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Quote: Originally posted by Hippygoddess on 07/8/2010

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Well I got here, and I did it, I am at Trevayne campsite in Tenby and it is lush

only thing is as I left home I did not pull up my jockey wheel properly,it fell back down and when I got out to shut my gate at the top of my lane I noticed it was down and bent!!!

So what can I say the reversing went well

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Just knock on a door and ask....You will get all the help you need....trust me

Phil

 Hi. I too am a novice caravaner and whilst I think I'm good at reversing my  car the caravan terrified me. I have a Kia sedonna people carrier and and an Elddis 636 ( 26ft )caravan , even my husband went white when he saw the sizes of the pitch we were offered on our first outing at Easter. I couln't even have reversed my car into the space let alone the car and the caravan. The advice on this site is don't rush and don't panic - good advice. My husband burned out the clutch on my car in his haste to prove he was a "real" man and could park a measley caravan. He reveved backwrds and forwards and basically made it worse, getting angrier my the minute. Never to proud to ask for help, I approached the reception and told them we were novices. They then told us to pick any spot we wanted and suggested a corner plot adjacent to the road would give us more room What good advice. As we picked our new site, the other caravanners could see from our faces and my husbands bad language that we were newbies, before we could even get out the car our neighbour on the next pitch had unhitched the caravan and with help from another camper they moved the caravan into its pitch. The next day they helped us put up our awning. Even my husband conceeded what I have always known from my camping days that you can't meet nicer and more helpful people and has a new respect for caravanning. Don't be afraid to ask for help and don't be panicked into a pitch. Sometimes just for piece of mind get out and push.Your clutch will thank you. Good luck and enjoy!

I notice a lot of carvanners revving when reversing. With a deisel you just need to release the clutch and it will go backwards. Saves the clutch...avoids the burning.

Phil

Yes, don't rev the engine at all.  Also, the clutch pedal must be either up or down. You can't slip it or the clutch will be destroyed.  Not immediately, but each time you will take a few thousand miles off its life.

Reversing should always be done at or noear tickover.

Jim