How many people cannot reverse their caravan ?
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A situation to be avoided if possible by not using narrow roads where possible. For instance I would not tow a car when touring Scotland and I always check access to sites avoiding those miles down narrow roads, but if the need arose I would do exactly as mickysf.
peedee
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There are thousands of miles in Scotland where towing is absolutely fine it’s knowing where and when not to. We do the bulk of the tour up and around towing. I’d say 90% of the time spent hitched up and some unhitched I could have done if I’d really needed to. Doing this we have visited and stayed at stunning places you would normally only see tents and campervans at.
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Like I posted upthread apart from a few practices over 25 years ago I've never reversed hitched up and I've covered a lot of towng miles..
as one day you will have to.
I would disgaree with that, certainly may have to but not will have too. I always look at my route and wouldn't dream of using a single track or narrow road while towing. I really don't expect to do reverse hitched.
Also if I had to reverse I would proabaly use the motor mover anyway. Once we couldn't get back into our street due to a party nearby and a lot of parked cars making it very tigh for towing on the curve, rather than risk towing we used the mover going forward and it manged the 400 metres with no probelm.
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I think you've been extremely lucky especially with the amount of traffic these days, I have had to reverse several times perhaps it's just bad luck or the location of the sites I use but I'm glad I can reverse our outfit confidently rather than trust to luck when I'm on the road but I will always use the motor mover at home and on the site for convenience.
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I don't consider myself lucky at all and don't trust to luck to look after myself, I've always found the harder I plan/work the luckier I've become.
I'm in the fail to plan is to plan to fail mentality and I as I posted (and others) if one looks at the route and makes sure it is suitable then reversing very probably won't happen and if it did the mover will get used - always, and I certainly wouldn't be pushed into reversing if I thought it was anyway dangerous or could lead to damage.
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One tip I learned many years ago is to place your hand at the bottom of your steering wheel and move the wheel in the direction you want the caravan to go.
So if the trailer needs to go to the left push the wheel that way. And vice versa. With a bit of practice it becomes quite intuitive.
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I'm surprised that some in this forum manage to plan their routes avoiding all possible risk of having to reverse with the caravan in tow.
I'll never forget returning home with the caravan when I had a phone call from my wife to pick up something from a shop on the way. I happened to see two adjacent parking bays a bit further down in a side street where I could pull in so I stopped there and walked to the shop. Only when I returned did I discover that it was a dead end due to road works ahead so I had to reverse out on my own on to the main road right in the middle of the evening rush hour.
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I wish you luck then CS the thought of being being confronted by a large impassable vehicle or other obstacle that requires me to move backwards with traffic building up behind me then having to get out of the car unhitch the caravan then use the motor mover to reverse however far backwards then go back for the car hitch up again while other drivers gaze on in disbelief and impatience fills me with dred.
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I’m sure, even those amongst us who can reverse perfectly well, have driven on many sections of roads where not being able to reverse has absolutely nothing to do with one’s ability to do so. Has this stopped the vast majority of caravaners hitting the road? No! I can understand this fear but I’ve personally never experienced, or seen, an issue in all my years and never observed one that has not been resolved. I’m sure it’s happened and It might happen to me yet, but if it does I do have a solution, not ideal but it will solve the problem. We can’t live our lives with such a remote chance dominating our pastime. We can’t assume everyone we meet on the road will be unhelpful, quite the opposite in my experience. We can’t let the numpty and unreasonable amongst us dictate how we live our lives.
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I encountered road works/ closures three times last year, all required me to u-turn/ reverse. Fortunately I was solo but it still can be difficult in confined or busy places. Only a few days ago, I travelled along a road supposedly due to close that day, a Sunday. I just didn't believe they would be working on a Sunday, fortunately I was right and no u-turns were necessary. Before the advent of sat nav it was easy to find yourself taking a wrong turn and encountering a dead end or travelling in the wrong direction requiring a u-turn.
peedee
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+1 there.
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Does it? Why? In my view it's not a situation requiring dread.
But apart from that your situation as described is very unlikely to happen for a number of reasons in my view.
Firstly if there is a large impassable vehicle what is it doing there barring movement on your side of the road, unless one is daft enough to use single track road that should not happen? And even it it did then it's the other vehicle causing the problem.
Secondly there's traffic backed up behind you? So a line of vehicles? And they are going to start backing up? Starting with the one right at the back? I've never seen this happen. As Micky says it's a very remote possibility.
But also as Micky says drivers are far more civilized and helpful than you give them credit for. Keep a cool head and do your best. It's probably safer all round to unhitch and use the mover than push an unsafe situation by reversing and causing damage or accident?
Thanks for the luck but it's not needed, never is really if you plan carefully. That has always worked for me. Plan for the worst and hope for the best.
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I plan very carefully but have had two occasions when an unexpected reverse has been needed with no alternative.
The second was the most dramatic. Following an HGV out of an aire in France the HGV suddenly stopped. The driver exited and started arm waving furiously. Turned out the tight radius at the end of the drive through combined with very high kerbs meant he could not negotiate the bend and would need to reverse out to use the other exit 120m plus back. With cars backed up everyone had to reverse back to let the truck out. I managed it fine just taking my time with OH walking behind and staying in my mirror view. No amount of forward planning could have prevented this and apportioning blame wasn't going to change a thing.
Just because you haven't seen it does not mean it cannot happen. A bit of skill at reversing is no bad thing
Moderator comment: Post edited slightly
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My worst was encountering a council works wagon in Portsmouth.
His reverse would have been mutch shorter and easier but he was being deliberately awkward and simply refused to move.
I had one option which was to reverse into a lane which we had just passed, the car behind me obliged and moved past the lane end and held back the traffic so I could do a right hand reverse into the lane.
I pulled it off slowly but perfectly, made easier because it was on the right and the twin axle caravan we had at the time was easier to reverse than our current single.
As the wagon passed we exchanged 'greetings' with associated 'hand signals'.
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I always love a good reverse, sad I know, but I always get a real sense of "Boom!" when it goes right first time, especially as I have a 7.9m twin axle and especially when people are watching.
I remember on a commercial site a couple of years back, we were on a fully serviced pitch that had a 30' run in between 2 big boulders and planted areas, it was a blind side reverse and there was a couple of vehicles behind me waiting, so no pressure right!. I saw the bloke on the next pitch watching with a schadenfreude look on his face - boom straight in on the first attempt, lined up perfectly. I got out and he came across "f*** me!", he said "that was bloody brilliant!, it took me nearly 40 minutes to get in there, how many times have you done that before!?"
I've also had a few funny comments about reversing up to the hitch single handed using the camera, when they have not realised I had one.
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I'm of the opinion that even a basic level of reversing skill is an essential part of a caravanners 'tool box'
Like others, I use a motor mover most of the time but have had to reverse the caravan on a number of occasions. Two that come to mind was when I took a wrong turn and had to reverse into a farmyard, and the time I got blocked in a motorway service station. I also had to reverse through narrow gates at home once when the motor mover packed up.
I'm lucky that time spent as a boy on my Uncles farm gave me the basics, but I also reverse the caravan whenever I can, and do so onto pitches even if I have to complete the move with the motor mover.
When we bought our first caravan, it was a Saturday and we spent an hour on a deserted business park on the way home reversing around corners, jack knifing, shouting at each other and falling around with laughter. I've often wondered what CCTV footage might have been passed around!
My advice is to do something similar, or get yourself booked on a course.
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We started to practise without a mover long ago in the land of sites with no pegs, 25 miles south of Dover.
First step was reversing into a hedged square 10 metres wide - and we could just about manage that. The beauty of sites like that in France is that you can end up alongside the hedge on one side, or the hedge on the other side, and pretend that’s what you intended. Diagonal angles aren’t frowned upon. Door on the wrong side? No problem either. Warden tut tutting? No warden.
First timers to France this summer can still hone their reversing skills on sites like that. Confidence is what counts . Good luck!
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We witnessed the opposite on a site, reversing when really they should have used the mover. Grass fingers ripped up resulting in a muddy mess around and on the pitch. I’m on a site now and practically every pitch and those grass edges are damaged needing much repair work and looking a tad unsightly and it has relatively wide site roads. The wardens have been doing their best to discourage folk from driving over wet areas but some just do it. Is this a case of not having particularly good reversing skills but just doing it anyway? They must be pulling their hair out!
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I saw the same on a grass pitch next to us a couple of years ago. It had been raining all week, and a bloke in a V8 Range Rover reversed onto the pitch next to us, making deep ruts as he went.
Once he'd stopped, he decided he preferred the pitch opposite and wheel spinned off to do the same there.
The warden had a real go at him, and rightly so. He only stayed one night, and two pitches had to be fenced off.
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