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Hi Folks,

Today's been the 1st time back on the forum for a long while.  The main reason why I came back on was to give a recommendation to some great service we had with getting our motorhome resealed as a precautionary measure - had a bad experience previously when we used to have our caravan, which ended up costing miles more to rectify, so thought I'd pass on the contact details to help fellow motorhomers/vanners, as per this thread:
http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=8&TopicID=239624&PagePosition=1 
(can I just add that I'm in no way affiliated with HBF Caravan Services lol  - it's just that excellent service is hard to come by these days, IMHO...)
But after having a read of the forum again, I realised how much I missed this place

Anyway, last time I was on here - prob about 3 years ago  - we had a caravan, and had done for a few years.  But after a couple of incidents, towing and caravanning just became too much of a chore...  So we made the decision to sell up and get back into tenting.

After a couple of years touring round Europe with the tent, although we could make a heck of a lot of ground in a day (compared to restrictive speed limits when towing), we missed the creature comforts of our 'van.

So, 12months ago, we took the plunge and inevsted in a motorhome - an Autocruise Pioneer V 6-berth.  So far, it's proven to be the best of both worlds to us - much less aggro/stress from towing, more freedom (much more suitable to wild camping than a caravan, with on-board water and waste tanks), and all the creature comforts we missed from our 'van - with the added bonus of now having Hab air-con, which was a big bonus on our trip down-south last year!

I know it's each to their own, but after trying all flavours of camping over a fair few years, we can safely say that motorhoming suits our needs perfectly   All we need to do now is find the time - and pennies - to christen our motorhome with it's first trip round Europe in our ownership! 

So apologies again for the long absence, but I intend on being round here quite a bit more again now, and giving any input/advice that I can to help out other members - and indeed asking those much more knowledgeable than me for info/advice.

Glad to be back

We hired a VW camper for the weekend in October 1973, set off from Norfolk to Blackpool (two adults and four children), arrived in the dark, joined the queue for the lights, thought it was wonderful til we got to the other end and being so green didn't know what to do next, so drove around and finally pulled into a layby. The one and only time we've "wild camped". With the high cost of fuel now we'd love a night or two for free, but where do you find these places? 

 Regards

Joan

Quote: Originally posted by mojo32 on 02/3/2011

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We hired a VW camper for the weekend in October 1973, set off from Norfolk to Blackpool (two adults and four children), arrived in the dark, joined the queue for the lights, thought it was wonderful til we got to the other end and being so green didn't know what to do next, so drove around and finally pulled into a layby. The one and only time we've "wild camped". With the high cost of fuel now we'd love a night or two for free, but where do you find these places? 

 Regards

Joan

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Hi Joan log on to www.wildcamping lots of places on their forum to wild camp.

John.

Quote: Originally posted by steveiem on 02/3/2011

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 just as you did in blackpool, keep a sharp eye out for parking restrictions, and away from dodgy looking areas. if street parking i tend not to park in front of peoples houses out of respect, alongside their hedges or the house end is ,i feel ok , usually only for an overnight, and leave early 5 or 6 ish to go and get the best spots down the seafront , as i'm usually at the coast, after the first couple of times it becomes a lot easier, if you picture yourself in the spot or have seen others there before  it comes as second nature, the hardest bit is sourcing water for the tanks, but even that comes with practice.

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Yes, we too have wild camped on the strip of road on the front, a bit further up the road from where the Norbreck Castle is - although I understand that there are now overnight parking restrictions in place there?

But in Lytham, the Council are in the process of building some Ayres-type night stop-over points.  Not sure on how these are progressing though?

I understand the best type of wild camping is heading out to the country, finding a local pub, and asking the landlord/landlady if you can stay overnight in their car-park on the proviso that you have a meal and a few pints there.  We've never done that ourselves (as of yet - but are fully intending to do so), but from friends of ours who have done, reported that they have yet to be refused - win-win situation for the Publican really, given the guarantee of payment for a couple of meals and a few pints which they normally wouldn't get, which helps go a long way to help save the pub trade which recent Governments seem to have done their best to cripple...

Thanks for replies so far. Will log on to the wildcamping web site.

regards Joan

Quote: Originally posted by pieeater on 01/3/2011

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Hi Folks,

Today's been the 1st time back on the forum for a long while.  The main reason why I came back on was to give a recommendation to some great service we had with getting our motorhome resealed as a precautionary measure - had a bad experience previously when we used to have our caravan, which ended up costing miles more to rectify, so thought I'd pass on the contact details to help fellow motorhomers/vanners, as per this thread:
http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=8&TopicID=239624&PagePosition=1 
(can I just add that I'm in no way affiliated with HBF Caravan Services lol

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Hi Ina,

Thanks for the welcome back!

Yes, we are only about 10-15mins away from Barrons - head up there quite a bit, to have a look at the latest homes etc.

I'd forgotten how many members on here were so local to this area!  Chances are we've waved to each other when crossing paths in our motorhomes - if not, then it's surely only a matter of time