A Tale of 8 Caravans - Part 6 - The Lunar Clubman

Part 6 – The Lunar Clubman

Our need for something a bit bigger than our Bailey Ranger 380/2 was answered by finding our lovely 1996 Lunar Clubman.  The interior was dusky pink and had a lovely warmth.  We called her Rosie.

Our main holiday in 1999 was to the Club’s new acquisition, Trewethett Farm.  It rained for the whole of our journey from Leeds to our overnight stop at Tewkesbury, but miraculously stopped as we crossed the M5.  On our way home, it started raining again as we returned over the M5.  We had not had a drop of rain in between! At Trewethett, at that time not club-standardised in appearance, we enjoyed a different sunset every evening from the cliff-top pitch the warden had towed us onto with his tractor (see photo).

In 2000 we went to Huntly Castle site.  We were having a lovely week in spite of the rather mixed weather (distilleries, dolphins, ospreys, walks, the Clan Gordon Millennium festival) until we found a suicide who had hanged himself from a tree just near the site.  It took a long time to get over the shock, and I still shudder at the sight of blue rope.

In 2001 there was foot and mouth, so we went to Crystal Palace (some interesting excursions, but also some useful reminders of why I wouldn’t want to live in London) then on to Broadway.  There they were extending the site, there was continuous loud noise from clanking machinery, and we hastily moved on to Cirencester for some peace.

In 2002 we bought a holiday lodge, so no major caravan trip, in 2003 we went to Dulverton.  In 2004 it was Merrose Farm.  Early in the holiday the brown enamel kitchen sink in the Clubman rusted through; lots of silicon made a temporary repair, but the car was not so lucky.  My 5 week old Mazda was smashed from the rear by a double glazing truck near Truro and unfortunately not written off, though almost every panel had to be replaced.  We were unhurt, but it rather spoilt the holiday even though the recovery firm lent us a Rover 214 Convertible so we could carry on for a few days.

It does seem, looking back, that after Trewethett all our holidays involved stress.  Much though we loved Rosie, we felt that we either had to give up caravanning, or change vans again ... see Part 7