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!!
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!!