A testing weekend, trying out a couple of things as out first year of caravaning draws to a close.

Trying things out, a trial run if you like. Being our first year of caravanning every trip has been just that, each one has taught us something new.

But this story is about our latest trip, a short two night trip to Chapel Lane CC in South Birmingham, The trip it's self was set out purely as a trial run, in more ways that one. Except, for me it ended up being one of the most memorable trips of our first year.

We'd been to Chapel Lane twice before, so knew the site, and were confident that even if things went bad, we were at least on a good site with a lovely warm toilet/shower block. Plus electric hook up was a must, we admit we're still not brave enough to take on winter conditions armed with nothing more than a gas bottle and a battery just yet.

We normal make trips with a view to seeing some local attractions, already this year we've been to Warwick Castle, and found the wonders of Iron Bridge. Not to mention our visit to Cadbury's world. Although we were out mainly to try a few things out, it was also a much needed break away, with nothing planned I could be forgiven for expecting a boring weekend. But a time out, with everything that's going on in my life right now it was just what we needed and much welcomed. Everything we need, in a 18 foot long box and nothing more, bliss, enjoyable bliss! Even if we did make a short visit to the inlaws on the Saturday, some 90 miles away in Luton to collect our new awning. We'd had it sent there as we're not normally home to get deliverys.

The initial aim was to try out caravanning in low temperatures, we have a trip booked for December with some friends, so we wanted to make sure us and our ageing Bailey Ranger were up to this winter caravanning lark, after all we'd had heater issues with the caravan at first which we'd had fixed by a local independent caravan specialist but you never really know until you put them to the test.

We got a little more than we bargained for when it came to winter weather with both our thoughts towards expecting little more than sub 0 temps we were a little off the mark. Our first night was in fact a rather mild night, but delivered torrential rain all night. At points it came so loud on the roof I cannot be sure if wasn't hail. We were cosy and warm, however as day light broke, the rain eased slightly and there was a disheartening, and constant "Drip, drip, drip" sound. It sounded all too close, as if it were inside the caravan. Having no damp issues before I was keen to get on top of where the sound was coming from. All became good when we realised it was simply water dripping off the awning rail, and splashing against the rubbing strip fitted along the outside of the caravan.

Our second night, was much quieter, we remained warm for the second night. It was only when we woke we realised that our heater had been doing a brilliant job. On opening the door for my morning stroll I was shocked to see a stunning clear sky and everything in sight had a pale frosting, and the temperature had dropped to -2 during the night.

As I looked out over the site towards the tower near the entrance, I learned something I must never forget. When winter caravanning, pack the camera, it's as important as winter woollies when the view is this good. Sadly the only pictures I were from my Blackberry.

After a few moments taking in the morning, my heart sank realising a very big, and potentially expensive rookie mistake i'd made I dashed to check on the aqua roll and pump. I had no doubt the water in the barrel would be fine, it was the water sat in the pump I was more worried about. Thankfully, no issues, we still had flowing water and an undamaged pump. For our December trip, I hope to be better prepared in the water department. The mild wet night before had put freezing pipes to the back of my mind. I should have known better, the sunset the night before was amazing, and clear, a sure sign a frost could be ahead.

I'd even braved using our Butane gas! Worry not, i was carrying a spare Propane, just in-case. But we didn't have any gas related issues.

Our second test, was our new tow car. We'd replaced our Volvo S80 (Petrol) a month earlier with a VW Passat Diesel. Our main reason was because between me and my girlfriend we had 3 cars. Crazy, the Volvo's only job was towing the caravan, her Honda Civic was to deliver everyday economy and my pride and joy classic in the garage. Working at the same place, one car is all we needed, so a car that could delivery economy and pulling power was found, and bought. In the rare event we need two cars, there is still ye ol' Ford tucked away.

The Volvo had never filled me with 100% Confidence when towing, not knowing any difference I'd began to doubt if caravanning was for me. The sight of hills got me nervous and had the car out of breath. Also for such a big car, even with a correctly loaded caravan it was easy for external influences to become bad influences on stability. I tried many things to improve stability with little success.

The Passat was chose for several reasons, recommendations, diesel engine, cost, specification, economy and size. It already had a tow-bar fitted, one less expense when still unsure if it was going to be a good tug or not. The biggest worry was weight, i'd gone from a 74% with the Volvo, to 83% with the Passat.

The surprise was pleasant, with no change to how the outfit was loaded to how we ran with the Volvo, the stability was improved and was noticeable, as well as feedback though the car, despite the tow car weight difference. Power was plentiful, It flattened out the hills, and straightened the curves. Resulting in a much less stressful drive, and a much more economical one too, with a full 10mpg gain over the Volvo on the same journey.

I've had diesel engined cars in the past, I'm a big car nut and being a lorry driver I understand the many benefits of diesel power over petrol power. The Volvo was bought as a petrol for other reasons. It did the job, but as of now, it would be hard to go back to petrol as a tow car no matter what other benefits it may have.

I soon realised this was an outfit I could drive long distance happily. Maybe this caravanning isn't so bad. I've often heard people use the old phrase "You don't even know you have it on the back" and I've always thought "What? how can you say that? It makes a big difference!". Well I guess if I never checked the mirrors, and had a posterior numb to effects it has on the vehicles suspension I guess I could almost see where they're coming from now
As I think back over the weekend several other little things came to mind how the Passat was that little bit better, being a slightly narrower car, it put my towing mirrors in a more preferred place and a shorter back end and better visibility made blind-side reversing that little bit easier.

Our next trip, and final trip of 2012 will be to Warwick Racecourse. For this our latest tug will be staying at home. We have something else lined up for that. Something somewhat oversized for our size caravan. It should be interesting.

Thank you all for reading, I suppose I could say this story it's self a test being my first one, hopefully many more to come.