First Motorhome Tour to Cornwall when, if something could go wrong, it generally did...

First Motorhome Tour

            Reading about Steve Rowe’s Cornish tour in the April magazine, I just had to share my motorhome holiday experiences touring that beautiful county during our first ever motorhome tour.

When younger, my wife and I enjoyed camping and, later, holidaying in static caravans, although I’d never wanted to tow a tourer. However, as retirement approached in 2006 we visited a large dealer in North Somerset for an exploratory look at motorhomes. Being a hot August afternoon, all the vans seemed so appealing in the sunshine and, we surprised ourselves by agreeing to part with most of our savings to buy a two-berth Ace Capri.

            Soon after, accompanied by Monty our faithful Border Terrier, us motorhome novices set off for Cornwall during the first significant rainfall for months - and my windscreen wiper stopped wiping! After an improvised repair, we continued in torrential rain before becoming snarled up in heavy traffic, and were much relieved to arrive finally at our campsite on the rain sodden Lizard Peninsula, where the awful weather continued until the following afternoon.

            What with the basic on-site facilities, with its wobbly toilet pan and temperamental showers, plus being cooped up in our confined space with a wet and muddy Monty, surrounded by wet weather gear and muddy boots, we thought that buying the motorhome was a huge mistake and considered going home via the dealer to get our money back.

            However, when the sun came out, we got to spend quality time in some charming and historic Cornish towns, villages and places of interest, such as Trebah Gardens, Cadgwith, St Ives, Zennor, Land’s End, the Minack Theatre, Looe and Polperro, some of which we’d been to before and others for the first time. Even so, if something could go wrong, it generally did….

            For example, we got hopelessly lost as we made our way to Trebah Gardens via a 'short cut' across minor country lanes; we kept driving past the campsite we'd booked into for the night near St Austell, but had no idea it was the one we were looking for; then all too easily we found our way into Mevagissey, but couldn't find our way out through the maze of narrow lanes and one-way streets.

            In spite of these minor mishaps - there were many others - we’ve no regrets about buying the motorhome. No longermotorhome novices, in the past seven years we’ve enjoyed numerous trips, both in the UK and France and can’t imagine life without it. 

            As well as detailing our many frustrations throughout our week’s holiday and describing the special places we visited, I also go on an inner journey as sentimental memories were triggered off by our motorhome holiday experiences and sometimes rant about everyday annoyances, for example,  dog mess & litter louts.

In fact that tour inspired me to write an amusing motorhome travel book, Some People Prefer Hotels - Motorhome Novices Tour Cornwall. Seehttp://www.somepeoplepreferhotels.co.uk/ for details.