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Quote: Originally posted by faucon on 15/6/2007

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 I can never understand why motor vanners spend tens of thousands of pounds on their vehicles, and then do what they call wild camping. Where do they empty their toilets? waste water. etc. They also create an eysore on the seafronts , all to save a few pounds.

We see them all the time in Spain and Portugal, luckily the authorities there are clamping down and moving them on.

 Also a lot of sites are charging extra for stays of one night only. I questioned one site owner on this point this year, he said it was because motor vans, pull in for one night and fill their water tanks with water, which can be a 100lts +, and water in France is an expensive item. The down side is we now all have to pay the extra fee.

There is a new saying in Spain this year.(motorvanners look but don't buy.

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Hi there Faucon,

I have opened up a new thread as I didn't want to reply to your post in the ither thread as it was not the right and proper place to do so.

Personally Faucon our reasons for wildcamping is certainly nothing to do with avoiding paying campsite fees or saving money, far from it in fact and I would gladly pay to stop in some of the beautiful locations we have wildcamped. It is mainly for the experience, the outstanding location, the convenience and the ultimate freedom it allows us and it's that freedom that we and so many motorhome owners love and appreciate so much.

However, as regards to emptying toilets and filling water tanks etc I can only speak on a personal basis here but if we are planning a trip we tend to fill up our onboard water tank before we leave home and that is then sufficent for 3 nights and if we are away for a few weeks touring around then we plan our trip in such a way that we would spend so many nights wildcamping if we see fit and then so many nights on a campsite which is when we would empty our waste and toilet and fill up with fresh water. We are quite happy to pay for this service and we have never encountered a problem with any campsite when doing this either and it seems quite acceptable by most campsites and some even offer a service where for a small fee you can use all their services and fill up your water tank without having to stop the night.. If any campsite charged extra for us to fill up on a one nght stopver we would find that fair if there was a genuine water shortage but to be honest I see nothing wrong with a motorhome owner staying for one night anywhere and there are plenty of motorhome owners who never wildcamp as it doeesn't appeal to them to do so but who at the same time like to stop off enroute for one night at a campsite when toruing around the area and I don't see why they should be penalised or have the freedom to stay  the one night at a campsite along their journey taken away from them. The whole beauty of motorhoming is moving around from place to place and enjoying having your home comforts to hand whereever you are and I think that's the point being missed here and it is what makes motorhoming so versatile and so wonderfully enjoyable.

To be fair I think any sensible campsite owner of any worth will from a business point of view, be fully aware that motorhome and campervan owners tour around a lot and as a result, campsites enjoy a lot of business from their custom and regardless of how many nights they individually choose to stay, you can rest assured that motorhomers will be a major source of their customer clientele and no campsite owner worth their salt is going to turn away such revenue.  If the owners have drawn up a sensible business plan they will have calculated all the running costs involved in their pitch prices and my reckoning is If some campsite owners choose to charge more for one night that could be just them being greedy and cashing in on the demand for one night only stays but hopefully most site owners have taken everything into consideration when calculating their camping fee tariffs and are happy to accept all motorhome customers regardless of their length of stay!

I do see your point about vehicles being parked up in prime locations creating an eyesore and I respect that a lot of authorities do not approve of this but to be honest these places don't really appeal to us either and we prefer to find our own locations in far prettier and less visbile settings and like I said before we would be more than happy to pay a fee to park overnight in some of the places we have come across. I do think a lot of towns and villages should offer official stop over parking spots for motorhomes with water and toilet emptying facilities etc and I think such schemes wouldn not only generate extra revenue for local businesses from the passing tourists it would bring to the area but also help to prevent situations arising like you have described.

Sooh

Hi Mike,

I agree entirely and I think this is the whole point of owning a motorcaravan. If those campsites that object to one night stopovers started introducing rules that stated we had to stay for more than one night or charge us more for doing so I think they would find people would vote with their feet and they would lose customers and I personally think it would be a bad move on their part.

Sooh

I too found this thread rather offensive and placed within a conversation unrelated. I’m glad this has been extracted.

The rationale that you feel owners of camp sites are increasing rates due to MH’s coming and going is unfounded, let’s face it, you and your family would use more water having showers in one day than a MH filling it’s clean water tank.

Emptying a toilet after being used for several day’s, again, no more than your family spending a day in a complex, doing what needs to be done. It’s one flush – not several

Regarding the mater of MH’s parking along areas of beauty – can you blame them? Are you telling me you have never stopped at a nice location for a cup of tea on your travels down to Spain – yeh right.

If that’s the saying in Spain this year – you can keep it, Give me France any day

Good points Billy   and I am sure there will always be those few 'wild campers' that leave a bad impression and ignorantly leave behind them far more than their tyre marks as you so wittily put it.  

When we toured Spain we stayed on several campsites where many of those that were staying on them were there for the winter and I must say some of the people stying on them looked decidely dodgy to say the least and we imagined they were on the run from the police or something sinister like that  lol. We stayed on one such site which had its own bar and so, once we were settled in we decided to go for a nice cold beer. We walked in and the whole of the bar that was previously buzzing with noise as we approached, suddenly went deatlhy silent as we entered the room and everyone seemd to eye the two new strangers in their midst suspiciously. I hasten to add we drank our beer very quickly and departed as swiftly as we could! 

Some of the inhabitants on some of the campsites we stayed on owned caravans or camper vans that looked like they were practically on their last legs which led us to believe that they had bought a real cheap outift and just took off to Spain in a hurry for some reason and like I said, in our colourful imaginations we pictured them being on the run from the police!  Some of these camp sites resembled small shanty towns with hundreds of caravans and campervans packed in like sardines, with rusty corrugated sheets of make shift fences around some of the pitches and we were not impressed with what we saw at all and couldn't wait to move on the next day I can tell you!  So basically you can come across all manner of inconsiderate campers even on campsites and by the way we didn't feel safe on these particular campsites either and we were reluctant to go off for a walk and leave our vehicle unattended! We had visions of returning to find we had squatters or worse still the 'mafia' had ransacked our vehicle and stolen all our posessions!

Personally, I believe that the vast majority of motorhome owners are very vigilante about how they leave their overnight parking spots and I truly believe that those motor caravanners amongst us who love the freedom of the road and who delight in the joys of wild camping will always show respect for their environment wherever they go and will never leave any mess or waste behind them and because we motor caravanners value and appreciate beauty and tranquility so much we are particularly sensitive to our surroundings and we will always leave a place how we expect and like to find it. I know there are always exceptions but on the whole we are all a nice bunch of decent, responsible and considerate folk aren't we?

I dont know about other posters on this thread who own motor homes but I bet the vast majority will share my opinon too and that would be that to park up with a load of other 'wild campers' like you describe happens sometimes on the med and where it all gets a bit 'pongy' due to them emptying their toilets etc would be my idea of hell on earth and I would steer well clear of stopping anywhere like that - in fact, I really would hate it and to me that is no different than setting up a gypsy style camp and living communally! Not for me I must say and we prefer locations more pitcturesque and you certainly wont catch me digging no holes ha ha  well not unless it is absolutely the only option available to us, I mean where would would we store the s***t shovel? 

I think the French Aires are brilliant ideas and I wish more countries would adopt such schemes as they really do work well and are ideal for both motor caravanners and touring caravans alike and we used them when we travelled through France on our way to Spain and Morocco and we found them excellent and safe places to get your head down for the night. Most of them are usually quite near to the town and village centres so are fantastic if you want to explore the area or go out for a meal during your stay.

Sooh

Neelie you have it spot on and no your ideals are not at all unrealistic.

Obviously what has happened to this couple whilst they were touring Ireland is absolutely dreadful and as my best friend knows them personally, it has hit home quite hard and has certainly made us stop and think but I must confess that although it is worrying it will not stop us from wildcamping but it has definitely opened our eyes and will just make us be extra vigilante about where we stop for the night in future. Like you, I feel if we lost the freedom to park where we fancied and had to stay on campsites every night I would feel we had lost something precious to us both and it would certainly spoil the enjoyment and freedom of owning a motorhome for us.

I think like a lot of people have already said it is more a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and sadly it could happen anywhere eg in your own home, whilst you are walking down the street, your workplace or in many other everday kind of situations and we cannot allow scumbags like this to affect our lives anymore than they already do and if we were to stop living our lives the way we want to because of such vermin then none of us would dare to step out of doors in the morning and of course if this happened, then these animals would have won and I for one will not permit them such power and I will not allow them to change the way we wish to live our lives.

For the couple it has happened to their life has been changed forever and they will never be the same again. They have suffered horredous injuries not to mention physchological damage and it is a complete tragedy. They were just embarking on a new chapter in their lives and had taken semi retirement after being in business for many years and they were throughly enjoying the wonderful adventures and freedom of touring around the uk and europe in their motorhome and this event has ruined their life completely. I just hope that as time passes their injuries and mental torment can heal and they can both find the courage and inner strength to move on with their life once more and not allow these evil monsters to affect their remainnding years!

So please do not be put off ever owning a motorhome Neelie as what has happened here is very rare and motorhoming can be all you dreamed of and more and if you do ever join this ever growing market you will soon find that you can pitch up in some wonderful locations with nothing more than the birds to wake you up in the morning!

Sooh