1st ever trip out - could have gone getter !!!

Dec 2, 2009
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Sorry for the length of this, but felt I just had to post.

Thursday lunch time saw us setting off for our 1st trip with the caravan we bought in September of last year. We were staying at a dog agility competition on what can only be described as a sloping field just outside of Barnard Castle. We thought that this would be a good 1st outing, as we only live 20 minutes or so away - just in case we needed to pop home for anything. After the weather we had had earlier in the week we drove to the site 1st to check that it would be OK. The site wasn't too bad & was drying nicely in the stiff breeze. Just to be sure we had checked the local weather forecast - dry & cold on Friday, gray with drizzle Saturday morning with brighter intervals in the afternoon, dry & bright Sunday - not too bad.

We arrived on site with the caravan at about 3.30pm & started to set-up. Well, the dealer had showed us how everything worked - about 5 months ago. We also had a full awning to erect for the 1st time . With having to exercise the dogs etc, if I say that we got our meal at about 9.30 at night, you might get some idea of how things went! Little things like:

Why does the oven not work when the glass lid over the hob is down? I understand that there's an interlock so that you can't turn the hob burners on when the lid is down, but why does it lock the oven out too? (20 minutes to figure out)

Why did Swift have to hide the control for the Truma water heater in plain sight? I mean, putting it in the middle of the wall by the electric controls for the space heater . :) ? (1/2 an hour searching the van for something staring us in the face)

Where on earth is the switch for the main ceiling light? It can't be that little black circle on the side of the light fitting which looks like a screw hole - can it? (another ´ hour).

I can only say that apart from anything that runs off 240V, we now know where everything is & how it works - fridge, heater, lights, hob, oven, water system, cassette toilet, gas bottles.. etc. etc.

Friday worked out pretty well, weather was good during the day & the dogs ran well in the agility competition. We were very surprised at how quickly they got used to the caravan. They slept with their beds on the floor the 1st night with no problems. The only tricky bit was me trying to navigate to the bathroom at 03.00 without stepping on 1 of them - 1 can of lager too many maybe :)

We had forgotten a few essential items (pillows, my shaver, frozen chips..), so as we only live 20 minutes away I nipped home in the van to pick them up. As I got back to the caravan, it started raining..heavily... and it rained on & off (mostly on though) until after lunch on Saturday. All Saturday competition suspended as it was too dangerous. & our bit of the field got pretty wet. Some people close to us with 4x4's decided to pack up & go home - only to get completely bogged down in the mud & tear up the field for everybody else. The organisers asked everybody not to move their vehicles unless absolutely essential, as we were in danger of getting everybody stuck.

The rain showers continued on & off through Saturday afternoon & evening, but Sunday morning came & it was dry. However, the field where we were has about 6" deep in mud & with 3 active border collies, this was a nightmare. People close by were packing up, so we decided to do the same too. The organisers had been in touch with the field owners, & to save some of the damage caused by people trying to drive themselves out, he agreed to tow anybody out who wanted to leave. He had a large tractor & an old Landrover Disco with very heavy mud & snow tyres. We managed to get the van roughly in front of the caravan, used boards to roll the caravan up behind the van so we could hitch up, then he hooked a towrope to the towing eye on the front of the van & towed us out as a complete unit - now that was a strange feeling!!!

Not the best start to our caravanning career, but an educational one!!!

Now, does anybody know the best way to get mud off a wet awning?

Cheers,

Jim

PS thanks for sticking with this & reading to the end!!
 
Aug 12, 2007
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Wow, talk about being thrown in at the deep (and muddy!!) end! Welcome to the adventurous world of caravanning. You did more or less what we all do when we first start (and still do a lot of the time, even after years of experience!) - but you survived the first time and will go on to have many more happy (and eventful!) trips out. Well done.
 
Dec 2, 2009
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Thanks for the encouragement Soozeeg, we-re off again to Scotland not the weekend coming, but the next - another agility competition where we'll be pitched in a field! Then the weekend after that we're off to the Lake District for a week - hardstanding on a CL that time though - must buy some rock pegs.

Just hoping that the awning will be dry in time to go away again... and how do I get mud off it?????

Cheers,

Jim
 
Aug 12, 2007
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I should have said, regarding your awning....don't leave it folded up wet inside the bag for any length of time, as it will very quickly get mould on it. If you haven't already, take it out, open it up and spread out somewhere to dry - the garage is ideal if you can't do it outside. If it's a dry day though, specially a breezy one, lie it on the lawn or put it over the washing line. Once it's dry, the mud should come off fairly easily with a good brushing, or a damp cloth.

Hope this helps.
 
Dec 2, 2009
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I zipped the panels out of the awning & I've already got them dry on the rotary washing line. Ive slung ropes from the garage roof rafters & I've got the main body of the awning hanging from them, so hopefully that'll be dry in a day or 2... then I'll try brushing the mud off as you suggest.

Thanks again,Jim
 
Aug 12, 2007
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I zipped the panels out of the awning & I've already got them dry on the rotary washing line. Ive slung ropes from the garage roof rafters & I've got the main body of the awning hanging from them, so hopefully that'll be dry in a day or 2... then I'll try brushing the mud off as you suggest.

Thanks again,Jim
You're welcome, Jim.
 
Jul 15, 2006
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We passed the dog agility field twice at the weekend, once going to the Lakes and once coming back. I don't envy you there with all that mud!!
 
Jan 19, 2008
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I was expecting to read at the end of the thread that you'd now sold your caravan Jim :O)

I can't say I've ever been in that situation but I usually take the easy option and use sites with hardstandings although we do use grass in the summer.

Don't let it get you down Jim, it can only get better from now on .. heh! heh! heh!
 
Dec 2, 2009
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They say that muds's good for the complexion - strange, I got splattered with so much you just wouldn't believe it - & I'm still just as ugly !!!! Here's looking forward to the weekend after next when we repeat the exercise - if the weather's bad this time it'll be Scottish mud - let's see if that helps :)
 
Dec 2, 2009
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We passed the dog agility field twice at the weekend, once going to the Lakes and once coming back. I don't envy you there with all that mud!!
Hi Oklahoma, Just curious, on your way to the Lakes, do you take the caravan through Kirby Stephen? What's it like driving up the hill at the far side with all of the cars parked along 1 side of the road? We're off to the lakes in 3 weeks time, & that's the way I would normally go, but SWMBO isn't keen & wants to follow the A66 all the way to the M6

Thanks,

Jim
 
Mar 18, 2009
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Hi Jim

I had a wee laugh because last year i went down to the lake district and picked up my caravan,

then stopped at a site a bit north, and experianced the same problems, cooker, heater, water etc, but i really think it was the best way to suss out the van and like yourself you soon find out,

I think you will notice a big difference when you go to site with hard standings and flat it will be a doddle for you,

Rab
 
Jan 1, 2010
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Hi Oklahoma, Just curious, on your way to the Lakes, do you take the caravan through Kirby Stephen? What's it like driving up the hill at the far side with all of the cars parked along 1 side of the road? We're off to the lakes in 3 weeks time, & that's the way I would normally go, but SWMBO isn't keen & wants to follow the A66 all the way to the M6

Thanks,

Jim
Jim

Trucks under 17 ton use it all the time, they are 8 foot wide, so you will have no problems.
 
Jul 15, 2006
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Jim

Trucks under 17 ton use it all the time, they are 8 foot wide, so you will have no problems.
Hi

We go Kirkby Stephen way if we're going to the southern Lakes, this weekend it was Keswick so we went A66 all the way. The road IS narrow when all the cars are parked along one side which tends to be most of the time. Hubby has had no problem getting through though with care. The only time we had a problem was when a bus broke down on that narrow bit and then EVERYONE was having a problem.
 
Feb 8, 2009
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Ahhhh but you had a story to tell, a long story...A weekend at home watching the rain out the window........no story..no adventure.
 
Feb 25, 2008
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Yes, I know the feeling, You are given all the "training" and feel confident when you take the 'van out of the dealers yard, but six months later when you have to put it into practice it's a different story.

Regarding cleaning the mud from your awning, I solved this by obtaining a length of channel and fixing it to the soffit on the side of my garage. Now upon our return and on a suitable day I can errect it and clean it (and dry it out) at my leisure.

Michael - Derbyshire
 
Mar 24, 2009
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So it wasn't exactly like the caravan adverts, smiling parents with their smiling children, not forgetting the dog chasing a ball in the sunshine, and the parents sat drinking wine and barbecueing.....

Nobody said it would be easy!!! But it will be next time.
 
Dec 2, 2009
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Hi All,

Thanks for the replies & the encouragement....Somebody said to us it must have been a baptism of fire - well, it would have been............only the rain put the flames out & the mud wouldn't burn :)

We're off again in just over a week for a weekend just outside of St Andrews, then a week later after we're off to the Lakes for a week - this time on a CL. Don't get me wrong, we're still looking forward to both trips & if all goes to plan we'll get something like 51 nights away this year. We're not going to back away just because the 1st trip away wasn't quite as smooth as SWMBO would have liked it.

Cheers,

Jim
 
May 21, 2007
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JimD

Your thread made me laugh. So many memories. The fact that you told the tale, makes you and family real caravanners. I'm sure your next trip will be better.

Welcome to the exciting world of caravanning. Bet you can't wait for barbacue weather.
 

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