The Glory Days?...

[CreatureComforts]

It is, doubtless, a sure sign of getting old and a prelude to taking my place at 'the staring window', but my comment about 'old time' caravan locks in the Caravan Door Lock thread reminded me of the late 70's/early 80's, and the popularity that caravanning enjoyed back then.

We used to live by the side of the main route into North Wales, the A55, and on any summer Friday afternoon/evening the sheer numbers of caravans pouring toward the coast was quite something to see.

There were, literally, hundreds of them - a seemingly endless stream of Lynton's, Cavalier's, Sprites', Robin's (remember them?) Fisher Holivan's - as well as the more familiar (to modern caravanner's) marques like Swift, Abbey, ABI, and Lunar, etc, usually loaded to near-destruction, and towed by hot & bothered saloon cars with their wheelarches precariously close to the tyres A roof mounted 'windslammer' appeared to be the accessory of choice - a sure testament to optimism and product marketing, as nothing in heaven or earth could have made those outfits 'aerodymanic'

Often they would pass by in huge convoys, twenty plus caravans at a time (much to the fury of those stuck behind them, one suspects, as much of the A55 was single carriageway in those days) - it really was like some kind of herd migration!

I don't know, exactly, when the herds stopped coming - it was a gradual process. with fewer and fewer caravans making the trip as the decade wore on.

I know that many claim a resurgence in caravanning - but, to me, it all seems small beer when compared to those endless convoys of summer evenings nearly 30 years ago.

I very much doubt if we will ever see that sort of mass caravanning again

 

[colin-yorkshire]

nice post CC,

yeah it does bring back memories mine was probably one of those that went past we used to do prestatyn quite a lot in the 70s it was just about the limit you could do in one day, cornwall was just too far away in those days.

but you know what for all the mod cons of new caravans there was just something special about the old vans with the minimalist type of living, times were better and far simpler no one worried about nose weights or what ratio the van was to the car, if it could pull the van up a hill it was good enough.

there was a community spirit in the ranks of vanners it did not matter who you were or where you came from once the van was on the back everyone was the same. Communial sports days in the center of the field or a game of 21 a side cricket on a lazy sunday afternoon everyone was friendly and helped each other.

definitly not like today where snobbery and one upmanship reigns supreme and most just hide behind the windbreaks and closed curtains tut tuting as soon as a ball is seen.

I wish the old days and the community spirit could come back but alas the times have changed and with it something has been lost along the way.

colin

 

[CreatureComforts]

Hi Colin.

I hadn't really thought about it - but, yes, you're right, there was a freindlier atmosphere on campsites back then.

Just about *everyone* would chat - most people strolled around the site in the evenings (no DVD's to keep them inside and it was routine for groups of strangers to get together,perhaps carrying chairs and a bottle or two, over to someone's caravan for an inpromptu 'party'

Thinking about it, that really does seem to have gone out of the window - even on Club rallies where, unless there is an entertainment marquee, many people will spend the weekend in small cliques (either family, or close friends) and hardly bother with whoever else might be rallying with them.

It's just a reflection of society, I suppose. Everyone is now so distrustful of everyone else that contact is deliberately kept to a minimum.

We were stayomg on the (long vanished) Council caravan/camp site at Morfa Bychan, Conway, in the early 80's when a young lad cut himself quite badly.

His parents were out for the evening, so we just popped him in the car and took him to hospital.

That wasn't considered to be anything out of the ordinary, no funny looks, no suspicious glances - I doubt if I'd feel comfortable doing the same thing today, though.

As a society, we're much richer, but much sadder, I feel.

 

[Guest]

I agree about the lack of caravans nowadays compared to years gone by, but if you start to include the number of motorhomes on the roads then I suspect the total number has actually increased. Back then motorhomes were a rarity and it was not until quite late on that the CC would even contemplate allowing them on to sites.

I do agree that society has become more paranoid and reclusive but I blame a lot of this on TV. In the good old days there was no TV in vans so people had to chat to make contact, and yes, it was indeed pleasant. Sitting outside with a coffee pot was pleasant and is still the case in Europe. Nowadays if 'er indoors' does not get the daily fix of some ghastly soap opera, then life is not worth living. And it may be 'im indoors' who is just as bad.

I am not sure about the 'snobbishness' comments. I do accept that some owners seem to feel their caravan or motorhome is an extension of their personality and are forever polishing and cleaning. I have even seen some caravans where a domestic vacuum cleaner is carried. There is also a 'twitchiness' on some CC sites where the rows of vans all facing the same way make it look like an Army Camp. Awnings are kept closed, (for security of course) and the tinted windows make looking in the van difficult, and of course your curiosity is usually met with a stare saying 'what are you looking at??'. The C&CC sites are often more relaxed because they have tents and often more kids so the 'rules' get broken anyway. Again, I feel this characteristic seems to be solely a UK problem. Maybe it is part of our so called 'stuck up psyche'. On EU sites people are usally quite chatty, regardless of nationality, although it may take a day or so before they open up.

From much of the above you can get the drift that I prefer EU sites to UK ones, and it is not just the weather that is attractive.

Bluntly I usually talk to everyone I meet and if they don't like it, tough luck. Be miserable I don't care.

 

[Jim_374473646]

A factor in the "decline" in caravaning will be the cheap package holidays and more recently budget flights.

I can get flights to Granada cheaper than the fuel needed to go from Manchester to Newquay, it will also take me half the time.

Once in Granada I can get accommodation cheaper than the site fees in Cornwall too, add to that the almost guaranteed weather then you can understand why people do it.

Quite a few years ago I used to go on rallies with my ex and her mum, the cost was virtually nothing, a couple of quid each for the field, take your own food and beer, a very cheap and pleasant weekend.

About 6 years ago with a different partner we used to go to the "ex Butlins" sites, the cost of that was horrendous, having to pay to go in the clubs and a second mortgage needed to buy a round of drinks.

This time round I am happy going to quieter sites where we can just relax and leave the rush of everyday life back at home.

We've even invested in Monopoly and Cluedo to keep us entertained LOL.

Jim

 

[Guest]

Jim,

A lot of peope feel the drop in value of the pound especially against the euro has made them decide to holiday in the UK, and as a cosequence there ahs been a recent marked increase in caravanning interets. Just try to get on a CC site these days.

However, my opinion is that many of these people will only stick at holidays in the Uk for about 1 year, or until they have had a 2 week rainy washout. Then they will remember why they went abroad again. Also,yes, the costs in Europe have risen, but then again they have rocketed here. If your idea is to have a good holiday at similar costs to here then in my mind, going to Europe wins hands down. If you want to combine a holiday with having a cheapie trip, then I am afraid that Europe will no longer satisfy, but neither will the UK. You can easily spend

 

[Parksy]

When I was a kid our father bought a Bedford Dormobile which was bagged by the adults to sleep in and the youngsters, sisters, cousins, friends, dogs and assorted earwigs and creepy crawlies lived and slept in a large tent.We'd travel overnight from the West Midlands to Great Yarmouth for the 'industrial fortnight' and as often as not we'd bump into classmates and neighbours around the town or on the beach during our stay.

We'd travel along the old A47 in convoy with uncles and aunts in a variety of transport including a motorcycle and sidecar combination and there would be the inevitable stop around Peterbourough for liquid refreshment in the days before breathalysers.

We'd eventually pull up in a layby with our retinue and alongside other Midlanders heading for the same area and the old camping gas stove would be brought out for tea and sausage sandwiches which seemed slightly exciting for us kids who were used to going to bed early.

We'd try to have a sleep before the whole shebang roused in the early dawn mist and headed further east for the 'promised land' where the first job after finding a campsite was to erect the tent.

Caravans amongst us were rare and exotic, we were considered 'posh' with our humble dormobile and a caravan represented the pinnacle of decadence and luxury.

We'd be outside whatever the weather playing from when we got up until bedtime, we'd wander for miles with friends that we made and with our 'chip money' in our pockets in case we became hungry.

They were some of the best days of our lives but we never knew it at the time

 

[Jim_374473646]

The beauty of caravaning is that you can get home from work on a Friday afternoon and just hitch up the van and disappear for the weekend with very little planning.

Certainly in the Autumn and Spring you will normally find a park with spaces at a very reasonably price

Jim

 

[CreatureComforts]

Scoth Lad wrote:

From much of the above you can get the drift that I prefer EU sites to UK ones, and it is not just the weather that is attractive⇦.

It's been over 10 years since we were last in France but, yes, camping over there is a different experience.

People were very friendly (except one or two locals who, when asked if they spoke English (for directions) replied brusquely, 'Non' (when I'd bet me right arm that they could

I remember one old lady standing at a crossing in an otherwise deserted village. Not realising that cars have the right of way in such situations, I duly stopped to allow her to cross.

She didn't move, and I didn't move - and, finally, she began gesturing quite angrily for me to move on.

I realise now that she probably thought it was a cunning trick by a hated 'Ros Bif' to lure her onto the crossing in order that I could mow her down

Another surprise were the nudist beaches We stopped on a wooded road near St John De Montes, and followed the idyllic woodland trail down to the sparkling sea. About half way, two trails crossed, and along the other came a group of naked bronzed Frenchmen with their equipment swinging lazily in the breeze.

Naturally, being English, we were shocked - and, in fact, it took Mrs Comforts a further two visits to that woodland trail before her indignation dissipated

Happy days - and warm sunshine to boot. Pity the ferries have become so expensive.

 

[colin-yorkshire]

hi all

SL may well be right about it being a characteristic of UK sites I would not know having never beeen abroad with the van,

however the snobbery comment was I feel well founded when you look at the antics of some on site and even comments posted on this and other forums the rows of van with there little keep out fences of wind breaks and complaints as soon as some kid get a tennis ball out or rides a bike on the grass, I actually heard one caravanner tell a warden they wanted another pitch because a old van had arrived next to them and lowered the tone.

 

[Jim_374473646]

He should have asked me to park further away in my shed LOL

Jim

 

[602]

Hi,

I can understand one's reluctance to get involved. One day a young (11-ish?) girl knocked at my front door. She asked for help, cos she had fallen and cut her leg. She showed me the cut, which was just below the "elastic" line. It didn't seem too serious, so I suggested that she went to the chemist for assistance. OK,if it had been serious, I would have helped, and argued my case afterwards. But its "sad".

During our first visit to France, I was somewhat nervous of the lady in the "Gents" who collected my 15c. I kept looking over my shoulder to check she wasn't peeking. But you get used to it. Nowadays, if I pay a visit to the boy's room at TESCO, and find a cleaner in residence, I tell them, "If you don't care, I don't care!" Its amazing how many "don't care". They almost look grateful.

602

 

[colin-yorkshire]

hi all

like I said earlier something about the sprit of caravaning has been lost along the way, we still love it obviously or would not bother going anymore but still look back at the golden age when things were a lot simpler and think is not really the same as it once was.

 

[CreatureComforts]

Hi again, Colin.

We're going to have to form our own club The Old F*rts' caravan club - where evenings are whiled away waffling on about caravanning days that are long gone

That's the sobering thing, actually - they *are* 'long gone', but it still only seems like yesterday that we were hitching up our Cavalier to our Saab 99 and heading off for a weekend away.

The Cavalier and the Saab have long since gone to the great recycling plant in the sky - but, somehow, their memory is still fresh and clear.

Is this what 'growing old' means?

I'm going to find some young caravanner's and bore them rigid with an in-depth analysis of the B&B hitch!.... - and, perhaps (if I can get away with it) stupefy them even more with a description of the Dixon-Bate ground anchor (remember that gadget that screwed into the ground adjacent to the wheel, and had an a adjustable strap attached to it that looped over the tyre, and was meant to prevent your caravan being blown over on stormy nights? )

That's the great thing about getting older - you can ramble pointlessly on, and people still remain polite (even if they secretly want to stab you)

 

[colin-yorkshire]

hi CC

oh yes I remember them and the luxury inside toilet that was bucket with a seat on that had a ring clamp attached to the floor to stop it falling over, oh and a island table leg that if fitted upside down let the table fall over spilling your dinner all over the floor. brilliant,

now about this club great idea we have got two members anyone else interested.

colin

 

[S-MaxJon]

I remember our old Mustang Palamino my father bought.This was back in the early 70's.Gas light,foot pump for water,porta-potti and running the TV off the car's battery.

My father has quite a chuckle when he see's our van with all the gadgets like electricity and hot water - "not like that in my day" is the usual. I remind him that I was there too and can remember these things.

I enquire whether his car has power steering,ABS and brakes that work,Mcpherson struts and coil springs,discs all round- his reply is yes to all these. I say "progress father progress ! "

 

[nelmo]

It's great reading these memories of past trips. We're getting our first caravan this weekend and I hope my young kids will have as fond memories of the trips we are planning.

I can imagine, in 50 years time, they will be telling their grand-kids about the trip where they had to drive along roads at only 60mph, towing there 'little' 24ft caravan which didn't even have it's own sauna or gym and you had to empty a little chemical toilet - urrgghh!!

Ahh, the relentless march of time...

 

[colin-yorkshire]

hi Jonathan

you wrote "I enquire whether his car has power steering,ABS and brakes that work,Mcpherson struts and coil springs,discs all round- his reply is yes to all these. I say "progress father progress"

and of course you are right modern vans are well equiped with all the mod cons and in comparison very expensive to boot perhaps thats why the community aspect of caravaning seems to have disapeared as we can all sit in our little or not so little 20ft vans cut off from everyone else watching sky tv and without the need to even set foot outside exept to go shopping.

just plonk our home from home in a fully serviced pitch erect the garden fence of wind breaks and sod the neibours or any one else for that matter. no need to interact with anybody else on site.

this is what I am getting at when you had to use the shower block 3 times a day and you had to wash the dishes at the communial washing point, with no TV to get glued to you just had to interact with your fellow campers finding new friends on every site you went to meeting up with some of them year after year watching the kids grow up and being part of a community. some still manage to do this but now it is a rare occurance and when it does happen most think it is some kind of clique that must be avioded. yeah very sad but true.

colin

 

[deborah gallacher]

Memories I have, are our first time abroad with my parents and younger sister and our Musketeer (grey and white stripped) caravan, which my parents had bought for very little money, but mum had made new curtains and seat caravans, and dad had recarpted it.

On coming back from our first holiday abroad (Belgium) my dad decided that he had enjoyed the small bottles of Belgium beer so much he would take some home, knowing that the legal amount for carrying booze was low in the those days, he remembered that our caravan had a small box built into the floor which could be easily covered by a rug, so he proceeded to store as many of these small beers as he could into it.

At Dover, we did get stopped but the customs man and on giving the caravan a quick search he didn't find the small box built in the floor, and my dad well he was the toast of the neighbours, as in those days no one had seen Belgium beer and that small box, to this day we don't know why it was there

 

[Guest]

I am not sure we are talking "glory day" more the good old days.

But has it not crossed anybodies mind that, there are many many more caravan sites now than 30 years ago?I am also led to believe many more people go caravanning these days than in fact did go camping in those "glory days"

 

[Guest]

I don't know. Glory Days sounds about right.

You could get on a CC site pretty easily as there was no advance booking. You just telephoned and that was that. No weekend 'hoggers' to worry about. Kids could roam at will as there were fewer cars, and virtually no motorhomes. You talked to all the other people on site because nobody rushed off to watch TV, and even awnings were not universal, so no hiding behind the curtains. Meals were cooked on a pot on the gas hob as ovens were few and far between, and did not work too well. Mind you in that respect things have not changed, the ovens still do not work too well. As for microwaves, what were they??

There was no 'elf and bleeding safety' regulations telling you that you could not change a gas cylinder without being certified and the glow of the gas mantle was certainly soothing. Most people went to bed shortly after dark, or read a good book. If you were lucky and had the right outfit you could put a '50 mph' sticker on the back and go faster than the normal 40 mph. A Scott Stabiliser was the bees knees and good UK caravan makes such as Castleton, Safari, Thomson, Mustang, Fairholm and even Sprite in its original form were everywhere. I am sure others can mention even more.

It was certainly a simpler likestyle and less stressful, although having experienced the situation nowadays I am sure many people would not wish to go back.

 

[Thorpedo]

Eh up

The sea was wetter,

The sand was sandyer,

The sun was sunnyer,

The wife was sexier?

If you could get onto a site easier, does it suggest that there are more caravans around today or are there less sites? Better get St George onto his steed to slay the dragon (well monster), The old green eyed monster is out of the cave again - weekend hogger V week hogger.

Does anyone out there have actual hard facts about caravan ownership / usage. in the past 25 years the huge site 100yds from my house has become busier year by year and it seems more and more difficult to book anywhere around a bank hol. Could this be because we don't want those old fashioned farm sites anymore with sloping fields, long grass and cow pats, perhaps many of us are just getting soft or perhaps the popularity of some areas is changing.

I remember as a kid you couldn't go camping or caravaning without your wellies and mackintosh. I've kept away from the July and August monsoon season this year, but the rest of the season my bare sandled feet have hardly got wet on the manicured site lawns and tarmac paths.

Progress? hmmm, I don't think I want to go back from my comfy island bed, microwave, Digital flatscreen, hot instant shower fridge and freezer. Bring on progress, I just hope I can afford it.

 

[MartinJ]

I remember our first caravan holidays in my father in law's old Thomson Glen Nevis.

It did seem a whole lot simpler then - very little in the way of creature comforts but then again very little to go wrong.

Back then if something broke (which didnt happen very often) we just improvised. I remember our "law" that all temporary repairs had to last at least 2 years!!

Nowadays with all the kit on the van the slightest problem seems to involve a sharp intake of breath from the dealer closely followed by a big bill.

Its funny but I never remember sitting in that old van wishing we had hot water, blown air heating, tv, microwave etc.

 

[jo_374385568]

We bought our first caravan in 1995 whilst I was expecting our youngest for

 

[ANDREW_374368566]

Well its so good to hear these stories, as the writer of Jenkos Caravan Scrapbook and several books I agree with most comments. Now My grandparents began in the mid 50's then my dad bought our first van in August 1969. A soverign 11ft 4 berth. We towed it with a then new Cortina MK2 1600E. Dad used to see how fast we could tow it and 70 mph was about it. He hardly stopped on sites prefering laybys that were nicely down a back road.

Me and my sister would be sent with a 2 gallon water container to a farm and a few bob for eggs no worries about strange people then. No wheel locks only a hitch lock which a five year old could have picked! We used to leave the caravan in the layby with the table set-yeah Mum decided this would put any thief off, Wont nick this van Stan-looks like they will be back for tea any minute!

We progessed to a 69 then new Elddis Tornado, then a new 71 Elddis Cyclone, this went for dads most loved van a Welton from 71 but with a