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How bad does the weather have to be before you pack up and co...

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parker1158

After working outside last night in the wind and waking up to the rain this morning and the promise of more to come got me thinking how bad the weather has to be before you pack up and come home.

Personally we always stick it out on the basis of the van is dry and snug and anyway the weather will be the same at home so why not relax in different scenery. That said though we have, in the past, witnessed a site near-on empty when bad weather sets in.

So no right or wrong answer here just curious stay or go hame?
 
We once went to Fort William for a week in February to go ski-ing. After spending a day looking at rain and impenetrable mist we packed up and moved to the CC site in Edinburgh where it was coldish but sunny. I don't think we even considered going home.
 
Only once, 41 years ago when we were in tents. It rained 24/7, so we came home, sold the tent and bought our first caravan. We think we might get to like it if we keep trying!!
 
Last June, staying on the CC Cherry Hinton site at Cambridge, it rained so much that the groundsheet was underwater, and the whole area was just turning to mud.

We came back early for 2 reasons. We had done what we were in Cambridge for, and the van started to leak - over the bed.We could have moved to a hardstanding pitch and put a tarpaulin fly-sheet over the top, but it had ceased to be fun, so we came home.
 
The worst weather we ever encountered was in 2004, we were on the CC site at Sutton on Sea on a grass pitch. It rained every day for the whole fortnight, some days it was torrential. The ground was squidgy, it was cold and miserable outside. But we were fine, the van was warm and dry and we had wellies and macs!!

I took the van up to Appleby in 2005 for a week with a friend, my daughter and her friend. It rained all the time, we were pitched at the bottom of a slight incline on grass and the softex ground sheet appeared to be floating sometimes. Even though it was quite cold and the rain was lashing down, my daughter and her friend insisted on swimming in the outdoor pool. When they got back in the van, we had to crank up the heating.......

So, we haven't come home yet, if a site flooded then that would be another story, we'd have to leave then.

Bad weather usually follows us anyway, so we're used to it. LOL!

Lisa
 
Have experienced almost continuous rain whilst at Kyle of Lochalsh for 10 days and such strong winds on the south side of Isle of Wight that my wife got out of the caravan and stayed in the toilet block because of the amount of movement whilst I was out in the car for a short while (the car had been between the wind and the caravan up to that point) but neither experience made us decide to abandon the holidays.

Obviously flooding of a site would be a very different scenario but when caravanning in this country we always expect to have some days when we will not be able to do other than stay in the caravan and once in a while those days may be a higher proportion of the time away.

Alun
 
The only time we ever think of coming home early is on the day of departure so it's only a matter of hours. This happened today. The forecast wasn't very good for later in the morning, it was torrential rain, so we got up at 7am and left just as the heavens were opening.
 
In 2004 (our first year of caravanning) we got rained out of the Wirral CC site. Our next stop was Windermere but we were refused entry as the pitches were flooded. After phoning sites up and down the north-west we decided we had no choice but go back home. However when we got to Scotland the sun was shining, the sites were available and we postponed our retreat with a much drier break in Hoddom Castle site near Annan.

Last year we were pitched in Skegness CC site where it rained every day. 3 days on the trot we had thunder and lightning. We had no intention of leaving - the site was well drained 🙂. Its all part of the fun.
 
On longer breaks, we check the weather forecast and if no foreseeable improvement we move - on one occasion from the Alps to the Atlantic coast, another from Scotland to Cornwall. Suddenly a mountain holiday becomes a beach holiday, hey you're on holiday, not an endurance course! OK so you lose a day but that's touring!

Alan
 
We have just come home a day early from our first time away in our caravan - and I'm very glad we did!! - we decided to go away for 2 days after the bank holiday, to miss the rush on the roads and just to try our van out before a full weeks holiday in 2 weeks time. We went to a Blue Anchor bay near Watchett, Somerset.

When we got there, they informed us we had to use a different pitch as our pre-booked pitch had flooded.

We started to get the van and awning set up on another pitch, when the chap in the next van warned us the had severe gales the night before and torrential rain was forecast.

We decided to bite the bullet and risk pitching. The afternoon was lovely and we were just getting the kids into bed when the skies emptied! - we forgot the idea of the 2 of us sleeping in the awning and squeezed 3 into each bed in the van instead.

Woke up about 5am with the whole awning floating - stepped down from the van and lost feet in about 8 inches of water.

As the morning progressed the rain got heavier. Decided to go out and forget about the van/awning for a few hours.

On our way back, several of the local roads had flooded completely. We got back to the site to see our and most of the other vans in a lake of water - most awnings were floating at this stage and peoples belongings floating inside them.

Our jockey wheel was completely submerged, the water level half way up the wheels and the electric cable was worryingly floating. We decided enough was enough, and as we are going away again shortly, we didn't want to risk loosing or having to replace stuff. The roads were very bad coming home, several flooded and debris on road etc. I'm very glad we did as looking at the news yesterday and today, we were very lucky indeed to actually get home!! It has put me off of caravaning a bit, but as we have 2 more holidays booked and paid for, we are going to give these a try and see if we can't get that initial excitement back of caravaning we had when we bought the van a few weeks ago!

Jo
 
We have just come home a day early from our first time away in our caravan - and I'm very glad we did!! - we decided to go away for 2 days after the bank holiday, to miss the rush on the roads and just to try our van out before a full weeks holiday in 2 weeks time. We went to a Blue Anchor bay near Watchett, Somerset.

When we got there, they informed us we had to use a different pitch as our pre-booked pitch had flooded.

We started to get the van and awning set up on another pitch, when the chap in the next van warned us the had severe gales the night before and torrential rain was forecast.

We decided to bite the bullet and risk pitching. The afternoon was lovely and we were just getting the kids into bed when the skies emptied! - we forgot the idea of the 2 of us sleeping in the awning and squeezed 3 into each bed in the van instead.

Woke up about 5am with the whole awning floating - stepped down from the van and lost feet in about 8 inches of water.

As the morning progressed the rain got heavier. Decided to go out and forget about the van/awning for a few hours.

On our way back, several of the local roads had flooded completely. We got back to the site to see our and most of the other vans in a lake of water - most awnings were floating at this stage and peoples belongings floating inside them.

Our jockey wheel was completely submerged, the water level half way up the wheels and the electric cable was worryingly floating. We decided enough was enough, and as we are going away again shortly, we didn't want to risk loosing or having to replace stuff. The roads were very bad coming home, several flooded and debris on road etc. I'm very glad we did as looking at the news yesterday and today, we were very lucky indeed to actually get home!! It has put me off of caravaning a bit, but as we have 2 more holidays booked and paid for, we are going to give these a try and see if we can't get that initial excitement back of caravaning we had when we bought the van a few weeks ago!

Jo
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Wow that's bad. We also took our newly acquired van for its first outing thsi Bank holiday. Fortunately, in South Wales, the rain stopped for the afternoon on both Sunday and Monday and Saturday was pretty good.

We played safe and went to a Haven so there was plenty for the kids to do even in bad weather. I won;t be in a hurry to go to a Haven aagain though. Flipping expensive, service was poor and the standard of cleanliness of toilets, showers and all communal areas left a lot to be desired.

Having said that, we all had a whale of a time and are looking forward to our next trip. Not got anything planned yet, will work on that over the next week or two
 
Cold I can handle, cozy in the van and warm clothes.

Rain I can handle, quite enjoy the odd weekend stuck in the van with the missus and kids playing board games.

Wind I can't handle, well, not very strong wind. February up A1,touring area very exposed. Van was moving so much that we lifted the kids from their beds at 11.00pm and drove home to Dundee. That's the only time the weather has been bad enough to put us off.

If we have avery very hot summer, I might struggle a bit with that too. LOL !
 
The only time we have packed up and returned home early:

St David's Point beckoned and we set off and arrived in lovely weather, pitched up the tent and went for a stroll. However, in the early hours of the following morning the Fasnet Gales started! There were 30+ tents on the field (CC&C) and everyone was up at 1am securing their units - to no avail. The gales continued in ferocity, all the tents and their contents were spread around the field and smaller items festooned the trees! Pots, pans and anything else not securely stowed were blown around the field. I put my kids into the car and several times had to turn it nose first into the wind. We took down the tent when one of the main poles broke and early that day we returned home!

I still have vivid memories even all these years on! I don't think anyone would have stayed on in those conditions, which were so bad we received a complete refund without asking for it!
 
We were on a rally in Norfolk at Easter in the snow. It was lovely looking out of the window from bed and watching children making snowballs while we had a second cup of tea before moving!

We even went to 'Sunny Hunstanton' and it snowed, there were lots of people there with young children, the weather didnt bother them.

The only problem we had was the soggy ground when it thawed, we had to be towed off by a friend, by then we were the only ones left, everybody else packed up and went home early.

We stuck it out and had a great time.
 
I think you have to accept that bad weather is part and parcel of camping/caravanning. this is true particularly in the UK but there is no guarantee of good weather wherever you go (we had best part of a week of rain in SW France last august).

We have only twice left early, once when we first went camping and the tent disintigrated in gale force winds on an exposed site in North Devon. The other time being in the lake district when the site flooded and we were ordered to leave by the site wardens (in fact this time we found another site in the area).

It's a lot easier in a caravan than a tent to put up with bad weather.

we normally just do the British thing and "grin & bare it". Take plenty of card/board games, stay in the caravan and just enjoy the time together as a family (something we could probably all do more of).

One last thing - don't listen to the weather forecast as it's always wrong!
 
I would agree with Jerry.

We were in North Devon last week and had some horrible weather over the bank holiday weekend - the gale force winds on Monday were the worst we have ever had in 10 years touring.

Loads of people packed up on the Tuesday but we stuck it out and were rewarded with som far better weather at the end of the week (which wasnt forecast on the local radio station by the way).
 
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