Does anyone own a motorhome or campervan?

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.

'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.

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!!

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.

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?

I would sell it and have the holidays you want.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Lovetotravel
That’s why we tow a smart car. Not on a trailer but on an A frame. Less than 5 mins to disconnect and hook up.

GrannyGravy13

From what I remember of Tariffa it is very windy

It is 😂

Had several motorhomes but found it hard trying to park anywhere in towns and villages in this country so we’ve returned to having a caravan which gives us the use of a car. We’ve visited so many places in this country and abroad that we wouldn’t have done had we been using hotels or rented accommodation. Can’t recommend Spain in the winter enough. So nice to get away from our cold, wet, dark country.

Does a touring caravan count? We are 78 & 72 and take our caravan all over the U.K. and France in spring, summer & autumn and then spend three months of winter in Southern Spain in it. We like to have the freedom of the car for exploring small towns and villages, where it might be difficult to get to in a Moho. We love our caravan, and spend at least five months of the year in it.

From what I remember of Tariffa it is very windy

There’s a Wild Camping site on line.
I’ve stayed at this site a lot.
Lots of campers stop there for the ferry to Morocco.
We did that one winter.

wildcamping.co.uk/threads/tariffa-spain-any-good.55140/

NotSpaghetti

Petra - presumably you mean where campervans can be parked up legally overnight?

Not good to be toilet dumping grounds though.

Not just overnight.
There’s one site near Estepona in Spain where lots of people are living. That’s not unusual with these sites in Spain.
And you get your fresh bread, fruit and veg delivered every morning.

We have many motorhomes/camper vans, "wild" camping (staying overnight free of charge) in our village car parks (the views are stunning). I have never seen any evidence of waste. People make a huge fuss about waste disposal without having any idea how it's achieved. There are a some locals who very much object to these overnighters but they are well and truly shouted down by the majority of villagers. We live in a beautiful place and the vast majority are pleased to share it. It's also good for local businesses.

Petra - presumably you mean where campervans can be parked up legally overnight?

Not good to be toilet dumping grounds though.

NotSpaghetti

Can you "wild camp" in a campervan?
Just wondering.

How lovely though. I have happy memories of caravans in my youth and my daughter's partner has one he converted himself that they use a lot.

There are books you can buy that list all the wild camping sites all over Europe.
There can be problems with these sites ( mainly in Europe) where people dump their toilets 😱
There’s really no need for this as their lots of pump out stations.
We have a holding tank in ours so we can go a week before having to pump out.

Oh, OK.
Thanks ViceVersa I didn't know that. Presumably they don't really need facilities if they have a camper van.

I thought they might have meant sleeping out somewhere - bivouacing (spelling?) somewhere near the van for example, for fun.

I am definitely beyond that now!

NotSpaghetti

Can you "wild camp" in a campervan?
Just wondering.

How lovely though. I have happy memories of caravans in my youth and my daughter's partner has one he converted himself that they use a lot.

When people talk about 'wild camping' in a camper van, they usually just mean stopping somewhere off-grid - ie, with no facilities.