental on a plot of land so you should be able to [safely] make the most of it. Such pitching arrangements would also stop sites looking like manicured parking lots with regimental rows of vans and vehicles all lined up in one direction like gravestones.

     

    Colin

     

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
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    edited December 2021 #23

     '... parking lots'

    is that a bit like a car park but on this side of the Atlantic? 🤐

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,142 ✭✭✭
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    edited December 2021 #24

    EM, you can already pitch nose in or tail end in and you've pretty much described things as they are. The only proviso being the parking to the peg requirement.

    You said "...you should be able to [safely] make the most of it." and that word "safely" is the key and exactly the reason we are told to pitch to the peg.

    I guess to have anything different could mean bigger spacing between pitches and fewer of them yet we currently seem not to have enough pitches to keep everyone happy🤷‍♂️

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,303 ✭✭✭
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    edited December 2021 #25

    The C&CC allow you to pitch any which way on your plot of gravel, as long as you keep everything on it. However, they are a lot narrower than this club, only 5 metres I believe and this preserves the safety distances between outfits.

  • eribaMotters
    eribaMotters Club Member Posts: 1,193 ✭✭✭✭
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    edited December 2021 #26

    I must apologise for "parking lots". I can only assume my brain is suffering from an excess of Netflix. It also looks like I'll have to join the C&CC. 

     

    Colin