Rooftent Adventures
I began camping in traditional ground tents at a young age with family and friends and have a vast number of great memories from those times. As I grew older and bought my first vehicle, I decided that I wanted to explore the gems that the United Kingdom had on offer. To achieve this, I started looking at rooftents as it would enable me to continue using my vehicle as I have always done, just with the additional height that a rooftent brings. This led me to purchase a Darche softshell tent. A fantastic tent and it allowed me to not only explore the UK, but to also get across into France, Spain, Andorra and Portugal to explore the amazing sights over there too! Whilst incredibly comfortable and a great quality tent, I noticed that my travel usually had me staying in one location for a night and moving on the next day so I wanted to opt for a different tent with a quicker set-up/pack down time. I loved the look, quality and heritage of the Alu-cab range so ended up purchasing an Alu-cab 3R hardshell. I've since continued to explore the UK along with a trip back into France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and across into the Netherlands before returning home to the UK. This is where the ease of set-up/pack down really came into its own!
So that's a little about me and my set-up. I'm excited to hear about what has driven people into the world of rooftents. Be it if you've got a rooftent already or if you're planning on investing in one.
The Caravan, Camping and Motorhome show is just a few days away and there'll be plenty of rooftents to have a look at there. I'll be around on Stand 5070 so if you're around, come and say hello!
Comments
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I said years ago tents should be allowed into the club, cannot see any difference if the tent is attached to side of a van (awning) or in this case the roof of a car, or free standing which a certain number of motor homes use, the other club seems to manage it, but this club is still shows "no tents" on most sites, but sadly they rebuffed the idea, "tents in our club" perish the idea.
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Yes Frank. Turning away people with tents, and refusing non members at many sites too, ,then worrying because site occupancy is falling strikes me as a predictable outcome. Hey ho, not my problem.
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Of course it should be remembered that tents are allowed on some club sites @eurortraveller but only those with a tent pitching area. They are turned away because there is no suitable area for tents to be pitched on.
@Frank128 it makes perfect sense to me that there is a non tents sign if there is nowhere for them to pitch it?
As to refusing non members on some (not the majority of) sites if is not the club's fault and always insisted upon by an outside agency in how the site is to be used. Although why anyone would want to stay as a non member and pay the extra significant amount is beyond me?
This is a club mainly for touring outfits but there are far many more sites than allow tents than club sites, it's not like the club has a monopoly on tent sites, surely people who have a tent can find somewhere as good? Actually perhaps not? As I've said before why does it always have to be a club site?
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Regretfully I am too old to either A) Get down on the ground to sleep in a tent and B) Not nimble enough to climb a ladder into one! I probably missed that boat about 40 years ago😄
David
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I'm not 100% sure on the 'no tents' on sites and whether that translates across to roof tents. I would suspect not, but it's always worth a phone call to the site to double check if you're not sure.
I have seen the ability to book as a 'Rooftent' when booking a touring pitch online so I imagine that covers the above. As a rooftent user, it's nice to be able to specify that I'm in a rooftent on the booking form as it saves any potential confusion when you arrive.
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I cannot for the life of me understand this argument that tents should not be allowed if there is no ‘place’ for them to pitch. That makes no sense to me. After all, what is so fundamentally different between a tent and an awning that precludes their use? What’s more, people do sleep in awnings! Our children did and now our grandchildren. If awnings are allowed then why not tents, I can’t think of a logical and reasonable reason why not, can anyone else?
As for roof tents, same applies, they should be allowed. The only factors involved in any pitching should be related to safety such as the firebreaks. I don’t see a reason for the delay in announcing their inclusion.1 -
Hi everyone, I just wanted to let you know that roof tents can book a touring pitch so can stay at all of our Club campsites. We have over 20,000 touring pitches across our network and these pitches offer the necessary vehicle access, ample space and solid ground conditions.
Edit: Tailgate Tents are also able to be used on our pitches as well as Roof Tents. Roof Tents and Tailgate Tents are only able to be used on pitches, and not on tent fields.
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Rooftents have been allowed for a while, on a standard pitch as well not a tent pitch. We saw a great example at Burrs CP last year, and had a chat with the owner. We considered one for our Jeep back in the early 2000’s, when we used to go to Off Road Rally’s, but couldn’t make one work well with three dogs🤭 We are a bit too old and creaky to be up and down a ladder in the nightly depths nowadays, but see quite a few Tentbox examples around, and not all on 4x4 vehicles. Good news that roof tents are now fine on any pitch👍
Not quite a tent, but on the drool radar should we ever get back to true minimal touring…………
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At 78 I am a bit old for roof tents but I have noticed a few of them on the road of late. They do look a good idea for many and as they can take any pitch suitable for a camper van I see no problem with hem using the sites. If it helps the club pay its way then they should be welcomed.
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Crispy Pancakes and fish fingers came to mind!😉
Seriously the club has come a long way since CT was first launched. Back in the day I remember the protracted discussions about what units were consider okay and those that were not. Motorcaravans were causing quite a stir. Then the correct ways to pitch caused some consternation. Right, left, In, out, its all been shaken up some what since. I remember the discussions about awning or non awning and the idea that fire breaks were really the determining factor as to what was okay. Some will recall this photo and the discussions as to whether it should be allowed on a non awning pitch. Such ‘fun’ then but clarity and common sense rules the day now.
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@Takethedogalong teaching dogs to climb ladders would be a great trick! I often head away with my friends in their Land Cruiser 70 Series (SWB) and they've got an adorable springer spaniel called Lilo. She's a very small springer though so sleeps in the back of the vehicle whilst the humans get the rooftent. In winter, they've got a heated blanket for her to keep her warm. But that's one dog, not three! 😁
I've not seen that Findus camper before but it looks interesting. There's similar models made in Turkey (https://hotomobil.com/en/pickup-campervan) that friends have looked into but then opted for the Alu-cab Khaya Camper. I'm all for rugged campers!
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Yes, there are some great touring options nowadays. We started with a microcamper, that was our everyday car as well, then had a basic caravan, pulled by various Land Rovers. We have slept in back of a few Land Rovers in our time as well. Caravan went and we used a frame tent, but didn’t really like this, too much faffing, so we went for a Vango Ridge tent, until we got a nice but small caravan. We bought another Vango, some kind of roomy geodesic design, as we would still camp occasionally. We have a big Jeep Wrangler, and still like going to off road events, which is where we saw a first roof tent. Open to all sorts of options, but creaking bones and joints catching up with us😁
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I've never understood why tents need a special area on club sites that accept tents. With an old piece of awning carpet under a groundsheet (to stop ripping and to make sleeping more comfortable) most club hard standings are excellent for tents. With an electric bollard close - why do tent campers have to be allocated separate spaces?
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I'm do not use CCC sites but do tents pitch on caravan/MH pitches or do they have their own area?
It has to be said there has been a lot of posts down the years of the difficulty on knocking in awning pegs (and needing rock pegs) in HS pitches so would 'tenters' be happy with that?
If the club does allow tents on caravan/MH HS pitches, would it be the same price as a touring outfit? Personally I should think it should, but again would tenters be happy paying £40 or£50 per night? I assume a tents pay less to pitch on other sites. Is there a viable market out there thats wants to use a club HS or SP?
There are of course some club sites that are very popular it's not all falling occupancy across all sites.
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I think, on C&CC sites in general, @Cornersteady, tents mingle with caravans/MHs on grass pitches but don't use the HS pitches.
(Braithwaite Village C&CC)
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@Frank128 years ago, well the club didn't allow tents on some sites 25 years ago when we joined and far beyond that too but I'm not sure what bus the club has missed and why you think it's trying to catch up now? What evidence is there for that?
The club is primarily a club for caravans, including tent caravans, and MH - that is something with wheels. The other club caters for tents and does things differently and that's a good thing, it means people with touring outfits have a choice? Those with tents have the CCC and other providers as well. But as I posted elsewhere why does it always have to be a club site, unless of course club sites are better in some way? That can't be true can it?
That may change and it wouldn't bother me but are you suggesting that a people using tents would be happy paying around £40 -£60 per night to stay on a club site HS or SP? I suppose it might be cheaper in low season but then it might be too cold for a tent so the higher prices will apply? They could use EHU to heat the tent but there's enough people who complain about heating and awning?
The club is really quite good at finding out what people want on site so I assume they would do some research to see if such a market exists..
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Thanks @Tinwheeler, on my one time visits to a CCC site that was true at Keswick.
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I think CMC sites usually have a higher proportion of hardstandings than C&CC sites. I have no experience but imagine using a tent on hardstanding could be uncomfortable without some extra layers which would not be needed on grass? When we have visited Cambridge we have tended to share our stays between the sites of both clubs. The C&CC site tends to put tents around the perimeter which is all grass and being away from the site roads a bit quieter. For an overnight stay they might just fit them in where there is room.
David
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We have used quite a few tent pitches down the years on CAMC Sites, some no longer available. Lower Wensleydale, Wincanton Racecourse, Tredegar, and some others. The one thing these pitches all had in common was that they were always the furthest away from the loo block………….🙁 The tent pitches at YRP are very nice…..but a long way from the loos🤭
We used to love staying on a mixed tent/van site in Cornwall, you got a lovely interesting mix of outfits. Not a Club Site though. You definitely wouldn’t want to pitch a tent onto the HS pitches at YRP…..horrible uneven gravel last time we were there.
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Basically with the C&CC you book a pitch type and put whatever you have on it. This means all types of units will be mixed in together, although as the wardens will normally allocate your pitch, some selection can be involved. They normally ask you some questions about what you want and try to go with your request, if you do not like the one you are given you can ask for an alternative.
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