otherclive said:
I was really heartened to read Alan Woodward's letter and to know that someone so deserving won the £40 prize. I fail to see what Alan finds odd about using a mover, presumably he does not have such a useful aid fitted to his caravan, If he did he would realise that for some people it can make the difference between touring or selling the caravan. I might have had more regard for his views if he had moved out of his caravan to help those who were 'pushing their hearts out'. Alan's perception of the 'finer points of towing' clearly did not go as far as making sure that he could receive TV at the CC Costwold site. Surely someone so perfect and observant would have studiied the CC sites handbook annd realised that 4 of the 5 sites have poor TV reception. Get a life, or better still get a sat diish and let others get on with their lives would be my view.
I'm not going to attempt to defend CC member Mr Woodwards comments because personally speaking my take on the points raised merely confirms exactly what many of us have long suspected about the Caravan Club, or to be more accurate, the general attitude of some of it's members.
They appear to outsiders like me to derive great pleasure in watching and gloating over the mistakes of others instead of trying to help in any way that they can. A browse through any caravan forum would easily highlight this hyper critical attitude which is thankfully almost conspicuous by it's absence in comments by C&CC members. (I'm off to hide behing the setee now)
The writers main point appeared to me to be about dangerous practices by 10% of drivers using the site who were seen by him to ignore 'prominent No Entry signs'.
Mr Woodward went on to criticise the driver of a Volvo who decided to drive across 'a 30 metre section of sodden grass after 24 hours of rainfall '. Apparently the Volvo which was towing a caravan became bogged down and after unhitching the caravan the attempts to move the caravan using the motor mover were unsuccessful. According to Mr Woodward the situation was resolved after the intervention of another driver from 'the trusty 4x4 brigade'
Only at the end did Mr Woodward have much to say about motor movers but it's unclear (to me at least) exactly what point he was trying to make with his closing comments. I'll quote the final paragraphs to see what others make of Mr Woodwards comments.
Quote:
'During our two-day stay, five fellow caravanners pulled up, unhitched and either pushed their hearts out manoeuvering their vans onto pitches, or else used their motor movers to do so.
It's a fact that the caravanner is the butt of many a fellow motorists misgivings. Let's be glad that they don't need to drive through touring sites and watch how some of us perform when called upon to display our ability when it comes to the finer points of towing.'
/quote
As far as I'm concerned I wouldn't argue about Mr Woodwards criticism of those who ignore 'No Entry' signs and the Volvo driver ploughing up the site ought to have known better.
I don't quite know what to make of the comments regarding those trying to move their caravans onto the pitches. In an ideal world every single motorist on the road would have passed a HGV 1 driving test (not sure what they call it these days) and they would display a very high level of competency and courtesy both on site and when using the roads.
We all know that this is never going to happen, there are always going to be some caravanners who have problems reversing onto pitches.
Surely they displayed good sense by recognising their limitations regarding that aspect of touring and unhitched and pushed (unless they were lucky enough to have motor movers fitted) rather than plough up pitches by trying (and failing) to reverse onto wet pitches with the attendant wheelspin and smoking clutches? I'd have helped them to push but of course I belong to 'The Friendly Club'!
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