Stopovers with a caravan

John, do you mean overnight or just a lunch/comfort break?

If by " Stopover " you mean overnight John, the obvious answer is no it is very much frowned upon, unless you are traveling in convoy, then rules don't apply !!!

Happy caravanning.

We too would always suggest finding a camp site and would never consider an overnight in any undesignated area. Just takes a bit of planning. Never owned a motorhome but would still feel very uncomfortable about parking overnight in a lay-bye. 

Hi johnstrivens, many laybys on trunk routes have signs prohibiting overnight stays.  But even if they didn't, I personally wouldn't feel safe doing it. My suggestion would be to find a nearby CL.  It's surprising what you can find just off the main roads - you might even decide to make it part of the holiday and spend more than one night there!  Whatever you decide - happy caravanning.

Thanks for the interest so far; I didn't mean overnight stops, just comfort breaks in a day's jouney.

John

You might find Google Earth useful in finding lay-bys on your route. If you have a rough idea when the stops would occur en route you could narrow down your search. Obviously no guarantee that there will be space available but at least you would have an idea of the possibilities.

David

Although there are lay-bys on the A9 some are just for emergencies, or they are often full of HGV's. The A9 now by passes all of the villages / small towns and these are the services. This is fine solo, not so good when you are over 12 metres long. Depending on the time of year we have occasionally found somewhere to stop, but more often than not regretted trying.

One place I can recommend, that is OK with a van, is the Ralia eco friendly Internet cafe near Newtonmore. There is direct access from the A9 and if you miss the entrance, you can also access it from what is the exit, as this is two way.

Link to Ralia site

We have certainly stopped in laybys before while towing for a change of driver, snacks, drinks, comfort breaks... The difficulty on some is finding enough space for car&caravan and this will depend on the road you take, but if you can there is no reason why not.

I think you just have to keep your eyes open for a suitable lay-by, JS, and grab the first one you can get in.

No amount of advance planning will guarantee a lay-by has space when you get there and it’s not as easy as with a MH. However, everyone else manages and you'll be OK. 

My advice would be not to leave looking till the last minute, and avoid the 1pm lunch.

If you have had a reasonably early start, then start looking around 11.30.

Same applies on motorways, the number of caravan spaces is often quite limited.