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Andy
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Ken
Tom
Trudi
Contact Us:
General
Family Album
Holiday Diaries
Andy
Amateur Radio
Archery
Computing
Professional Details
Role Playing
Art Narrative (MGH)
Ken
Tom
Trudi
We know what you're thinking. You're thinking 'but they've already had one holiday this year', and we have. But around June 2007 we bought ourselves a caravan and some accessories, added a tow bar to the family car and joined the ranks of the slow moving holiday makers that hold the rest of the world up during the summer season. So it follows that we had to get away and test it in anger. After VHF National Field Day and a weekend in Somerset which was less than ideal from a test perspective as the weather conditions were such that the campsite didn't allow the awning to be put up we managed to get a hard standing pitch at the Woodovis Campsite near Tavistock in Devon for a week. Woodovis is a relatively small family friendly site that accepts dogs provided that they are kept under control. There is a dog walking area on site, indoor pool, outdoor play area, indoor games room and small on site shop. The shop can provide freshly baked croissants in the morning but we felt the cost of this was too steep to do this every day so we only used this facility as a treat.
OK so it's time to get the rig on the road. Journey times are naturally longer when towing the 'van than if we were running without, and we weren't really prepared with the correct mindset. With hindsight, or perhaps with the benefit of experience from this journey, we should plan the stops more carefully. Andy is convinced that we could have stopped less often with a little more forethought. Anyway we made it and had our first go at putting up the awning. Not too bad, the most confusing part was the bedroom annexe which came without instructions, but this add on to the awning which provides Kens bedroom has only a limited number of poles so the possible combinations which provided a practical layout were limited. Later in the week we were to purchase several rolls of coloured insulation tape so that we could colour code the various poles.
We put the annexe at the draw bar end of the 'van as there was space here created by the need to keep the draw bar within the pitch boundary. After a week of living in the 'van and awning we were to come to the conclusion that we should have put the annexe to the rear of the van near to the door. This is because what happens in reality is that the space between the 'van door and the entrance to the awning becomes a pathway in which it is impractical to place tables and chairs. Equally the area immediately outside the bedroom annexe also becomes a movement area, the combination of which reduces the effective lounge space to something a little smaller than is comfortable. Anyway we live and learn but as the 'van is only 16' or so overall including the draw bar most pitches will have ample room to the rear of the van to allow for the annexe extension without running into the problems of infringing our boundaries. We can always put Toms pup tent in the space adjacent to the draw bar in any case.
Can anyone explain to us the logic of the charging system that applies at almost all campsites we have researched to date. We can understand the per night charge for the use of the pitch, this is perfectly logical. We can also understand the need to levy a charge or charges related to the number of adults and children in the party since quite clearly the number of people present has an impact on the amount of water, electricity and so forth that they will use. Fine no problem so far, even to having to pay extra to take Baloo with us since any park that has set aside dog walking space has effectively reduced its potential revenue by providing these facilities. But why, can someone explain to us does it cost any more to put an awning on the side of our 'van or indeed have a pup tent outside the 'van and awning but within the boundaries of the pitch. After all, we've paid for the pitch and the occupants, what possible difference does it make whether we choose to have a small 2 berth 'van and augment our living space with an awning and pup tent or if we choose to turn up in a 26' multi berth behemoth. In fact if we were to take our party to most sites under our present arrangements we end up paying more than if we were to take the same party in a 26' six berth twin axle rig that would need to be towed by some major 4x4. Where's the logic? Just how can our 16' 0.75tonne (unladen) two berth rig towed by a mundane 2litre diesel family car be any more demanding on the site or the environment as a whole than a 26' 1.5tonne (unladen) twin axle rig towed by a 3tonne 4x4 but which on site doesn't have recourse to an awning or pup tent? Please tell us if you know because we would really like to find out about this.
OK, so enough ranting. It's good to get that out in the open, but the main purpose of this page is to talk about what we did so let's get back to the line of the narrative! The weather is something we are predictably more sensitive to than when in chalets or holiday homes. Although the caravan gives us a greater level of protection from the elements than a tent or even a trailer tent or folding camper could we never the less have to consider the elements. Today had been showers and very windy, and we were quite lucky to have a reasonably dry spell and sheltered pitch to put everything up. This week was to turn out a very wet and quite windy period which was not that great from the perspective of the holiday, but very good from the point of view of testing the rig.
We had registered with UK Campsite web site and had, on the recommendation of a number of members ordered some "rock pegs" from Towsure. Whilst they seem to have satisfied many on the web site forums our experience was less than impressive and their prices turn out to be only just competitive. We had ordered 2 packs of "rock pegs" each of which would include a hammer. The total cost was only about the same as we could have achieved at Highbridge Caravans. Yes, the Towsure ones come in a nice little zip pouch and include a hammer, but the pouch is a luxury and the hammer is a claw hammer and relatively light rather than being a decent lump hammer that would be much more valuable in sinking pegs into a hard standing pitch. Anyway the goods just arrived in time for our departure, except that there was only one pack not two. There was no chance that the second lot would make it so we cancelled the remaining part of the order and resolved to pick up anything extra that we might need at a local caravan dealer.
Overnight the wind really got up and we felt that the awning was at risk despite the "rock pegs" and we resolved to go out and get a extra pack, which we did at a local outlet. Although these didn't include a hammer they did come in a nice zip wallet so we now have two zip wallets allowing us to separate "rock pegs" from the conventional pegs for the awning. We have also bought a decent lump hammer from a local hardware store since returning, but this is getting ahead of ourselves.
So, with Tavistock the closest major town it was a quick trip in to the nearest Supermarket to provision for a few days. It was also an opportunity to get a few things that we would leave in the 'van on a permanent basis to make the future getting away for the weekend more of a case of simply pack a bag and go. Plus there was the usual round of things that we either forgot to do or simply ran out of time for that had to be attended to.
Andy was about to go out after lunch and get some extra "rock pegs". However as he was driving out of the site Chris and Derek (Trudi's parents) rode in. They'd decided to brave the weather and head down to the site on their scooter from home in the Bristol area to see what the new rig looked like. We think they were reasonably impressed, and to be frank Andy wasn't about to take too much notice of what they thought in any case! So they spent the afternoon with us which led to a bit of a change of plan. Anyway we had a good time showing them round along with demonstrating the USB TV Tuner that we use on Trudi's laptop to get terrestrial freeview transmissions on the 'vans amplified antenna, all good fun. After they departed for the trip back Andy completed his search for "rock pegs" and added some more anchorage to the awning.
Being a Wednesday the South Bristol Amateur Radio Club meet, where Andy is one of the registered Foundation Instructors so Tom and Andy headed back to Bristol. Although they could have stayed up there for the night and travelled back on Thursday morning, they chose to return on the Wednesday night getting back around 23:30Hrs.
Boy, did it rain today. Really fell from the heavens. We were drenched just moving from shop to shop in Tavistock. After we'd dealt with things there we returned to the site to dry off.
However the intense rain passed over early and we headed into Plymouth for lunch, and after a wander around the city centre took the ferry across to Mount Edgcumbe Country Park for the afternoon.
We headed out to Lydford Gorge today. The weather was kind to us although the previous few days rain left it a little damp underfoot. Being a river gorge with some quite spectacular waterfalls the rain did ensure that there was quite a lot of flowing water to watch.
That night we walked into Chipshop. Chipshop is a village not an emporium, Chipshop doesn't actually have a chip shop. In fact Chipshop doesn't have very much at all. What it does have, however, is a rather nice pub serving good food. We went to The Chipshop Inn, who were very good to us and managed to fit us in despite not having made any sort of reservation. Whilst walking back late after our meal we were surprised to see a trailer tent leaving presumably on it's way home. After some thought we decided that the owners had taken advantage of the dry spell which started around mid morning to pack up in the dry rather than risk packing up a wet tent with the threat of rain on Saturday.
Knowing that Saturday was the regular changeover day we elected to stay and relax on the site, taking advantage of the swimming pool and games room, rather than mix it with all of the incoming and outgoing traffic, after all despite the weather this is high summer in holiday Devon.
Another National trust property, as members we enjoy free entry to most of these attractions. This time we chose to visit Cothele near Saltash. The estate is very large and the attractions around the restored quay, including the restored watermill, probably as interesting as the main house. Dogs are allowed within the grounds but not the house and so we didn't visit the main house.
The simple truth is that this write up is occurring some considerable time after we actually had the holiday and we can't remember what happened today. Neither Andy nor Tom have any photographs that can be traced to activities on this day so we are at something of a loss. It would be nice to think that something special occurred today but truthfully the lack of photographs suggests that this was just one of those lazy days.
And so it was time to head home. We'd learnt a few things about holidays in the caravan, proved that everything worked and added a few accessories on the way (such as 12v lighting in the awning). Packing away was a bit of a test, we couldn't quite get everything back into the bags it came out of but we managed to get it away after a fashion. One of the advantages of the 'van is that you can get away with just chucking stuff inside and sort it out at a later date.
No doubt we will settle into a routine as we use the 'van more over the coming years and get into an "everything in it's place" mentality, although there are those who will find that harder to achieve than others!
