A bit of advice please, this is our first trip to France on Thursday. We only have a full awning and we are looking to shed some weight, does anyone recommend taking the full awning or leave the sides/front panels at home?
We are traveling to Ill De Rey, near La Rochelle
P.S. we are meeting family there who are tenting so we generally eat and drink in the awning.
we are faced with a similar dilemma and we're heaing for the southern vendee. We currently have a large porch awning and a sun canopy. We dont know if we should buy a full awning to take instead of the canopy we planned. Friends of ours didnt take an awning when they went to Royan a couple of years ago and they said it ruined their holiday as the weather unfortunately was poor. I would take the awning and then you can unzip the panels as needed. Is your awning one with steel poles is they are heavier than one with aluminium poles which is what we are looking for.
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hi, we don't generally take awning sides to france, however they can provide some extra shelter from all forms of weather. personally i'd leave sides/front at home.
have a good trip anyway
mr camper
We will definitely be taking our full awning and all panels including storm straps. During a storm last year we were very glad to be able to zip all the panels back in and close it all up with our furniture and rotary washer full of clothes safely stored inside.
Quote: Originally posted by FionaW1971 on 17/7/2011
We will definitely be taking our full awning and all panels including storm straps. During a storm last year we were very glad to be able to zip all the panels back in and close it.
full awning, unless you can predict the weather 100%
leave something else behinde if you can, there was a post on hear recently, when they went through everything to do with the caravan and removed all unwanted items and they saved a lot of weight
Thanks all for your opinions, as Alpiner above has posted we have decided to take the full awning and leave parts of the caravan at home. We have removed the front draws, rear dinet table, bi-fold doors and carpets.
Just working on myself at the mo, however this may be a tad late.
Quote: Originally posted by captainevo on 18/7/2011
Thanks all for your opinions, as Alpiner above has posted we have decided to take the full awning and leave parts of the caravan at home. We have removed the front draws, rear dinet table, bi-fold doors and carpets.
Just working on myself at the mo, however this may be a tad late.
Just read your first sentance and had visions of you taking the windows out. Then I read the beginning of the next sentance as 'We have removed the front doors...'
We took a sun canopy only last year and, strangely, it didn't work in ...er... the sun. It was ok at midday but in the morning and evening (it was south facing), the sun came in the sides and actually created no shade whatsoever...
And when it rained, that got blown in the sides as well...
So make sure you takes the sides at least...
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We have just come back from a week at Chateaulin and took all the panels which at times were useful cos the evenings were a bit chilly. When they weren't needed we just unzipped them and left them in place. It does give you a bit more security during the day if they are zipped up. Good hols, France is lovely. We hope to go to La Rochelle next year.