Newly converted

[Mr.Cheese]

Hi all, After years of saying "not over my dead body" to towing a caravan, here we are with a fabulous Avondale Grampian GXL - thanks to the miracle of eBay! We were previously into camping, but the sheer hassle of turning up to a site and taking hours to pitch, peg and guy out our huge dome tent finally put paid to thaat. We sold our gear last year and have just bought our Avondale. We have had towing experience with a 1985 Ace Quartz 4/30 so we aretn't totally green.

Our towcar is a Zafira 2.0DTI - on paper a marginal towcar for this van, but when we towed it back from Sheffield to the "back of beyond" bit of Notts where we are storing it, the outfit was fabulous. Despite heavy rain, sudden sidewinds (anyone know the Tinsley Viaduct?), fast coaches & high-sided trucks the outfit was stable and well-behaved at all times.

So, caravan hater has become caravan lover - we can't wait for the first trip out next weekend!

 

[Steve L]

Welcome to caravanning again.

I'm sure you'll enjoy the dryer and warmer world. I hope you have many enjoyable times.

steve.

 

[Lol1]

Hiya Mr Cheese, is it Notts your from, or just storing your van in our fine county?

 

[Mr.Cheese]

We live in Redhill nr Arnold so definitely rooted here now (ok, I'm from Sheffield originally & my wife is from Derby.....).

 

[chelsea1]

Mr cheese. you are exactly like us..

we spent some years camping, lovingly staring up enviously at the caravans in the sites.....we used to sit with our heater on in the tent freezing cold and watching the "vanners" all cosy and toasty!

Now we have our van we spent 1st time out last weekend and wish we'd done it years ago,...all our "non vanner" friends laugh at us (some people think caravanning is so old fashioned)...but we take no notice because we are the ones hooking up every weekend and enjoying our caravan.

Definetly no going back to a tent!

 

[cooky1]

Sarah it's funny what you said about not going back to tenting. My brother, who has caravanned for years is thinking about going back to tenting so he can travel further and faster both in this country and abroad.

Don't think I'll be doing the same!

 

[chelsea1]

Gawd Graeme!....there is NO WAY I'd go back to camping!...no way!..the only thing I enjoyed about tenting was waking up on a cold morning and cooking the fried breakfast in the open air (dew on the grass...fresh air - cant beat it)...but with the van I can still BBQ outside if needs be.

My sister is a new "camper" and im trying to persuade her to get a caravan - she is soooo not a camper (likes her home comforts/posh hairdoo and flash clothes)...so I really dont know why she puts herself through all the effort of camping!