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Subject Topic: Survived our first trip - love it!! Post Reply Post New Topic
PersonPinkPanther
07/4/2013 at 7:53pm
 Location: Wirral
 Outfit: Adria Adora 532 UK & Outwell Nevada M View PinkPanther's Profile View Profile   Reply to PinkPanther Reply   Quote PinkPanther Quote  
Joined: 05/4/2010

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Just wanted to witter on about caravans to a bunch of people who 1. understand my excitement and 2. Don't mind me wittering on about it!!

Just wanted to report back that we survived our very first adventure in our caravan. Spent 4 nights on a lovely working farm site 10 minutes away from Betws-y-Coed. Amazing mountain views and a fair bit of snow still around which the kids loved!!

My husband did a sterling job towing for the first time. Took it nice and steady but made a wrong turn in Ruthin and ended up on a B road which was rather hairy for first time towers (due to 20% gradient, bends and a pile of snow plowed high at the edges of the roads). So - there was lesson 1!! Plan your route EXTREMELY carefully and use google maps for a visual reference for landmarks near to the destination site.

Unfortunately, we did not get a great handover re: the operation of the van and had to do a lot of reading and research to figure it all out. Took us 5 hours to realise we had not switched the fridge on (duh!) which was easily rectified. Heater was going nice and toasty. Aquaroll and water pump & wastemaster and connecting pipe all fairly straight forward. Luckily we realised a couple of days before we went that we did not have the pipe to connect the waste water outlets to the waste master and picked one up from our local caravan shop!!

The thing that stumped us the most was the cassette toilet. Took us a while to work out where the pink fluid and flush water went but we got there in the end. Managed to get the awning up (kampa rally) without any domestic dispute despite the wind! (knew those years tenting would come in handy somewhere).

Really surprised how warm we were in the van despite it being -2 at night and how comfortable the bed was (was expected to need a mattress topper at a later date) but we slept like logs!

Enjoyed some great walks, fresh (very cold!) air and great scenery. Friendly pub across from the site with real ale, log fires and no issue with us being in there with our 2 boys until after 9pm & gave us dominoes to play.

All in all a great experience and I just loved it. Packing down was straight forward and speedy. We took the awning down the night before but it took less than 30 minutes. Hoping to get away for the weekend again in a couple of weeks.

Cannot believe we dithered about whether or not to go with a caravan. Best decision we made as really extends our holiday season and options enormously.


Personissym
07/4/2013 at 8:06pm
 Location: Cambridgeshire
 Outfit: Outfitless!!!Vauxhal View issym's Profile View Profile   Reply to issym Reply   Quote issym Quote  
Joined: 10/5/2009

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Sounds like a wonderfu trip, we have just swapped from tents and got our van last Thursday. I realy enjoyed reading your post and sharing your excitement!

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Started with a motorbike and tent.......my gallery, my life.


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Personvonnie 123
07/4/2013 at 8:37pm
 Location: west mids
 Outfit: Bailey ranger gt 50 View vonnie 123's Profile View Profile   Reply to vonnie 123 Reply   Quote vonnie 123 Quote  
Joined: 14/9/2012

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have yet to make our first trip.....so glad you enjoyed your's...cant wait...p.s, we are newbies, having swopped from a tent,..


Personandyfisher
07/4/2013 at 9:04pm
 Location: Yorkshire
 Outfit: Adria altea 542 dt Freelander 2 View andyfisher's Profile View Profile   Reply to andyfisher Reply   Quote andyfisher Quote  
Joined: 10/7/2007

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Glad to hear you enjoyed your first trip.   We just done our fourth since October ( to Lake District) and it was great too and a similar experience to yours.    Lets hope we have a fantastic summer to enjoy more!   


Personmichael
07/4/2013 at 9:07pm
 Location: Lancashire
 Outfit: Caravan now Sold View michael's Profile View Profile   Reply to michael Reply   Quote michael Quote  
Joined: 30/6/2002

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congratulations on your first trip.well done.

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the only silly question is the one you do not ask.


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PersonMadMum1972
07/4/2013 at 9:59pm
 Location: Hempstead Kent
 Outfit: Vango Genesis Airbeam 500 View MadMum1972's Profile View Profile   Reply to MadMum1972 Reply   Quote MadMum1972 Quote  
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How lovely! That is great news that your first trip was so successful! We have just bought a van and get it opefully on 20 April. We had the same conversation that we have no idea where the toilet cleaning atuff goes, lol!!! We have an awful lot to learn!

Enjoy your future trips!!

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Center Parcs April 2015
Chestnut Meadows Bexhill August 2015
Once in lifetime trip to Florida Oct 2015!!!


Personlyn hathaway
07/4/2013 at 10:26pm
 Location: barnsley south yorks
 Outfit: 2012 coachman amara 550 5 ford kuga View lyn hathaway's Profile View Profile   Reply to lyn hathaway Reply   Quote lyn hathaway Quote  
Joined: 21/3/2008

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so glad you had a good trip its a learning curve till you get the hang of it and it will get easier .its the best thing we ever did in buying a van wish wed have done it years ago

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Sandringham 22nd mar - 30th mar
thorpe park 27th apr - 1st july

thorpe park 1st sept 2015- 1st nov 2015
clumber park 29th dec -4th jan


Personissym
08/4/2013 at 7:36am
 Location: Cambridgeshire
 Outfit: Outfitless!!!Vauxhal View issym's Profile View Profile   Reply to issym Reply   Quote issym Quote  
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We had a great laugh last week-end (Easter) on our first outing! Well I did! First laugh when husband filling the water barrel and the hose came off the tap and he got soaked!!!! No spare clothes as it wa only a couple of nights!!!! Trying to get the pink stuff into the toilrt was next laugh, our filler is quite far back and he just couldn't get the liquid into the tank, quite a lot of it ran out of the van and all down him!!!!!!
He stormed off (in pajama trousers as others were still wet) to Homebase and bought a watering can!!!!!!
He has been against caravanning but after last years weather it was his decision to swap to a van, phew! I think I would have a lot of grovelling if this all happened and it was my decision!!!!

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Started with a motorbike and tent.......my gallery, my life.


Personblack ice
08/4/2013 at 10:25am
 Location: South Wales
 Outfit: Swift Corniche & Mondeo ST View black ice's Profile View Profile   Reply to black ice Reply   Quote black ice Quote  
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Glad you enjoyed your first trip, here's hoping we have a fantastic summer to enjoy many more.


PersonJax365
08/4/2013 at 11:50am
 Location: south cheshire
 Outfit: VW Caddy Maxi View Jax365's Profile View Profile   Reply to Jax365 Reply   Quote Jax365 Quote  
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isymm - always take a set of extra clothes!

OP - glad you enjoyed your first trip out... Wales is quite high on the list of places the satnavs have trouble with, for some reason!! Always check with a map for Wales...

Fingers crossed for a dry summer, eh?

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Personmurano
08/4/2013 at 11:57am
 Location: whitstable kent
 Outfit: sterling eccles sport 584 freelander 2 View murano's Profile View Profile   Reply to murano Reply   Quote murano Quote  
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I love reading about people's first trip, it's so exciting,I love seeing how much people love it, mind you been doing it a few years now and it's still as exciting.
Hope you have many happy years

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"I'm a fool for my dogs"
Adopt a rescue, rescue dogs make great pets, don't support puppy farms.
The road can be tough and rough,but what you put in you get back 10 x more.


PersonAldoscott
08/4/2013 at 7:41pm
 Location: Falkirk
 Outfit: 2022 Elddis Avante 840 2022 Audi q7 View Aldoscott's Profile View Profile   Reply to Aldoscott Reply   Quote Aldoscott Quote  
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Glad to hear that you loved your first trip. We also had our first trip last weekend and were lucky enough to go on our second trip this weekend past. It was a steep learning curve as our handover was good but I think we will still be learning about things in the following months.
It's great to read about other peoples experiences and to pick people's brains in this site.
Hope you enjoy your next adventure.


Persontownley1983
04/5/2013 at 10:23pm
 Location: wigan
 Outfit: Baily View townley1983's Profile View Profile   Reply to townley1983 Reply   Quote townley1983 Quote  
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We had our first caravan weekend last week we bought a 1998 4 birth baily and we love it we had many teething problems but this site has given me the confidence to cope cant wait for our next stay in a few weeks.Ours is sited on a farm near Lakedistrict as my husband dosent feel confident enough to tow but the bonus is that I can go up to the caravan with my 10 year old grandaughter who lives with us (her mum died last year)Nancy loves being at the van and has made new friends.we love the great community spirit that comes with caravaning x Best decision we ever made x

 



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