Are overall costs killing touring caravans?

[Royston]

Come on Gagakev, I had to smile at your description of canal life, to me 10 days of shear pleasure , just chugging along completly relaxed going into the heart of Birmingham on a canal , no traffice jams or polution just shear peace.Okay their are locks ,part of the fun we had plenty both going up and coming down, the river Severn was a experience, never to be forgotton..

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

To be fair Royston I can understand Kevs complaint.
Just take the Worcester - Birmingham canal for example. At Tardebigge there is a flight of 30 locks in 2.5 miles. B.W. allow you 15 minutes for each lock. That equates to 7.5 hours just to climb them. If you are on holiday you then have to descend them, another 7.5 hours. That's a total of 15 hours to travel 5 miles. Worst of all you have just lost 2 days of your holiday getting virtually nowhere. At over £1k per week hire charges that's a lot of money to travel such a short distance and yes, I accept that initially the working of the locks is novel but after 60 locks in 2 days working your **** off the novelty soon wears thin

Another is the Devizes flight of 16 locks on the Kennet & Avon.

 

[Gafferbill]

I accept that initially the working of the locks is novel but after 60 locks in 2 days working your **** off the novelty soon wears thin

Another is the Devizes flight of 16 locks on the Kennet & Avon.

http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/siteseeker/aspx/details.aspx?id=6120&returnPage=search.aspx

……. Yes but this site is very near Caen Hill Locks and it is great fun for us caravaners to cycle along the towpath and watch the canal boats here

http://www.waterscape.com/in-your-area/wiltshire/places-to-go/86/caen-hill-locks

One mans toil is another mans pleasure

........(no innuendo intended!)

 

[Gagakev]

To be fair Royston I can understand Kevs complaint.
Just take the Worcester - Birmingham canal for example. At Tardebigge there is a flight of 30 locks in 2.5 miles. B.W. allow you 15 minutes for each lock. That equates to 7.5 hours just to climb them. If you are on holiday you then have to descend them, another 7.5 hours. That's a total of 15 hours to travel 5 miles. Worst of all you have just lost 2 days of your holiday getting virtually nowhere. At over £1k per week hire charges that's a lot of money to travel such a short distance and yes, I accept that initially the working of the locks is novel but after 60 locks in 2 days working your **** off the novelty soon wears thin

Another is the Devizes flight of 16 locks on the Kennet & Avon.

Took us (solo) going up the Devizes Caen Hill locks 3 hours 10 min and came down in 2 hours with another boat. Not
bad for first timers but then you also had the other 6 at the top and 7 a bit further on at the bottom. Think we did something like 120 locks up and down in total,
(Just posted piccy's in I'm leaving Post)

 

[Gagakev]

Come on Gagakev, I had to smile at your description of canal life, to me 10 days of shear pleasure , just chugging along completly relaxed going into the heart of Birmingham on a canal , no traffice jams or polution just shear peace.Okay their are locks ,part of the fun we had plenty both going up and coming down, the river Severn was a experience, never to be forgotton..

Hi Royston,
10 DAYS oh no, we gave up a day early and did 6, perhaps it's just me really, I cant/wont sit on a beach or beside a pool for more than 10 minutes, boredom sets in , but will have to admit you do get to see some nice areas, but that bloomin Wiltshire White horse followed us for a good few miles, and it did'nt eat the sugar lump I threw it!!

 

[Royston]

We did the Stourport Ring, Starting at Stoke Prior we had 6 locks Lb before we hit the Tardebigge Flight (30) locks, Then lock free cruising into gas Street Basin(B/ham), waving to the crowds as we chugged to our overnight mooring.
Going through Netherton tunnel 3027 yards long is in itself a experience .
I reckoned we did 137 locks total , river Severn only 4 but these were controlled by the River people.
We had a 65ft long narrow boat 6/8 berth crew 4 adults and two minors , hired the boat from Black Prince Holidays.
Just checked cruising log LB we cleared 32 locks in 5 hours, are we inline for a gold medal!!!!!!!!!!!
The Stourport Ring is classed as an easy trip.
Never once got boored, now towing the caravan is booring.

 

[barrychas]

I always liked the thought of having my own little escape pod on the front drive ready to be off at a moments notice,especially when the temp. hits 29c in October. But that is not to be when family and various health issues constantly invade your diary. So,having to cancel yet another planned break, like the rest of you guys, I too sat down and went over the costs of ownership and quicky came to the conclusion that inflation and general cost of living rising expenses will make this a ridiculously expensive hobby....just think back to the cost of a van ,petrol, insurance and storage 10 years ago,when you could afford it.
Our last trip away was made very pleasurable by the fact that we could find a lovely full faclity quiet site in south Devon, in the high season for £15 per night.What was the biggest shock of all was when adding up all the bills for the 9 day break, it was the £200 spent on petrol !!. Ok. you say that some petrol costs were going to be incurred anyway on a break whether towing or not..but I was planning to take the van abroad next year and am seriously wondering if it will be possible without a second mortgage. I think I will give it a few more years yet before deciding what to do about the continuing ownership of a tourer.
Those of you who have gone for a seasonal pitch ..how much does that cost compared to a year stored in my secure site @ £400

 

[Dustydog]

Due to two family bereavements in the last three weeks we have had to take the Wyoming to Hampshire and Birmingham at very short notice. We've been at the CC Chapel Lane site for 10 days and have 11 to go. The cost is so much cheaper than a B&B plus we have the two Springers to consider.
Five day tours with Shearings does not float my boat and I feel I am just a bit too old to go to back to camping.
Overall my daily cost of caravanning is still cheaper than a two week holiday flying to Spain etc.
Those who only caravan two or three weeks a year will probably find it cost abortive.

 

[DomDom]

Not sure if it's just me or if I am actually seeing this. It seems as if there are people who expect to spend some money on buying a caravan and then have FREE holidays for ever more. Ahem, that'll be a resounding "No" then.
Breaking news just in. Caravan holidays cost money!! Would you believe it ??? In the same way as hotels don't give away free rooms, airlines don't give away free flights and the one you must all have noticed, the oil companies don't give away fuel for free, well caravan sites aren't free, servicing isn't free, storage, fuel, yadda yadda.
It's about choices. We all choose what we do and base this on a number of things such as available budget, personal preferences etc. As we've seen in this thread, some people enjoy narrowboat holidays and good for them. Doesn't matter if you do or you don't, they still aren't free. Neither are package hellidays, ahem, I mean Holidays.
But, as with package tours, if you've got a small budget you end up in the Med (or Bognor Regis) at a cheap hotel whereas if you can spend more you can go to more exotic places. Doesn't really matter as long as it's where you want to go and you enjoy it. Same deal with vanning. New 26 footer or 30 year old Sprite. Does it matter as long as it does what you need to have a good time? Of course not.
I actually know a chap who makes fuel economy one of the highlights of his caravan holiday. He's not hard up, in fact quite well off but he enjoys seeing how good he can get his fuel economy on his holidays. Drives his wife mad I should point out but HE enjoys doing that, it's like a part of his holiday. Yet for work etc he doesn't care. Some might call that weird. I just thing it's part of what makes us all different.
Reducing costs is one thing but choosing to give up caravanning will ultimately only shift that cost to other forms of holidays. Just about everyone I've ever met needs a holiday from time to time. It's about breaking up the routine and even retired people need to break the routines they have even though those routines don't include employment. That's human nature.
Dom.

 

[Gafferbill]

………I have just stayed on my cheapest campsite yet!
£1/ night at Seaview on the coast at Whitstable, this was courtesy of a Sun newspaper offer where you had to collect vouchers.(I was given them)

For £4 for 4 nights (no ehu) we had a large pitch overlooking the sea and the site was far from crowded.
The amenity block is modern and clean and there is a shop and entertainment complex (there are adjacent park homes)
The beach was 100 meters and was crowded due to the unseasonable hot weather.
It is a good site for cycling as you can cycle along the sea wall, east to Herne Bay and west to Whitstable.
From Whitstable you can cycle traffic free, along the Crab & Winkle Way to Canterbury along the track bed of the worlds first passenger railway.

 

[Gafferbill]

……on a different note!

Since I have a 16 year old Swift and it travels quite extensively, I have just refurbished the running gear as preventative maintenance.
The caravan has been towed 56,000 miles from new and the original brake linings were 50% worn but have been renewed.
The sealed bearings were also renewed one showing signs of lubricant leakage.
The 5 year old tyres having done 24,000 miles and at 50% tread depth were also renewed.
Total cost as a DIY project £284.00

More expense ……. But worth it!