Motorhome enquiry

Trini,   I suppose if we had confined ourselves to sites like the ones at Bristol, Oxford and Cardiff we could have parked a motorhome on site and walked from there - but we didn’t. We used sites without shops and sites without bus stops. We didn’t cycle either. We absolutely needed a car to get around. 

We had small caravans with minimal equipment and didn’t mind that - but we had a car to go places every day. We decided that if we had a motorhome we simply could not tour as we wanted too. So we never bought one. 

The fundamental question is not about beds, it’s Can you manage without a car? 

….and it’s perfectly possible and easy to manage without a car or bikes or public transport, as we do, providing you choose a MH that meets all the purposes you need. 👍🏻

Dependent on how health issues surrounding both myself and MiL work out in the next few months will determine the timescale of any change TG.

I'm just seeing what's available at the moment and investigating lay-outs to sort the wheat from the chaff. Your sort of van is probably what we'd be looking at if touring is still viable. If not then a smaller day outfit.

When we had our first PVC it was really not that much bigger than a Discovery. It would go anywhere that car could go and we loved it. In fact I’d love one now truth be known. So yes, with one like we had we could do without a car and it would do so much more than a ‘normal’ car in our experience.

Agreed, Micky. This was our 5m PVC parked in front of a VW Transporter. We had no trouble parking that!

Yes, Tinny, very similar to ours, in fact it was our ‘car’ and so much more. The only dimension I had to be aware of was the height, but that was no real problem at all. It transported many items which would never fit in a car as part of our normal lives and even became a removal van for our children when taking those fledgling steps from the family home. No problem on long camping tours either.loved it!

Even with a larger MH such as ours,  we don’t find  a car necessary.. It just requires a slightly different style of touring. We still visit sites without shops and bus stops, just usually only for a day or two. We don’t cycle but we do walk. Where as we typically stayed for a week or more and would visit four or five sites on a tour, now we normally use 15 /18 sites in the same period. Shopping is normally done on route between sites and the tall fridge freezer in our van easily accommodates five days worth of supplies  for when touring in the remoter parts of Scotland.

Thats not to say we don’t seek out sites that have transport links as this opens up greater visiting opportunities, it’s just not a deal breaker if they don’t.

Totally agree, and that’s where membership of the CaMC is an advantage to us who tour in this way. It is a network of sites across the Uk not just one site. The CaMC don’t have a minimum of nights stay which means you can tour as described staying at one of their sites for just one night or more nights according to your tour itinerary. This is great for motorhomers who tour in this particular mode. Unfortunately the other club often stipulate a minimum of 2+ nights at their sites, I’ve even seen a few commercial sites stating 3, 5 or even 7 nights minimum stay. This membership to a network of sites is what has appealed to many of us, long may it continue. 

I hestitate to offer anyone advice on what to buy  when it comes to motorhomes or caravans. Only the individuals making the puchase can decide what is suitable for THEM. The only things I would say about size is that the width of campervans is not very much different to most motorhomes. It is the length and height that has more of an impact on where you can drive and park. It is also important to obtain payloads that suit your needs to stay within the law and keep the insurance provider happy. Keep to a motorhome at or below 8 meter in length and you will not have any problems on most campsites. 3 meters or below in height will also help in reducing toll costs on the Continent and result in very few restrictions on where you can travel.

As to layouts, >this guide< might help

peedee

I agree that it’s near impossible to suggest a layout for other people,PD, but I can’t agree on sizes. Most coachbuilt vans won’t fit in one supermarket parking bay widthwise but a PVC will. Hence, there is a noticeable difference. Also, I consider 8m to be too big for many roads and sites in this country. You tow a car so must find your MH inconvenient to use in many places. My absolute max would be 7m, with 6m being preferable.