Regarding too windy, if you haven't the common sense to judge yourself then you shouldn't be towing or owning a caravan.
Early posts give this newcomer some useful guidance of a situation that we have all faced at one time. But whether he cancelled his trip or not we don’t know. But notwithstanding wind speeds last weekend with Storm Bert wasn’t that great for going away anyway. We cancelled our break in Leicester. No fun in trigging around in lashing rain then hitting flooded roads driving back.
That is not very nice as most of us were newbies at some time asking for advice.
If used, common sense would show that it is pointless commenting on a thread that is over 2 years old and already Fred Drift is discussing mince pies.
Most people claim to be using "Common sense" but based on how many do get things wrong it shows how useless the phrase and using it is.
Try "Good sence"
But you had an experience to draw on before setting out, whereas a total newbie caravanning has no experience of how that flimsy tin box behaves. Saying that many of us on the forum had no internet or forums from which to draw advice. We gained it by reading stuff, talking to people and trying stuff. Sometimes I tend to think that looking too much on the internet can cause uncertainty! But at other times it’s an absolute goldmine of information.
A couple of years ago I was towing from Mablethope to Barnard Castle. The wind was behind us but ok Probably quite High but going along the A66 after 10 miles I was down to 5 MPH as the wind was pushing my 1645mkg van sideways behind me. I managed to get off the A66 ridge and into sheltered roads.
My worst tow ever.
My worst tow ever.
A lot of our daily tows this year have been 200 - 300 miles. Of course common and good sense come into,it but so does strategic planning. It take five minutes or less to check the Met office reports for all the strategic points of the journey.
The Met weather and wind speeds are reasonably reliable these days.
The Met weather and wind speeds are reasonably reliable these days.
Wind direction can play a big part in decisions whether to travel - cross-winds are a nightmare but head-winds and tail-winds don't give any issues for stability - a few years back we were booked to move on from Bunree to Culloden with gale force winds forecast, but they were sou'westerly so we had a huge tail-wind up the Great Glen with a huge bonus on fuel consumption.
Mere wind speed figures are only of limited help in deciding whether to go ahead and tow or not. In the end it has to be personal judgment what one feels comfortable with. If you’ve misjudged your capabilities and feel unhappy with the prevailing conditions you’ve always got the option of aborting the trip.
Many years ago in the sixties we saw a VW Beetle blown over by the wind. It went under a bridge and as it came out the other side, the wind lifted it and tossed it to one side. We were in a Morris Minor and my grandfather was struggling to keep the car in its lane. The Cape south easter can be a vicious wind as over 500 ships have proved over the years.
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