Does anyone own a motorhome or campervan?

We are currently away in our motorhome for a few days enjoying probably the last few days of the good warm weather. We're 68 and 71, me being the spring chicken! We're very lucky to live in the Scottish Highlands in Sutherland, near the NC500, which we avoid as much as we can, we love the fishing villages of the east coast. Our motorhome is 20 years old and well built, we are fully contained so don't need to go onto sites, we use little stopover places like Aiars using facilities if we need them, often a shower, not used our own ever. Also take the dog and tend to do many walks, also have electric bikes, but don't use them often. Also have a small caravan, pros and cons for both! Caravan gives you the chance to explore places you can't easily access in a MH, but you really need them on a site, and have to tow and have a towing vehicle and set them up and collect water. But then you can leave it and head out for the day and it's there to return to. Not decided which is best!

Viceversa- your hubby must be a very good driver😲

My neighbour recently aquired a small one.It looks ok, i think ì'd like one.😁

For NotSpaghetti and "and not all 'gypsies' leave rubbish either". A risky and emotive topic, to raise anywhere, not just GN, but there's a mountain of evidence (& sadly, their accompanying waste) from right round the country that the vast majority are JUST THAT.

I've had to associate with the professionals who get to shift these relentless trespassers and defilers, and they rarely have a good word to say for the people involved. The amount of legal and cleanup costs for private and council landowners comes to many millions, over several decades, and it's US who end up paying for a lot of it.

There is a cosy image that some well-meaning folk maintain, that of a horse-drawn caravan, stops for a week or two on a village green, the chap sharpens some knives, and repairs a wobbly fence or two, then moves on, no rubbish (or toilet evidence!) left at all. IF that still happens anywhere, great.

But that is about one in a million, the vast majority do NOT live like that.

Not a campervan but do have a caravan. Love it.

DrWatson
I have worked directly with gypsy families.
It is wrong to lump them all together.

Professionals whose job it is to clean up are not likely to know a lot about the ones that don't behave as Time2 says.

My comment is not that it doesn't happen as it clearly does, my objection is to the idea of making assumptions about everyone within a certain demographic.

Nannan2

Viceversa- your hubby must be a very good driver😲

He is, thankfully. Used to be a rally driver (I was his co-driver).

Im 82 My partner 66 We've just completed a 12,000 km loop around Australia in our home converted Japanese imported Toyota Hiace long base van. It didn't glitch the whole way & was a comfortable ride. Was an adventure for sure. Very different from when we last did it 10 yrs ago as unfortunately free parking is mainly not safe nowadays due to unrest amongst the Aboriginal population. So caravan parks were the go. Many with electric fences & security guards. But we felt safe. Highlight for me was catching up with so many friends along the way. Lowlight ending up in emergency dept for observation. However soon back on the road again & managed to avoid all critters great & small although a few near misses. Kangaroos Emus Cattle Camels & the odd donkey ! We eye balled a huge Eagle that swerved very close to the windscreen but thankfully veered off at last moment. So collision avoided. I feel it was my Swansong journey as climbing in & out of high van was a bit hard on my knees. Sold van to a dear friend now, temptation is to ask to borrow it for few shorter jaunts tho !!! Never say never !

mabon2

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

I used to think that.

We’re in our early 70s and in Scotland. We bought a caravan in 2011 and in 2019 decided to change to a 7m motorhome. It’s not as roomy inside but so much easier to get away and also to pitch up in. Apart from time away at home around the UK, we’ve gone to mainland Europe and thoroughly enjoyed being able to stop at more places. We don’t always need a campsite as with a motorhome there are plenty of Aires abroad and we’ve used pubstops here. Last year we headed down through Germany (the Romantic Road), across Austria into northern Italy (the Dolomites (which nearly killed our van!) and then the lakes) and back through France. That was lovely. This year we went across to Calais then through Belgium, then Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and then up to Nordkapp in Norway, then down through Norway. We were away for 9 weeks and drove 6690 miles! It was just wonderful. Now we’re soon going to the Norfolk area while the weather’s still good (🤞🏻). It’s nice to chat and swap stories with fellow campervan/motorhomers but we’ve found that some people don’t really want to engage. It’s sometimes hard to know who’s interested in chatting!

I'm 91, and very fit and mobile, and with very happy memories of having a very basic motor home when the children were young, I asked my eldest daughter if she would come to New Zealand (from Bali) and drive a motor home around for three weeks.
We had a superb trip around both islands - it was all breath taking - and as it was my birthday, I did para gliding from a mountain, which was brilliant. I have done it before, but this was much better, and we landed on our feet this time!

The best part for me was meeting other people from all round the world - so, so interesting..

mabon2

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

Negative as always, Mabon!

NotSpaghetti

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

But they did when they camped on the common land in front of our last house, all kinds of rubbish, old tarmac, etc. It took a week fir the Council to cleanup when they left after a couple of months.