Does anyone own a motorhome or campervan?

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.

I’m 70 and have had a 27 year old Toyota granvia for the past 10 years. I’ve had lovely holidays in her mainly in Scotland and going to the WOMAD festival. She is very basic with a rock and roll bed and two has rings and a small fridge.
It’s great to get away for a few days without too much planning. We stay on sites or wild camp in the forest if Bowland.
Every year I say that if I don’t use the van enough I will sell it but she is still here and continues to be used regularly. It will be a sad day when she is no longer with us.

We are in our mud 70's. Started off years back with an old caravanette with portable potti. When husband got tge tap to work we coukd have opened champagne we were so chuffed. We bought it so we cottage our last rescue dog everywhere with us.
We then bought a Autotrail Apache nagging secondhand with the luxury of a fas fire and toilet, we travelled all over the UK. Had to sell it when husband developed health problems and couldn't drive for 3 years.
A few years back bought a smaller campervan to take tge latest rescue with us. We are on a little farm site at the moment meeting up with a lovely couple from Wales we met a few years back in The Peak District and gave been friends since.
Had masses of mishaps and adventures. Thought various reasons health and family have only had a few trips out in the kast few years.
Thinking of selling thus and gave something with single beds nit made up with the front seats. It will eat into our savings but why not. Trouble is needs to be less than 3.5 tons. Watch thus space,

ViceVersa

The very first time we went away in ours, we were driving down the M74 south of Glasgow when the heavens opened and it was torrential rain. It's a very busy motorway with lots of large lorries and I was already getting a bit nervous when suddenly out of nowhere a BMW in the outside lane aquaplaned and spun right across the three lanes in front of us. I have no idea how my husband did it, but he managed to avoid hitting it (or anything else) and luckily the BMW ended up on the hard shoulder without hitting anything else either. It was a terrifying experience. I was convinced all three of us (husband, me and dog) were about to die.

That sounds very scary! It's good your husband had quick reflexes to avoid a collision.
I think that my husband was uber-cautious driving after our bump for quite a while, it does make you stop and think!

The very first time we went away in ours, we were driving down the M74 south of Glasgow when the heavens opened and it was torrential rain. It's a very busy motorway with lots of large lorries and I was already getting a bit nervous when suddenly out of nowhere a BMW in the outside lane aquaplaned and spun right across the three lanes in front of us. I have no idea how my husband did it, but he managed to avoid hitting it (or anything else) and luckily the BMW ended up on the hard shoulder without hitting anything else either. It was a terrifying experience. I was convinced all three of us (husband, me and dog) were about to die.

petra 🥶 🥶

Grannynannywanny
Our coldest night was 13 below in Romania. We had a clue as to how bad it was going to be when icicles started to form on the wing mirrors as we were motoring round the ring road of Bucharest.
Then the windscreen started to ice.
We pulled into the first garage we could find and asked if we could park for the night.

Yes, we bought a motorhome a couple of years ago and have enjoyed touring all over Scotland and the north of England with it so far. It's 20 years ago, but very low mileage and does us just fine.
It does have a toilet and shower, but to be honest, we've never actually used the shower as we just use the facilities on the sites we visit. We enjoy having the freedom to take the dog with us too.
We do use it all year round, but one time we were at a site in the Borders and woke up the next morning to find it had snowed quite heavily during the night! The roads were fine though, luckily and we got home ok.

A few weeks ago I did my first camper van away trip with my daughter. She has a portapotti which I managed to negotiate in the night. I enjoyed the few nights away very much as we as a family camped with a tent for over thirty year. My daughter takes hers abroad.

Glad to hear no one was injured in the accident posset but I’m sure you must have been shaken up by the experience.

Your European trips sound like a great adventure. I haven’t left the UK in the camper van. My daughter gave me free rein to go as far as I wanted. But I was always conscious of the fact it wasn’t my camper van and didn’t want to add too much wear and tear .

Safe travels on your next adventure wherever it might be! 🚐

I can't imagine that degree of coldness, Grannynannywanny - it must have been purgatory! I've woken up many times with numb fingers, though!
Yet to do the east coast of Scotland, 'though we were the other side, in Dumfries and Gallaway a couple of months ago, which we absolutely loved. It was fantastic for cycling.
Up until last year we usually did a 6-7 week tour round France and Spain each spring, but last September we had a crash (no-one hurt), just 10 miles from home, which made us think of the hassle that would have been abroad, so we're now probably going to stick to the UK. The fact that health insurance is almost prohibitive now has added to reasons not to go!
I hope your daughter and son in law will be able to resume campervanning when the family have fled the nest!

My daughter and son in law had a VW camper van for years but recently sold it as their family had outgrown it.

I loved it and could borrow it whenever I fancied a couple of days away. I travelled around Scotland and England in it. I always camped overnight in campsites with showers and toilets as I had neither in the camper van.

My favourites areas were along the east coast of Scotland around Anstruther, Pittenweem and St Andrews. Beautiful scenery and countryside. I also loved Melrose in the Scottish Borders.

My only negative experience was one night I was camped in Melrose in February and the temperature plummeted to minus 8c. The onboard diesel heater decided to fail and the indoor temp in the van was minus 3c overnight. I went to bed with all my clothes on including my winter jacket and I was still numb with the cold 🥶