Club etiquette or just good manners
I should say its been a long time since I was a club member and after much ill health my family and I have returned to caravanning and once again joined the club. We bought an old burstner caravan and during lockdown revamped the van thoroughly bringing it back to original or as near as. We set out on our first new foray into the wilds of Southern Scotland booked a couple of weeks with a farm chap through the site. Arriving as we did with the horizontal rain as usual we were not perturbed and set about putting up our awning in the downpour. There were a couple of motorhomes on site and one other caravaner. That evening we were surprised by a loud bang, lots of shouting, and the power going out around 11pm. we looked through the window to discover a huge motorhome attempting to park while running down the power point, leaving us on our 12volt lights. We decided to hit the hay for an early night as we were going on a hike the following morning.
Next day we are woken at 7am by same people in their massive van leaving the site. While getting water I bump into the farm owner and after a bit of a chat tell him about the nights proceedings, to which he replied this happens all the time but rather than have the gate closed at certain times and cause anybody any unnecessary stress, being a caravaner himself, he had decided to leave the gate open all the time. A very pleasant and kind person. Our two weeks on this site were punctuated by the the arrival and disappearance of these motor vehicles, the other caravaner and ourselves were there for the remaining days. Which for our part were spent either walking in the woods at Newton Stewart or the rugged coast line off Borgue. I cannot for the life of me understand people who, having spent the best part of a house deposit to buy a motorhome, will then go to such lengths to avoid paying for the services they have used.
A couple of months later we decided to head to our most favourite spot in Britain and on arrival at Laide North West Scotland discover, to our dismay, that the campsite had been turned into a car park with people arriving and leaving all the hours of the day. Fortunately they were restricted from entering late at night by a barrier. These same people arrive stressed out before or after their journey only to have these stress levels continue for the rest of their holiday. I have been met by blank looks from people on greeting them and others who feel it their right to park 2 feet away from the van and then erect their defensive walls. And I do mean literally walls, with multiple people using windbreaks to fence off the area around their vehicle. It strikes me that some people do not know that it is a kindness to be courteous, and good manners just means occasionally thinking of others. In any event we had a good holiday.
I feel I should say I'm sure there are lots of motorhomers who do not behave in this manner, but for me having been away from caravanning for so long it has been quite a surprise . On another note what happened to the magazine? It is not worth my time reading now as it is crammed front to back with advertising. I'm sure this is not something the club members voted for. Happy camping.
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Unfortunately the world has changed since the advent of covid!We now have to put up with people who have no idea how to behave on campsites and who totally ignore rules about dogs on leads,ball games,speed limits etc.Last year I was staying on a non-club site where children were playing and some a.....hole decided that he could fly a drone over other units and near the children......on making comment to him about the rules for flying drones his reply was to the effect that as he had paid x amount for the drone he could fly it wherever he wanted!!He was made to leave the site next morning!!I was at the New England Bay site very recently.......no arrivals before 1 pm.The line of units stretched back to the road at 11-30am!!!!with some "customers" standing on the office steps to bag the best pitches.En Route has,as you say,become a platform for advertising with very little articles of any interest.
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Oh my goodness! Is it worth carrying on vanning in the face of all this?
That’s cheered me up no end🙄😬.
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How difficult would it be for sites to pitch caravans and motorhomes together dependant on the their length of stay so those people who are only intending to stay one or two nights would not spoil it for others with more long term plans? Maybe it's just the sheer number of people who now enjoy this type of activities. I enjoy a good bit of banter so I wont be shutting myself off from the world anytime soon. Or fixing any walls around our van.
The idea of heading out into the great outdoors so we can practice our isolationism seems to me to be a lot of wasted effort. I am 66 years and in danger of becoming an old fart. My children now describe me as an angry pacifist. Something I wasn't aware of when we set out for Scotland was the newly designated highland north coast 500, so that explains the touring masses on tour in a place that used to a lot quieter.
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I am beginning to wonder!!There is enough going on in the UK and the rest of the world without having to put up with the "newbies" and their antics when I am away for a break!!
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In reply to your first question, very difficult. It could result in folk being unable to book a pitch while, in another area of the site, pitches remain unoccupied.
We were all new once and until someone has a friendly word with the 'culprits' pointing out the error of their ways, they probably won’t realise the disruption they cause.
The world and his wife now 'do' the NC500 due to it receiving massive publicity and it sure is no longer the place to go to get away from it all.
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All good points I will try to find some way of finding friendlier sites with less motor home traffic. Most of the places we have stayed within the UK caravanning have been CL sites. We used to prefer them for their lack of amenities, open space and generally being left to ones own devices. The lack of WIFI signal never having been a problem. I should point out that of course not everyone was rude and inconsiderate, what kind of holiday would that be?
If anyone knows of sites that are dog friendly by the coast and not over run I would be very happy to hear of them.
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The club site on IoW is good but you will find us motorhomers use it☹️. Like most nice places, the Island gets busy at certain times.
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I do not have a problem with motorhomers, I just don't like being disturbed late at night or early morning - or during the day! My perfect site has one person in the field, it is me. I might let the family come along too.
I suppose on the IoW if there's just one main site it's unlikely to be popular with people who only want to stop one night, the island isn't that big is it? Where would they go?
My ideal holiday which we've been planning for a while is to hire one of the massive RVs in the US, pick up my son and grandkids from Minnesota and head to Canada.
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There are quite a few sites on IoW. Some are big commercial set ups. Check it out but whether folk stay one night or one week makes little difference as the nature of our hobby means folk come and go all the time.
I think you’ll find disturbance can come from any type of unit - caravanners wheeling water containers around or leaving car engines running while they hitch up, motorhomers who forget their sliding doors can annoy some folk, tenters clattering poles as they pack up. Tbh, it’s part of site life and if we choose to stay on a site with dozens of other units, we need to expect some noise so tolerance can be a great asset.
Enjoy your field.🙂
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Firstly thank you for the reply although on reflection I don't think IOW is for me. For the very reasons you propose as inescapable, I prefer to stay on CL sites rather than with dozens of other units. Thank you for the life advice. I will of course be practicing my Zen Buddhism to improve my self awareness, although I do not think I will become more tolerant of others' antisocial behaviours. Unfortunately caravanning is, for my family and me, only a holiday not a hobby. I don't know where I would get the money or the time from. I will be checking through the clubs CL sites register to see if I can't find that field .
Have to say I have never heard of anyone having been disturbed by someone packing up a tent, particularly not these days when they are mostly not made of heavy metal poles. We camped at Glenn Trool many years ago at the same time as a party of around 30 German army recruits who were on a hiking holiday. They had a full sized kitchen tent and we weren't disturbed once. Who cares about noise made during the day anyway?
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So LW-you don’t want disturbing early or late & you don’t like the isolationist attitude of some campers which actually allows you peace🤷🏻♂️. It’s a live & let live past time I’m afraid. The good(ish) news is that a lot of folk will not want to travel to Scotland once the £10+ per gallon fuel becomes a reality swiftly followed by the doubling of domestic fuel bills. You could find your peace & tranquility come Autumn👍🏻
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Thank you, good advice. I will be checking that out, .
I'm afraid some of the people on here may intentionally prefer to look at things literally and in doing so miss the point a little. I have never posted anywhere before on any site so I am a bit bemused by this recreational criticism, thank you for the advice from everyone.
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I fear that there is no forum in the world where you won't encounter recreational criticism. This is one of the blandest. Try googling "motorhome forum", and go to what will probably top the results, if you want a proper argument. By their standards you haven't seen anything yet!
PS: That is not meant as a criticism of your posts. I hate disruptive neighbours too, although I can't say I have experienced anything quite as extreme as you seem to have done. Have fun on your holidays.
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Thank for the heads up, I had no idea there was such rancor between caravaners and motorhomers. I just thought everyone was out there just trying to enjoy their holidays. I drive a commercial vehicle amongst other things for the family business, so I know how stressful being behind the wheel for hours on end can be. I will never own a motorhome, that would be too much like a busman's holiday. All I intended was to hopefully make contact with like-minded people who also enjoy the outdoors, for their take on the the way things are now. I had no idea what I was invoking or walking into. I will be more mindful in future. Thank you for spelling it out.
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On the whole, there isn’t rancour between owners of different unit types. After all, we’re in the same club and share the same hobby and many of us have moved from one type of unit to another so understand both points of view. A few folk even have both MH and cvan. Sometimes posts pointing a finger at one section or other of the LV community can come across as biased and that can get the hackles up.
For my own part, I have merely tried to inject a sense of realism into your rather, if I may say so, Utopian view of how life on site should be. We look at what’s written on the forum and take it literally. What else can we do in the absence of clue giving emojis, tone of voice or facial expressions? That’s why, as the guidelines point out, it’s necessary to consider how other folk will read your words.
I wish you well in your quest for your idyll.👍🏻
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Unfortunately as mention we have seen a lot of changes to how folk camp these days.
The barricading in of one's pitch is just one of the many changes.
Some do it so they don't have to tie up the dog/dogs.
Some do for small children to play safe.
Some do it to prevent folk walking across their pitch.
Others do to shield from the wind 😂😂
Noise will always be there to some extent but UK sites do seem to suffer more from it that other places we travel to. Water hogs, waste masters and the toilet all have to be filled and emptied, it's part of caravanning life, it annoys me when it happens at an inconsiderate hour.
MHs do tend to arrive late and leave early (well some do) I'm not sure if you/CL owner were implying that these folk were coming into the CL and then leaving without paying but if you were then the CL owner is the only one who can prevent that.
A CL we use regular has a padlocked gate, which they ask you to close and lock whenever you go in or out. It can be a bit of a pain at times especially when raining. However it does stop drive bys having a freebie night or waste dump and fill.
Attitudes have changed over the last few years, some blame Covid others say its new comers to the hobby. Whatever it is it can be upsetting if you are pitched next to or near someone who has a selfish attitude to those around them. I have been known on a few occasions to have a word with someone if their TV, music etc it to loud and disturbing others. These days you have to be very careful doing it, in the past it was common for them to say sorry they didn't realise it could be heard and it would be turned down. All quite amicable. Nowadays you are quiet likely to get a mouth full and told to pi** off I can do what I want.
Sign of the times I'm afraid. These days if I feel the need to 'have a word' and think it may be received badly I will leave it to the warden/owner to deal with.
I hope you find some nice places to holiday we certainly have, the good outway the bad thankfully.
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Hi Len, There may be no sites out there that fit you requirements once you include those pesky people int the equation!
You mentioned nor caring about noise during the day, but maybe that’s due to the noise that can irritate only becoming a nuisance when there is no background noise to mask it?
As for the MH V Caravan “thing” we find it a cause for much banter between friends and, so far as we see it there is no difference in the ability of one to annoy the other!We are in Italy at the moment and tend to be up early, well for us, and so we saw a caravan leave at 0650-a Brit-and a week or so ago woke up to find a family had arrived after we had gone to bed with a MH & tent and we had not heard a thing.
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Thank you tammygirl, I completely agree with what you say. I long ago grew a thick skin as a caravaner especially when traveling. We have caravanned all over Britain, it does sometimes feel like we have been everywhere. We also have had a couple of touring holidays in France. And as you say the good does outweigh the bad otherwise we wouldn't continue to do it. The attitudes of people clearly have changed, it's not that I think that people were friendlier but they were certainly not so uptight. As you say a sign of the times. Thanks again.
Nighttime crossing to IOW doesn't seem to outlandish at £150 but the daytime's a bit steep at £326.
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Hi Alanandjean Thanks for the reply, all very salient points. I would love to travel to Italy but we do work with a few Italian companies and I know I would end up working. I'm betting temperatures are in the 40s right now. Either way sounds lovely, have great holiday.
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LenW said:-
Nighttime crossing to IOW doesn't seem to outlandish at £150 but the daytime's a bit steep at £326.
When visiting the IOW always best to book site and ferry at the same time as you will get a big discount off the regular fare. Southampton/East Cowes is probably the best value route. If you decide to use the Club site called Southlands, book the site and then ring the Club to get a deal on the fare. Nearly all the sites on the IOW, and probably quite a few of the CL's will also be able to offer a discounted fare. Until they build a bridge to the IOW unfortunately the cost of the ferry, even if you get a good deal, does make it an expensive place to visit. Having said that its still worth a visit.
David
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