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We definately use our car less, day to day.

We also sold our caravan and went back to a tent, due to the price of towing it! Now we manage to cram everything in the car, its cheaper anyway so we still go where we like for camping. But I do always moan bout the price of petrol, which we never even gave a thought to a few years ago.

Quote: Originally posted by Camping nutcase on 12/3/2012

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Any day now food prices are going to go up even more, as the hauliers increase their cost to customers, to cover the rises in fuel cost that they face. When you are getting 7 miles to the gallon a few pence on a litre of diesel soon adds up.
This in turn will mean that people have less to spend on things like camping.

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The rising cost of petrol is a concern but will not put us off this year as all our trips are booked.  We will be covering a lot of miles this year.  I have just sat and worked out the amount of miles.

1000 miles there and back to the Isle of Wight plus whatever we use during our week long stay.

584 miles to Jasmine Park then Knight Stainforth then back up the road to Fife plus any day trips here and there. 

These are our 'big' trips that we have planned and I have not taken into account mileage for the other shorter trips.  It is quite scary when you add it up.  We both work hard throught the year and are fortunate enough to be able to afford this.  We may think differently about this next year though.

Quote: Originally posted by daveroughley on 11/3/2012

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See some are going to Scotland this year, we are heading up to the Highlands ( never being there before ) from Cornwall making overnight stops along the way at places of interest, fuel will be a huge consideration, but as someone has already said, " you only live once ".

Not really any free.camping up here now. Lots of signs sprung up over winter " no overnight stops ". There's still lots of reasonable sites though. As for fuel costs, that depends which coast your on. The west seems more expensive at the moment and the islands are even worse. I feel for the islanders. Don't let it put you off though. It's a wonderful Place to see with lots to do.

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Dave,

Your sympathy is appreciated!! Before I fill up next time, I shall be considering whether I need to do a large shop on the mainland and take the car.  With well over 30p difference in price per litre and much cheaper goods in the supermarkets, it may well be worth it. One doesn't want to put people off but reading a lot of these posts, it's clearly a serious issue and with ferry fares on top, we're looking at a huge downturn. 

As far as Argyll area is concerned, the Esso at Dumbarton (A82 northbound) is consistently  cheaper; Thames in Lochgilphead; Tesco in Oban and Morrisons in Fort William (but currently the Esso on the right just before the Road to the Isles junction was only a penny more). If you're venturing over to Skye - try the Co-op at Broadford - beware no lpg as the garage there used to have. Inverness seemed fairly reasonable when I was up there four weeks ago.

For those coming up from the south - check out the petrol prices at m-way services - Southwaite was £137.9 diesel weekend before last.

TBH, I wonder how much bringing back the old Motorail services would cost? Probably extionate (sp?) now railways privatized but I found them useful in past - especially in lousy winter weather. 

Only plus point is there's a bit less traffic on the road.

We're certainly thinking carefully about the miles we cover this year. It is getting a bit pricey to drive a loaded car around the country.