Farewell to Caravanning
After 50 years caravanning (on and off but regularly for the past 22 years) we have sadly sold our caravan and given up the hobby. I look out of the window to where the caravan stood and see, well, grass! Health but primarily mobility difficulties have made us make this decision which took us a number of years to actually confirm. We shall miss the independence of caravanning; normally over the past 20 yrs on the continent with trips out of season of 6 weeks; never booking (except ferries) and following the weather. We now have to decide on a format of holiday that will be ok for a couple of oldies who hate long haul flights and being organised, there will be something out there for us.
Best wishes to all. David and Jeni (AKA Commeyras which, by the way, is the hamlet near St Chinian where we used to live!)
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Sorry to hear that, David and Jeni - and wish you well for the future. I suppose it's a decision that all of us will have to make and whilst we're not there yet, we're having to modify how we do things with the van because of mobility issues. I'm sure you'll find something equally as rewarding.
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Similar situation here. Health isn't what it once was but we're not selling the van; we're going to keep it in the garden and use it as a 'garden room'/spare bedroom/kitchen - great for power cuts.
Best wishes to you both.
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David
It was a decision we made earlier in the year for similar reasons. If it becomes a struggle there is little point carrying on. Like you we face the empty space at the bottom of the garden everyday so not so easy to forget! About 15 years ago when I had my hip replaced the whole process was complete and I was back at the wheel only months after the operation. Margaret is now in a similar situation, but seems to be in more pain than I was and she will be lucky to get an appointment to see the consultant in six months and the operation could be a year or two away.
I am sure you will find alternatives but it probably won't be the same. We gave up at the end of May and because there have been so many other things going on we haven't even thought seriously about going away. Perhaps we need to be more determined?
Good Luck with what you decide to do next.
David
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I have to say, we are finding things more difficult than we used to.... especially my wife, who is suffering from arthritis - in need of replacement hips and knees. Of course, this means there are more things for me to do.
Traditionally, out of season, we have done lots of short 3-night stays. I'm beginning to wonder if there is a way to do less of the 3-nighters in preference for longer stays. Something we have to work out....
We're not seriously thinking of giving up, but I do wonder if there is a 'more efficient way' of organising things...
David
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We also made this decision at the end of June. I was finding it increasingly difficult to deal with the caravan, and this year's lousy weather meant that we had only used the van for one week. However my main concern was the rapid depreciation with the advent of pure electric "cars". I don't see a long term future for caravanning so wanted to get rid whilst I could still get something for it. Also sold the towcar and downsized to a mild hybrid petrol car.
Bye everyone.............
Paul
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We gave up short stays years ago it just wasn't worth the effort and looking back was all rush we gave up both, now we do nothing less than 10 days and absolutely no rushing the first day will be travelling and setting the caravan up often the awning will be done the next day, our first holiday now is renting a cottage somewhere we wouldn't normally take the van this will be for 7 nights, this year hasn't been great with health problems and the weather so the van hasn't had its normal use but it's there on the drive ready for next year it's paid for itself many times over with the fun times and holidays it's given us and I'm sure there will be many more.
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Soon be more retired caravanners and motorhomers on this forum than active ones!!!! I wonder if the comment by Nutsy about EV's is more prevalent than we think and its starting to make a lot of members worry about the future, despite that probably being some years away? Don't forget there is no need to move away from the forum should you want to make a post in the off topic section or even provide help from all that knowledge built up over the years. Emeritus members perhaps?
David
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Luckily our health is good although at the moment we are both suffering from a cold!
Whilst we do try to get away in the caravan as much as possible and use it all through winter, 'holidays' to us are ones taken by plane and time away in the caravan is simply a nice break.
We gave up with 3 day breaks many years ago, as my wife says, quite rightly, than the packing required is just the same as for a longer break. We only ever go away when the weather forecast is good, book at the last minute and stay away with no fixed duration in mind.
I don't believe I'll be towing the caravan in 10 years time but I hope we will still be exploring abroad, all our long haul destinations need to be achieved in the next 5 -10 years. Our future plans definitely don't include a pod on a Club site.
All the best Commeyras with whatever you decide. You still have your memories.
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We gave up caravanning some years ago as we were fed up with all the faff of connecting, disconnecting, pitching up etc. We swapped to motorhomes, now on our second. Whilst at times we miss having the car we generally much prefer the Motorhome. Arrive on site, set up and kettle on with in 10minutes. We enjoy the flexibility of touring, albeit only in the uk. We do more short trips than we did with the caravan and consequently go away more. Our longer trips often involve only staying one night at a stop, visiting attractions on the way. We are in our 70s with various medical issues including more limited mobility but at present the Motorhome is allowing us to keep going with holidays we enjoy.
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I know we will be facing this dilemma in the not too distant future. For now health, mobility and desire to keep going holds that inevitable decision at bay. Long may it last. I don’t like it but reality is beginning to dawn and the thought is there. However, given a ‘fair wind’ we will enjoy motorhoming for as long as we can, I think caravanning may have precipitated an earlier finish though. Maybe holidaying in another form may appear, just don’t know what that will look like,mind.
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David
Still hanging about on the forum.
The future of EV's, and therefore towing a caravan larger than a garden shed is entirely in the hands of politicians and their decisions, which seem to vary by the hour. My point really was that the second hand trade for caravans will decline and the value of your van will follow the downward trend. Its only going one way.
I bought my Bailey new in 2015 - £22k less trade-in of my old Swift, so net around £16K. 9 years later, with full service history, 5 new tyres and many internal replacements (shower, carpets and such) I got £6k. That was after trying several trade purchasers who just weren't interested.
Every annual service with the main Bailey dealer confirmed "no damp". However that was untrue - I witnessed the damp testing by the purchasing dealer. He went into obscure places in the dark and unreachable corners with a damp meter exactly the same as that used by the main dealer - model numbers quoted on the service sheets were exactly the same as he used. Damp in a number of places around the wheel arches, door, bathroom.
Whilst the walls, roof etc are alutech, the floor is plywood. Water runs down the walls and soaks into the plywood. I went underneath the van with him - there were several places where the plywood was so soft I could push my fingers in. That reduced the original offer of £9k by £3k to pay for floor replacements in several places - fortunately not under the kitchen, otherwise it would have been a write off.
Our main use was really going down to Spain in the winter, and France in summer, both for longish holidays. I no longer feel that I can drive such long distances which was one catalyst for selling - we just don't do wet,cold weather caravanning in the UK which restricts usage. Towcar was coming up for some BIG bills in the next 12 months also.
After numerous "not interesteds"I got to the stage that I just wanted the van off my drive, and was glad to get at least something for it.
Best wishes
Paul
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As we get older I can see the attraction of a motorhome over the caravan but on balance the caravan still suits us better. I do see the pint that with electric cars likely to be forced on us caravans might die a death my feeling is that the potential range will increase with further research and with their extra weight they will in fact become better tow cars and could reverse the current trend. Time will tell but for me the current outfit will probably be my last.
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Our van had its 16th birthday earlier this year, so we are wondering how much longer both it and we will keep going.
We looked at MHs back in 2016, OH was keen, I was not, and in the end we bought a new tow car in 2017. It will do us for as long as we have a van to tow. However OH is now thinking a camper van would let us have more short trips, but prices of vans are presently ruling that out.
I think our shortest trip in the last 20 years was 6 nights, we have done up to 4 months in the past, but now we are not going abroad it is usually a max of 5 weeks for a trip, and this year only 3 weeks max and 6 weeks in total, our lowest since we returned to Caravanning in 1998.
Assuming the van is still OK we plan at least another year, as long as WE hold together!
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We started to give up caravanning 20 years ago - just cutting back and winding down gently as we travelled in other ways and to other places. We completely gave up touring with a caravan in the UK about that time, but continued all over western Europe for many years.
A motorhome was never in the picture - it would have been a financial millstone round our necks and would never have let us go where we wanted to go. A small push around caravan was dead easy, equipment was always minimal, and a motorhome would have been more trouble for our lifestyle, not less.
But then we found the wider world out there and so we carried on touring there too, just in other ways.
Good wishes to all. Take your chances while you can.
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Interesting the comments about the state of the market. When we decided to give up motorhoming we sold the van back to our dealer. By then the silly prices being asked had started to decline. One of the "We buy Anything" advertisers wasn't interested so that was when we decided to sell it back to the dealer. We obviously took a hit on what we paid for it five years earlier but on reflection I feel we got a reasonable deal. That was back at the end of May and as far as I can see they have not been successful in selling it yet!
We found motorhoming much simpler and less stressful than caravanning despite having done the former for over 30 years. The downside of course is when you start to get mobility issues you become a bit captive if using campsites. I suppose had we never had a motorhome we might have carried on a bit longer with the caravan but we have never been ones to sit around on a campsite for days on end.
David
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David
The dealer we purchased both our original Swift, and the later Bailey from (Oxford / Swindon Caravans) was my first port of call -they gave me a trade value of £11k (hah!) but weren't interested in purchasing it. Of all the 2nd hand purchasers advertising on line and in the club magazine only one would buy it, results as above. Without exception the first thing they all said was "subject to a detailed damp test", but then never turned up.
I have come to the conclusion that caravan dealers are worse than car dealers, and that is saying something.
Paul
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Paul
I suspect the motorhome market is a bit different to caravans as there are far fewer of them despite sales in recent years being very buoyant. As I understand things a lot of caravan dealers (also applies to some motorhome dealers/brands) still have stocks of 2023/24 models unsold on which they are offering big discounts. So even if a used caravan has no damp and is perfect in all respects you can't judge the price against the original list price but the discounted price. Then of course there is the dealer margin to contend with so it doesn't take long for the price offered, especially as a straight sale back, to have no relationship to what was originally paid. I have sort of worked out a formular for what you might be offered for a motorhome and that suggests that a dealer will pay about 80% of what he thinks he can sell it for. That certainly seems to be the case for the two motorhomes we have owned.
David
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We tried to sell our caravan earlier this year. It was truly one of the best we have owned in well over 30 years and were sorry to have to put it up for sale. However, we found the same problem as Paul.
In the end we were surprised but delighted when the Campervan dealer agreed to take it, and the car, in p/x. They offloaded both car and caravan before we'd left their premises on hand over day.
We tried every avenue to sell both individually but without success and in the end took a small hit on the value to get rid of it. This seems to bear out what others have said in trying to sell their s/hand units.
We miss the caravanning but it was totally impractical for our current circumstances so no point crying over spilt milk.
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All the best commeyras👍
It’s a obviously been a big year for folks having a re think, and many sadly giving up. Our situation is totally different, we are mainly fit enough to get away, but cannot because of caring commitments, and I throw a very elderly dog into the mix as well. We are surviving on days out at the moment.
Options still open for us. We have a cheap to run MH always ready to roll, so it will be back to short breaks and me commuting when we lose the hound. Beyond that, we still have our old caravan which again costs us nothing, it isn’t even insured. Doesn’t need much beyond time and a bit of effort and some new tyres, to get rolling again, and then we shall probably use it as a seasonal, popping down, or up somewhere when we can, or back to towing it to some events with the Jeep. A couple of years spent touring overseas doing things like rail journeys, maybe tour France, Spain in MH.
Jill, using the caravan in the garden sounds a great idea. We cannot get ours into our big garden, as the garage is full width across the drive, but I would love our old van as a craft workshop.
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So sorry to hear of those that are having to give up touring for whatever reason. Thankfully we both are fit enough to continue with getting away on a regular basis, and hopefully that will be the case for a few more years yet, although perhaps not as often as we have over the years since I retired.
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TDA said:- Jill, using the caravan in the garden sounds a great idea. We cannot get ours into our big garden, as the garage is full width across the drive, but I would love our old van as a craft workshop.
You could always get it craned over the garage and into the back garden. No idea how much it would cost? A lot of people built boats in their back gardens and had to have them craned out, usually over the house!!!
David
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I don’t think they would get a big enough crane down our tiny street to be honest😁 It’s still got plenty of life left in it as well. I have done craft fairs, other events in it sometimes.
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In June, we too decided to give up caravanning after almost 42 years. Covid restrictions accompanied by a great boost in motorhomes, dashing around the NC500 spoiled our usual pilgrimage to the Scottish Highlands. The final straw was the construction of a car park AND parking meters at the top of the Quiraing Road on Skye - things will never be the same.
We decided to try self-catering cottages with a packing list just as long as our long-tested caravan packing list. We hope to be visiting regions in the UK where we haven't visited before, mainly because there hasn't been a convenient CAMC site. Not really missing all the preparation, packing, cleaning of caravan and car.
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Not really missing all the preparation, packing, cleaning of caravan and car.
Totally agree there TomL, this was one of my pet bug bears with our caravan. We stopped a couple of years ago now and we haven’t missed it at all. We have been to a few cottages that have been really beautiful and also without having to worry about the weather driving there! We will be off to cottage in the Lakes in a couple of weeks, hopefully there won’t be any named storms coming up!
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When I read of contributors to this forum, many of whom have been posting for a good many years, giving up caravanning makes me realise how time rushes by and sooner or later it's going to hit me too. However, I'm thankful to be able to continue touring for the time being without any serious signs of having to take things easier in the foreseeable future. I can well imagine how difficult the decision is when it comes and I can only wish those that have had to make the break all the very best and that they are able to enjoy life even without a caravan/motorhome.
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Good luck with whatever you decide to do in the future, David and Jeni.
My hubby has decided he doesn't want to go away any more on whatever type of holiday so I am going to do some on my own. I had a week at Warwick Race Course in August that was a great success with my son in law towing the caravan for me, and another week booked near Cromer last week which had to be cancelled for hospital appointments for hubby.
I am also looking in to other types of holiday but I can't seem to summons up the enthusiasm which I have always had for caravanning.
So, it is a case of keep it until the spring and then decide what to do.
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Sorry to hear of the problem, I would hate to give up holidays even when or touring days are over. If it helps my mother who is 100 has still had two holidays this year although with a lot of help. To me they are essential to your well being.
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