Does anyone own a motorhome or campervan?

Had always been caravanners bu 12 years ago decided to give motorhome a go (still had caeavan). After two years decided just not for us, I couldn't stand the noise of everything juggling,rattling when driving. Kept to caravans until DH died. I know there are many owners who abide by a decent sense of consideration of others but there is a lot of bad publicity nowadays about motorhomes parking, disposing of effluent and rubbish wherever they choose. Scotland seems to have a lot of complaints.

The Scottish National Party have one on theur books but wish they hadn't.

My husband and I have had a great time renting one twice and travelled off grid to Mull in Scotland. It was magical. Next Spring we’re having a real adventure and heading to New Zealand for 2 months and driving in a Maui Motorhome from ChristChurch to Auckland. We’re in our early seventies and excited but a bit nervous! It’s going to be fun planning the trip and we have a fab deal on a round the world flight.

We are in our mid 70’ and have our caravan pitched permanently on a site in Scotland. We used to go touring, first with a motor home then the caravan. We also used to tow a car with the motor home.We have been to so many sites some were good some not so good.As we both love Scotland this is ideal for us.

Motorhome tourism has become a nightmare for many people living in the Highlands of Scotland. Partly it is the volume of visitors. Skye is now becoming a place not worth living in. But there are also people who insist they can "wild camp" anywhere they want to in their vans. Though there is a right to roam in Scotland, it is on foot not in vehicles on roads. But there are not enough resources to police it. People ignore "no overnight parking signs", leave rubbish, empty black water from their vans, defecate and urinate by people's homes, light fires, don't control their dogs, are verbally abusive. You may say, "so what"? "This goes on everywhere". It is the numbers really in small, fragile communities. Many of the roads are single track with passing places. It can take hours for residents to make essential journeys because of long convoys of motor homes. It has put many visitors who used to love the Highlands off visiting now.

Not motorhoming but we went to a music festival at the beginning of September in 2013. It was quite high up and the temperature dropped to 0°c overnight. Everyone could see the breath and there was a frost in the morning. We were camping and had sleeping bags on top of inflatable beds. I have never been so cold. The previous year it had been very warm! Subsequent years were never that cold again.

As with many things, it is the minority who give the responsible majority a bad name. Many of those who do the things described by Chaitriona are hiring campers and give little thought to anyone else, especially local residents.
I know Skye has been particularly badly affected. There is absolutely NO excuse for that kind of behaviour, no matter who you are or where you are. It's a real shame, because the majority of us are responsible, and wouldn't dream of leaving any kind of mess behind us.

I would sell it and have the holidays you want.

Hi possett, yes we have a campervan - on a Peugeot Boxer, so 6m long and with a slidey door - and we LOVE it. We've had campervans/motorhomes of various sorts for the last 35 years or so but never more than 6m long so it's easier to find parking spots and less intimidating to drive! Our current van was a retirement present to ourselves 2 years ago and we were able to part exchange our old motorhome and get this one brand new. A real treat for us. We're 65 and 63 and I'm very encouraged by you two being a bit older than us, and still loving van getaways! I hope we're the same. We take bikes, though not electric, but I am keen to get one. We need to check our bike rack will take the extra weight.
Like you we're not looking for luxury, though having said that I love the heater in the colder months and having hot water is wonderful! We have a loo and shower which we use as we tend to stay on Aires in Europe. Our last trip was to see some of the Tour de France and to explore the upper Loire area. Where are you off to next?

DH and I had a touring caravan for decades, in the UK when we had children and then we extended operations to Europe, France in the autumn and then Spain for the winters. In the latter, on one particular campsite where we would always do several weeks, we had a regular group of friends, our winter neighbours.
When DH died, I sold the caravan. It was the only thing I let go that made me cry as it was driven off down the road. No one would love it as we did.

We have just sold our 8th Campervan/Motorhome!! …. and am really missing it! We have travelled extensively Norway/Arctic Circle, Spain, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Greece etc over the past 40 years by motorhome. My husband is 81 and we didn’t realise how much we would miss it. Tried to hire one for a couple of weeks but no one hires out to our age group despite clean licence/ good health. Enjoy the lifestyle while you can!!

'OldFrill', may I ask where you're located, as there are so many towns and villages these days who make life for people in motorhomes and camper vans miserable, with all of their 'not in our back yard' attitudes. Such a shame, as all too often it's people in cars who spoil beauty spots, and not those of us who have space on board to take their rubbish with them.

I remember parking in the New Forest a couple of years back, when we arrived it was absolutely hammering down with rain, and as I glanced out of the window, I said to my husband 'who on earth would dump a bleach bottle in the middle of the forest, I'll pick it up when the rain stops, as I don't fancy getting soaked picking up someone else's rubbish'. As it turned out, it didn't stop raining all night, but first thing in the morning it was beautiful, I stepped out of the van, just in time to see a man pick up the bottle, he heard me open the door, and turned and gave me a filthy look, as much as to accuse me of dumping my rubbish there. Needless to say, I told him that it wasn't us, but I could tell he didn't believe me. Why, oh why, do people always jump to assumptions about us? We're not gypsies, just ordinary people who want to enjoy the countryside and explore. Of course there is always going to be the odd people who do spoil it for others, but for those who don't like motorhomes, unless you see someone actually dumping their rubbish, please don't jump to conclusions.

Exactly, Time2. We adopt the same attitude when travelling with ours as we do when out for walks or in general - we take nothing but photographs and leave nothing but footprints.

I live in The Netherlands and we've been offered the use of a campervan by our very good friends. They love it and it is a beautiful van with toilet, shower, cooker, etc, but I can quite bring myself to take them up on their offer. It's silly really, because it's so easy to go to France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg.

...and not all "gypsies" leave rubbish either. Time2

Indiana

Hi possett, yes we have a campervan - on a Peugeot Boxer, so 6m long and with a slidey door - and we LOVE it. We've had campervans/motorhomes of various sorts for the last 35 years or so but never more than 6m long so it's easier to find parking spots and less intimidating to drive! Our current van was a retirement present to ourselves 2 years ago and we were able to part exchange our old motorhome and get this one brand new. A real treat for us. We're 65 and 63 and I'm very encouraged by you two being a bit older than us, and still loving van getaways! I hope we're the same. We take bikes, though not electric, but I am keen to get one. We need to check our bike rack will take the extra weight.
Like you we're not looking for luxury, though having said that I love the heater in the colder months and having hot water is wonderful! We have a loo and shower which we use as we tend to stay on Aires in Europe. Our last trip was to see some of the Tour de France and to explore the upper Loire area. Where are you off to next?

Hi Indiana,
You have many years ahead of you for exploring in your van - I wish we were a tad younger because I can see a time coming before TOO long when we'll have to give it up.
We've had many forays into France and Spain and tend to use Aires as much as possible, but our on-board shower is a bit of a pain to use, so every so often we go to a campsite and avail ourselves of all their facilities.
We changed to electric bikes about 5 years ago and haven't looked back. It's so easy to go into towns now, just park up some miles away and cycle in, with the added bonus that hills are a breeze!
We're in the throes of moving house at the moment, so trips are on hold, I'm praying we will be all done and dusted on that front by mid-October so we can squeeze in an autumn trip - wherever in this country where the weather looks finest!
Happy camping!

Chaitriona

Motorhome tourism has become a nightmare for many people living in the Highlands of Scotland. Partly it is the volume of visitors. Skye is now becoming a place not worth living in. But there are also people who insist they can "wild camp" anywhere they want to in their vans. Though there is a right to roam in Scotland, it is on foot not in vehicles on roads. But there are not enough resources to police it. People ignore "no overnight parking signs", leave rubbish, empty black water from their vans, defecate and urinate by people's homes, light fires, don't control their dogs, are verbally abusive. You may say, "so what"? "This goes on everywhere". It is the numbers really in small, fragile communities. Many of the roads are single track with passing places. It can take hours for residents to make essential journeys because of long convoys of motor homes. It has put many visitors who used to love the Highlands off visiting now.

Many "No Overnight Parking" signs are not legal and so not enforceable.
"Wild" camping has various different meanings in the Scotland Right to Roam code it is by on foot with a tent, that obviously doesn't apply to motorhomes so "off grid" "free overnighting" would be better phrases and in many cases perfectly legal. There does not seem to be a ruse in house sales in Skye andvtgise for sale sell quickly. All year round residents drive far too fast on country roads, over confident of the territory, a little patience does no harm. Yes there are some tourists who are antisocial but there are many responsible tourists who are now threatened by entitled locals (though thus rarely happens as it is mostly keyboard warriors fortunately. The Highlands has plenty of room for tourists and the vast majority of locals welcome them. It's exaggerated rants like I've quoted that put people off.

*must go to Specsavers

Chiatriona. Two friends have miced from Skye precisely for what you have described.. Last straw for one was seeing a motorhome user emptying effluent down a hillside onto local beach. When approach nothing but verbal abuse being told to appreciate these folk gave the island business. Friends both know most bring their own supplies as tourists don't want to pay island prices.

Oops, should be moved not miced, whatever that may be!

We only went to Skye once, 18 years ago. The bridge was built but the hinterland (& it's big) was wilderness and you could drive for hours without seeing another road-user. I would love to live somewhere so remote, DH (although he loved visiting) not so much.
Fast forward 18 years and between the bridge and social media, I don't think it would feel the same if we went back. When we were in Orkney, the locals were saying how glad they were that the Pentland Firth was too wide to accomodate a bridge "Poor Skye".
I'm sure people still want to live there, & the remoteness is presumably less intimidating now, but the locals from 18 years ago have a very different environment for 8 months of the year, than that they grew up in / bought into.

I cannot imagine anything worse than a camper van or towing caravan either.

Well, as the saying goes don’t knock it till you’ve tried it mabon2.

mabon2

I cannot imagine anything worse than a camper van or towing caravan either.

I can. Being in a vehicle driving behind a camper/caravan. 🤦‍♀️

We hired a motorhome for a week in Australia a few years ago. It was an experience I never want to repeat, I hated every moment of it! We returned it early and checked back into civilisation, a comfy hotel.

mabon2

I cannot imagine anything worse than a camper van or towing caravan either.

I think you might change your mind if you traveled in one.
We have a double bed in the back. 2 systems of heating. Satellite TV. Full size shower. No porta loo. A fridge freezer.
Solar panels for power. Driver and passenger seat as big as armchairs.
Nearly forgot the mosquito blinds.