I have just had a couple of rants on various subjects and just found this part of the forums.
Please forgive me for not introducing myself properly.
I have been caravanning for the last twelve months after a twenty year break a Bailey Pageant Champagne (wth an eye to an Arizona or Knaus 560) with a Sorrento diesal, and was amazed at the advances in what a caravan has, full A/C electrics!?!, toilets that don't make your eyes water even before you use them, wow. MICROWAVES!!!
When I started with my parents more years ago than I am willing to admit, foot pumps and gaz mantles were about as good as it got, which frankly we were glad of at times for the heat they gave off on those cold March weekends we started our caravanning year with. 16 foot vans were THE ultimate in space and facilities, provided you could put up with the Land Rover Defender (or was it a 110) needed to tow it, nobody with a Range Rover would sully it with a tow bar 'in them days'
Winter trips were for hardy of soul or, criminally insane to suffer.
Never mind the standard of sites caravanners now expect, with showers that put four star hotels to shame and even full service pitches (OK still rare ish) where you don't even have to refill your aquaroll (space age technology way back when) I fear we have all gone soft. I know I have, with motor movers to get the caravan in JUST the place and even using a cordless drill to put the legs down. I DON'T EVEN NEED MATCHES TO GET THE KETTLE ON WHEN WE ARRIVE.
I find it a whole new experience, with the Towsure catalogue and various web sites tempting me with sattelite dishes for my van and solar panels to keep the battery topped up on those longer trips to rallies and CLs, ignoring the fact that electrics when I was younger was a less than heavy duty cable with crocodile clips out of the window to the car battery for a tv that reception at best resembled a arctic storm and the slight nag in the morning that the car wouldn't start cos you watched MOTD the night before.
The down side to this touring Utopia, rigs so large that it costs a fortune to store your van cos few modern properties have the path to keep a 17, 19 or even 20+ foot vans all year round or is this merely another sign of the modern caravanner, that yes we have the gear but would rather keep ALL our cars on the path and not need to steer past our monument to modern material weights every time we leave for work.
What is the same? Some non caravanners STILL believe that the five mile tail back on the M6 is solely the responsibility of the well maintained well distributed rig keeping to 60 MPH on the inside lane (50 all those years ago) and JUST have to put a spurt of speed on to get ahead by any means, motorway service areas treat caravan occupants only slightly better than the Romans treated lepers.... Oh and fellow 'road hogs' and 'the unclean' are the friendliest group of people you are ever likely to meet.
Please forgive me for not introducing myself properly.
I have been caravanning for the last twelve months after a twenty year break a Bailey Pageant Champagne (wth an eye to an Arizona or Knaus 560) with a Sorrento diesal, and was amazed at the advances in what a caravan has, full A/C electrics!?!, toilets that don't make your eyes water even before you use them, wow. MICROWAVES!!!
When I started with my parents more years ago than I am willing to admit, foot pumps and gaz mantles were about as good as it got, which frankly we were glad of at times for the heat they gave off on those cold March weekends we started our caravanning year with. 16 foot vans were THE ultimate in space and facilities, provided you could put up with the Land Rover Defender (or was it a 110) needed to tow it, nobody with a Range Rover would sully it with a tow bar 'in them days'
Winter trips were for hardy of soul or, criminally insane to suffer.
Never mind the standard of sites caravanners now expect, with showers that put four star hotels to shame and even full service pitches (OK still rare ish) where you don't even have to refill your aquaroll (space age technology way back when) I fear we have all gone soft. I know I have, with motor movers to get the caravan in JUST the place and even using a cordless drill to put the legs down. I DON'T EVEN NEED MATCHES TO GET THE KETTLE ON WHEN WE ARRIVE.
I find it a whole new experience, with the Towsure catalogue and various web sites tempting me with sattelite dishes for my van and solar panels to keep the battery topped up on those longer trips to rallies and CLs, ignoring the fact that electrics when I was younger was a less than heavy duty cable with crocodile clips out of the window to the car battery for a tv that reception at best resembled a arctic storm and the slight nag in the morning that the car wouldn't start cos you watched MOTD the night before.
The down side to this touring Utopia, rigs so large that it costs a fortune to store your van cos few modern properties have the path to keep a 17, 19 or even 20+ foot vans all year round or is this merely another sign of the modern caravanner, that yes we have the gear but would rather keep ALL our cars on the path and not need to steer past our monument to modern material weights every time we leave for work.
What is the same? Some non caravanners STILL believe that the five mile tail back on the M6 is solely the responsibility of the well maintained well distributed rig keeping to 60 MPH on the inside lane (50 all those years ago) and JUST have to put a spurt of speed on to get ahead by any means, motorway service areas treat caravan occupants only slightly better than the Romans treated lepers.... Oh and fellow 'road hogs' and 'the unclean' are the friendliest group of people you are ever likely to meet.
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