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After a years’ worth of umming and erring, we bit the bullet at the weekend and went and picked up a Caravan.
It's the first one, so Saturday was a baptism of fire - long drive (3 hrs due to traffic), dark and peeing with rain, slightly apprehensive, but the journey back down south was all groovy. It’s a cracking van, an Adria Adora Seine 612DL 2021 model. It's done not a lot of miles <2000, is immaculate and has had quite a lot of extra's put on - frankly, it was a steal and chap selling were giving up caravanning and through everything camping wise in with it!<
We've been trying to spend more time as family before kids get too big so thought we'll give it a go. Plan is to do a few long weekend breaks over the course of the year, the odd week if we can, followed by the annual European pilgrimage.
which brings me onto a question - CLUBS - are the CC still a no-go area, who's best for finding good pitches -is it worth being part of a club?
Motor Movers - they're ace!!
We’re members of both primarily for access to the small CL’s (CMC) and CS’s (CCC). The smaller 5 van sites suit us. However we do occasionally use club sites depending where we are or want to be. Also the CCC do “Temporary Holiday Sites” for around £12 per unit per night. These can be in great locations and a really affordable way for a break. We used Seburn and Harrogate ones this year as transit stops. The club sites ain’t cheap now mind but you do know you are going to get good clean facilities. Search for sites and Pitchup.com may help but these tend to be geared more to motorhomes. Hope it goes well. Happy memories as a kid caravanning.
We're members of CMC for the same reason as sparkerfix, the 5 pitch max CL's are great.
2nded re motormovers, air awnings with an electric pump are another wonderful invention.
Don't be surprised if your kids still want to come along when they're older, ours are 20 and 24 and they still come along occasionally.
thanks both, will have a look again at the club side of things -do you generlaly feel you get value for the membership fees?
[also -MODS, what was wrong with me calling myself a gypsy - that's actually part of my heritage!? - edit to add, my great grandfather was born in a caravan to romany gypsies] 🙁
CLUBS – are the CC still a no-go area, who’s best for finding good pitches -is it worth being part of a club?
CC (or CMCC as they are now) are not a no-go area. Their main sites are shit though, really - dead expensive and utterly undesirable. But it's well worth the membership fee to get access to the CL network. By far the best way to stay, IMO. Don't make me post the pics of site overlooking the sea and the sunset again. Tenner a night for an incredible location versus £50 a night for a shit site with loads of people on it - no brainer. There are other quiet field type sites that aren't on the CMCC network, but not always as easy to find.
I don't bother with a motor mover - they add a lot of weight. We've had one before, but didn't bother on the next van. Fun if you want to stand on a chair half out of the sunroof with the remote, pretending to be a tank commander tho.
Fun if you want to stand on a chair half out of the sunroof with the remote, pretending to be a tank commander tho.
that s LOL.
Can you just search for certified locations then -i've not really tried yet.. Also pictures are clearly needed - are any of the out of the way ones serviced, or at least electric? - i need to ease the family in..
motor mover is more to get the thing in-out of the drive - im on a really tight lane!
Can you just search for certified locations then -i’ve not really tried yet
You can on the CMCC site yes. I'd say about 90% have electric hookup, but there's no issue if not - many offer battery charging or when we stayed a fortnight on one I bought a solar panel. Some have toilets, not usually the best though. We just used the caravan shower and toilet which does need emptying a lot.
This was 2022 at Trefor, North Wales
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This was near Fishguard, South Wales in 2021
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Both those are CMCC CLs. Both are a short walk to a deserted beach. Try getting that from Air BNB for £12 a night.
You can browse CMCC without being a member, by the way, you just can't get any contact details for CLs. You do have to phone them up though to check availability or sometimes email. They aren't the most technologically advanced people generally.
Here's an example showing how many CLs they have in for example West Wales.
I loved my childhood away in the caravan going on caravan club rallies.
Pitch up on some random field for the weekend and spend as much time out of the caravan away from my parents all weekend with the other kids/teenagers getting up to all sorts of mischief....
Each year there was then a northern centres and a national rally. All manor of sports to play competing against the other regions clubs.
Happy days.... I used to run home from school to get away quicker 😂
So don't just consider these quiet sites. Your kids want to play with other kids. Not you!
that s LOL.
Can you just search for certified locations then -i’ve not really tried yet.. Also pictures are clearly needed – are any of the out of the way ones serviced, or at least electric? – i need to ease the family in..
motor mover is more to get the thing in-out of the drive – im on a really tight lane!
Last couple of cl's we've used have been fully serviced, well worth it. We tend to book adults only sites though.
We have the motor mover for a similar reason, steep drive and the motor mover allows me to tuck the caravan in meaning it's impossible to back on to it without moving it out first.
Lovely vans (I may be a little biased).
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Is yours like mine or the post 2021 facelift?
Adria are very good to deal with but make sure all your services are up to date and done within the correct time window for the warranty.
If it's like mine then also fit some Alko (red) shock absorbers (they weren't standard until the facelift), they are easy to diy and make for a much more settled tow.
The “out and aboutl app will list the CCC rally events and the THS (Temporary Holiday Sites).
Anal Adria Adora Seine
👍🏻
How do you know its done less than 2000 miles? They don't have odometers now do they?!
If it’s like mine then also fit some Alko (red) shock absorbers (they weren’t standard until the facelift), they are easy to diy and make for a much more settled tow.
Most vans post 2000 ish have Alko chassis and they will have the fittings for shock absorbers. Definitely worth doing, it's just one clip and a bolt to do up. The shocks come in different colours depending on the weight of your van. It may have them already.
We're in both clubs, more by accident than good planning. We started in the C&C club as it's more kid friendly, then wanted red pennant euro cover for our 3 week jolly to France, so joined the CAMC. Kinda got grumpy with the C&CC over the lockdown closure of forest sites, but didn't cancel the direct debit..
We've used temporary holiday sites & CL's (both clubs) a fair bit. They are great when you are in the area with purpose, but for a lazy weekend, a play area & other kids around help.
Many club sites are £££ now compared to private sites..
Other discounts such as ferries kinda cancel out the membership cost. I think CAMC probably has better discounts for us.
I'd second the comments on alko shocks, I fitted some to our Sprite 6TD earlier this year & they make it significantly more stable.
I'm quite tempted to move clubs, partly just to find new CLs but also I might be curious to see if they have any cool places to tent camp.
@spooky I take it based on the sellers say so , no reason to doubt him.
I know my model has got alko shocks on it, the seller went into great detail about how good they were 😅 .
I'll also look at the out and about app..
Oh yeah, learn about noseweight.
Aye, 5-7% of total van weight. Even got a fancy hitch scale that sits on the tow ball.
I'm in both clubs and generally just go to the site that's most convenient for work. For me the bigger sites with more facilities suit me better.
When we holiday, we can be more choosy, but to be honest, usually end up on a larger site, but often they aren't club sites. Can't say I've ever been on a site I disliked.
Motor movers - looks like quite a big van, they'll come in handy
Ceept - c&cc don’t have the forestry England sites anymore, they baled out shortly after the lockdown fiasco! They are independently run by smaller more local providers.
I’m quite tempted to move clubs, partly just to find new CLs but also I might be curious to see if they have any cool places to tent camp
For camping check out nearly wild camping and the greener camping club. Only £20 per annum and have good sites (imo)
@burko73, they had "camping in the forest" sites in Scotland, including Glenmore on the banks of Loch Morlich.
The campsites remained closed throughout COVID, meanwhile some nights there were more than 100 tents on the beach next door, with zero facilities & alot of mess.
Unsurprisingly, they no longer hold the lease for the campsite.
Id quite like a caravan, the thing that puts me off is the fact that I can’t quite get past the fact a horrific crime will most likely have been carried out in it previously
my mate has one, his wife called it ‘Betty’ or something similar. She was dismayed to find out the entire cycling club know it as ‘the creeper’ due to the fact it was undoubtable used as some kind of mobile lair for a sex predator
that aside, enjoy your new purchase!
Id quite like a caravan, the thing that puts me off is the fact that I can’t quite get past the fact a horrific crime will most likely have been carried out in it previously
Have you seen the sort of people who buy caravans new? They're not generally the sort of people you'd worry about anything sexual going on..
With about 800000 caravans in the UK, the likelihood of getting one that's been used by sex pests is going to be low, unless of course there's a lot of sex pests around..🤔.
Lol at molgrips it's the dark seedy underworld of the saga holidays...
Saga louts is a phrase used in several urban dictionaries . .