'Caravaning,Camping,Motor Homes' etc

I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread for anyone interested in Caravaning.We use ours for holidays mainly in the summer months and also at 'Christmas' and the 'New Year'....

[ 31. March 2007, 10:24 AM: Message edited by: Kandyfloss ]

 

Does a motor caravan count Kandy?

 

Hi Fran,yes sorry I should have put that in the title,anything to do with camping and caravaning and Motor Homes.It would be nice to hear of site reccomendations,or ones to avoid,places to go for holidays at home or abroad and in fact anything in general to do with this subject apart from people who don't like our hobby... :D

 

You can edit the title if you want, Kandy! Not even realises that........ :D

I know of several nice ones in the north of France, and around the highlands - they all had the full range, caravans through to bivvy bags......

Favourite in North France has to be in Benouville, on the road from the port of Ouistreham to Caen, incredibly convenient for the ferries. It backs on to the Caen Canal, with Pegasus Bridge within about 15 minutes walk along the canal. Loads of history there, and not so very far from Bayeux.

The campsite itself has a nice little pool, good little shop and snackbar (with booze, of course - it's France we're talking about!)and decent washing facilities, oh, and etanque, of course! and if you like walking, you can walk right up to Caen, I believe (I didn't actually do that, as eldest son didn't much want to!)

In the Highlands, one of the nicest is at Glen Nevis, with a great view of the Nevis range. You can even be tempted to go up - but NOT in trainers, as they keep warning everyone!! They hate it being called a tourist route - loads of people g up and down, but it's a proper walk, and you should definitley wear walking boots, and be prepared for unpleasant weather nearer the top, even if it's lovely as far as you can see when you start.

The camp-site has excellent facilities, and there's a restaurant just a few minutes along the road, near the youth hostel. VERY nice in there, but not a problem taking children.

 

Hi Kandyfloss

We have a motorhome and love to go off for long weekends, short weekends or for a couple of weeks at a time. We mostly do the short trips in the UK, visiting National Trust places etc. and the longer trips are usually in France or Belgium, although we have motored down to Spain.

We've just come back from a short weekend today. We set off yesterday (Saturday) and stayed overnight in a rustic pub carpark (with permission of course) where we had a lovely meal. Today, we went to see Quex House (in Kent) which was extremely interesting.

We're planning a trip over to France shortly to top up on the wines, cheeses etc.

We love our motorhome and think it's one of the best things we have ever purchased.

 

I was planning a trip to one my favourite haunts this week but events thwarted me, maybe after the easter holidays. I stay at the CCC site at Sandringham - but visit the RSPB coast reserve at Titchwell. It has the advantage that the main path through the reserve to the beach allows dogs. So a one mile walk - and then acres of sand covered with razor shells - but almost completely deserted.

But I must really get round to planning my main trip this year, a tour round the coast of Scotland, up the east side over the top and down the west coast. Perhaps spending a little time at another favourite site - NT camp site in the Langdale valley, which whilst mainly for tents, does accept small motor caravans.

 

Oooooooh, that sounds great, Fran, I've been wanting to tour Scotland for years!

 

Hope Falkirk is going to feature in these plans, Ladies! You can't miss the Wheel!! :D

 

Dendi,We have stayed on the Glen Nevis site when we climbed Ben Nevis.We set up our birdwatching telescope and watched the walkers going up and down the Ben.We climbed it the day after arriving at the site,and we wore trainers because we had no idea our rough the track was all the way up.There was even people running up and down it.When we got to the snow fields we packed our sun hats with snow and put them back on our heads.Within half an hour the snow had melted and our hair was dry.It turned out to be the hottest day of the year.Now we have done it we are not too worried about doing the slog again.

Fran what do you think of Club site at Sandringham?We have heard it is quite regimented at that site.We have also been to Titchwell RSPB reserve.If you ever get the chance go over to the Isle Of Mull and stay on David Gracies site at Craignure.It is only a 1/4 of a mile away from where the ferry docks.Lovely site with views up Loch Linnhe towards Ben Nevis...

 

Can't talk for the Caravan Club site at Sandringham, but the Camping and Caravan Club site just down the road was fine. I've been there twice now, and didn't find it regimented. Thanks for the tip about the site at Mull - have made a note of it. There are so many places I want to go and see - the list just gets longer and longer.

Dendy - whats this about a Wheel at Falkirk?.

 

Fran,the address is David and Moira Gracie,
Sheiling Holidays,Craignure PA65 6AY Telephone 01680 812496 www.Sheilingholidays.co.uk Hope this is helpful to you.A trip down to Iona is a must if you get over to Mull and If you want to see good birds of prey Mull is were Simon King did his report on the White Tailed Sea Eagles the other year on Springwatch...

We did Skye the other year and though there was good sunsets to be seen from the campsite we found there wasn't many walking paths,so probably won't rush back there.

We are going to the Lake District this year and are looking forward to it

 

We spent Friday to Monday on the campsite at Glenmore. Parked about 50m from Loch Morlich. Weather was amazing - warm with barely a breath of wind. Fantastic evening skies!

 

For anyone contemplating a visit to Scotland, the link below will take you to what is probably the best source of information and reviews of Scottish sites available. They also market a map of campsites which is excellent.

http://www.scottishcamping.com/

 

Thanks for that Dave,will give it a look. Lovely photo

 

The Falkirk Wheel Fran -

http://www.thefalkirkwheel.co.uk/index.asp

You mustn't miss it!! A way of joining the Union Canal to the Forth and Clyde Canal - an icredible feat of engineering - it's instead of lots of locks.

Kandy - you were lucky! Although I've started the climb up Ben Nevis in lovely weather, it wasn't very lovely at the top! I was really wet and cold, and this was mid August! :eek:

There is so much that's good about Scotland! Your best bet is to do what Dave suggests, and go and see lots of areas of Scotland, and decide after that which ones you're going to come back to so you can see them properly!

The islands in the west are fantastic places to visit, but they're very different to the east, not to mention that the Southern Uplands are entirely different from the Highlands, with some fairly nice places in the Central Lowlands too, in between the industrial bits.