Hello, I'm a confirmed van-a-holic

[Glensmate]

Hi,

We're a family (wife plus 3 under 8) approaching of third season of touring.

I must admit that I was in the Jeremy Clarkson camp when it came to my opinion of caravaners until a chance introduction to caravanning by my uncle. He was sited at a venue that had wonderful views of the Brecon Beacons and invited us along one weekend for a barbeque. After the bbq and admiring the view he introduced us to friends who were selling their 2 yr old Swift Utopia (Challenger) 490. I must have been impressed as two weeks later we bought it.

We had a season touring, decided we loved the freedom, way of life, quality of the CC sites and the 'like-mindedness' of the people we have met. So we plunged deeper and upgraded to a Bailey Carolina so that the kids have their own bunks and we have the higher spec. We've had a year with the Carolina and really appreciated the extra space.

Decided to join the forum as I've been following it for a while and have enjoyed and benefited from following the various threads. We have booked to go to France next year. I'm hoping the research that we have made in selecting La Garangeoire in the Vendee region is fruitful. I'd welcome any feedback on the site. One tip I can pass on is that we attempted to book the site as soon as the CC Overseas Booking service allowed us to, but were told that the site was already fully booked. I took a punt and phoned the site direct and to our delight I was able to book two pitches (we're going with friends). It turns out that the CC has a limited allocation of pitches (but they never told us that).

I'm also considering buying a 'Kojack' hydraulic caravan jack in the New Year as I'm fed up of trying to fit the two Alko wheel locks to my (twin axle) van using the inadequate scissor jack supplied by Bailey. Also planning to try a few CL's next season - leaving the selection of which ones to my mate Glen (he's a van-a-holic like me but far more of a 'geek' when it comes to the technical details associated with our hobby!!)

Cheers for now.

 

[Chaps]

Welcome to the forum - it was interesting to read your caravan history. We're a family of 5 too but have only been caravanning since October 2007. We have a Geist AK495 which is a single axle with a similar layout to your Carolina but with 2 bunks instead of 3 and just a wetroom not a seperate shower cubicle. Our good friends have a Carolina and it's a lovely van.

Agree with you about CC sites - they're always our first choice for longer stays but we happily use CLs & CSs for stopovers to keep the cost down.

Hope you enjoy your trip to France - still trying to pluck up courage to take the van on a ferry and the strong Euro isn't doing much to persuade us to take the plunge!

 

[Glensmate]

Welcome to the forum - it was interesting to read your caravan history. We're a family of 5 too but have only been caravanning since October 2007. We have a Geist AK495 which is a single axle with a similar layout to your Carolina but with 2 bunks instead of 3 and just a wetroom not a seperate shower cubicle. Our good friends have a Carolina and it's a lovely van.

Agree with you about CC sites - they're always our first choice for longer stays but we happily use CLs & CSs for stopovers to keep the cost down.

Hope you enjoy your trip to France - still trying to pluck up courage to take the van on a ferry and the strong Euro isn't doing much to persuade us to take the plunge!

Hi Claire and Rob,

Thanks for your response.

We are looking forward to trying out CL's and the 'challenge' of surviving without mains electricity. The idea of pitching up in an empty or virtually empty field in the middle of nowhere is really appealing. I'm even hoping that the peace and tranquillity will be absorbed by the kids !!