A cautionary tale

[Dezi]

Hi Everyone,

We were down in Devon this week picking up the new Murvi, after ten years & 116,000 in the old one.
Taking up Zidermans approval for the Hunters Inn, we decided to visit. However we could not approach via Lynton due to road works so had to find another way.
We did. Not suitable for caravans it said, on we went.Two miles down a one lane road gradually getting steeper and narrower with moss covered walls. At one point we had 2 inches each side with a bend coming up. I don't know if any of you have had the experience of driving a one day old,brand new, £40 grand plus of motorhome to possible destruction, but personally I have not had so much fun since I tripped over the cat,fell down the stairs and broke my leg.!!!

Alls well that ends well. The Inn was great, the food good & we parked up just outside in the national Trust car park ( we are members ) and the office is not open until March.

Dezi

 

[Deleted member 775]

never had that problem with my van , and as yours is fresh out of the box so to speak must have been a bit posterior nipping. remember one night in whitchurch when i worked for savers delivering with a 45 foot trailer at the back of the unit we took a wrong turn and ended up down a one way street it got narrower as we drove down no way to reverse back really ,in the end we were catching flower baskets hung off houses with the trailer on both sides of the narrow road got away with it in the end

 

[tresrikay]

A few years ago while in France, we had stopped at an incredible aire at St valery sur somme on our way back to calais.
It was a Sunday that we left the Aire and as we approached the town we saw masses of people walking toward the town.
I shall have some of this i said and even though there was a huge hand written sign with an arrow pointing in the direction of the main road, I ignored it and headed left................the whole town had been turned into a wonderful Sunday market, the main street ( down which we were driving) had been turned into a street market with street cafe's opened awnings, planters and tables all over the townscape........... untill this P***k of a Rosbif comes down the avenue in his 6.5 mtr coachbuilt..... people were moving tables and planters, winding in awnings .... all to let this idiot through the town...... The amazing thing was this was done with such good humour that i could not for one minute be other than ,.....NOT IN BRITAIN, where I would probably have been lynched.......... after getting through unscathed I asked my wife if we should park up and go and look over the market... that look will stay with me forever.

 

[Dezi]

The Landlords tale

Chatting with the landlord that night he told us that most
( sane ) car drivers bottle out half way down, try to turn round in a farm track and get bogged down. The local farmers have a standard charge of a tenner a time to tow you out with a, any damage aint our fault proviso.

Dezi

 

[irenerobbie]

dont believe what you read

my van can just sneek under the 2metre barriers( a great advantage) but attempting a very narrow 2metre railway bridge left me jammed under it , not knowing wither to continue or go back. i opted for going back and breathing in deeply ,it didnt work and the van has the scars to prove it. did wonder if i could have claimed but just got the touch up paint out instead

 

[Deleted member 775]

the thing with low bridges is that the measurement is at the apex of the bridge, they dont seem to take into consideration on the fact that it is an arch. so a narrow bridge restricts not only height but the overall width of the vehicle realy needs to be taken into consideration as well .the bridge may be 12foot in the center but may only be 10 feet a couple of foot ether side .

 

[Dezi]

many years ago I saw a double decker bus get stuck under a city centre railway bridge. The conductor ran round the front and let the tyres down to almost flat, and the drive reversed slowly out.

Dezi

 

[Deleted member 775]

that is the best way to go as deflating the tyres will give a few more inches to play with if you are stuck on the way in you will be stuck on the way out, this will release you from the bridge. the only trouble is if you hit a bridge then by law you must inform the authorities no matter how slight the bridge strike may be .

 

[Pioneer]

Couple of years ao, we went down a very, very narrow lane in Pembrokshire, the type of lane with pieces of rock sticking out from the walled sides, the lane must have been 1-2 miles in length, then suddenly an hairpin bend falling away to the right. The Motorhome was 7.5mtrs in length so had to shunt back and forwards to get around this bend. The front drivers side wheel left the road and all traction was lost. The local farmer dragged us round the corner with his 4x4. We stayed down at the bottom of the lane for the night, and guess what, the same thing happened on the way out. The farmer came again and towed us to the hilltop, charged us £10.

Happy Camping (or what).

 

[Pioneer]

never had that problem with my van , and as yours is fresh out of the box so to speak must have been a bit posterior nipping. remember one night in whitchurch when i worked for savers delivering with a 45 foot trailer at the back of the unit we took a wrong turn and ended up down a one way street it got narrower as we drove down no way to reverse back really ,in the end we were catching flower baskets hung off houses with the trailer on both sides of the narrow road got away with it in the end

Used to live outside of Whitchurch, now I know who was responsible for the carnage to the Towns hanging baskets! Nice one Mandrake.


Happy Camping

 

[Deleted member 775]

Used to live outside of Whitchurch, now I know who was responsible for the carnage to the Towns hanging baskets! Nice one Mandrake.


Happy Camping

we had one or two little incidents in whitchurch i remember the christmas lights or the lack of them but i was not driving to my defense (mi lud) but it is a lovely little town.

 

[Deleted member 775]

i do hope there were no ladies smalls on the lines a little hard to explain flapping Lacey garments on trailer. officer sir .

 

[Deleted member 775]

answer to that one is YES famous last words i know a short cut

 

[Pioneer]

I did a similar thing with washing lines crossing between the houses in a terraced street
I kept hearing a pinging sound

Brakes failed so *****, must have been trying to pick up the Bra's to use as parachutes, to help slow himself down. As seen on fighter planes landing on carriers.

 

[Pioneer]

I agree, short cut is not always the shortest.
Some years ago in the Algarve shopping centre, on leaving the car park, had to go under the main road to travel westbound, so followed the exit signs and came to a full stop. The low bridge in front was about to take the satdish off the top when I stopped and put into reverse gear. The Portugese women behind was terrified, screaming etc, but I could see her through the reverse camera, I was enjoying the reaction, but realised more cars had approached on this oneway. Angie got out to ask everyone to reverse up, but couldn't speak the lingo, and I was sill keeping an eye on the reactions, almost wet myself with laughing, it took 1/2hr to get things sorted. No harm done, but what fun.

Happy Camping

 

[Basil]

Some interesting tales, gave me a laugh......

 

[ronboyracer]

Tight squeezes

Nightmare city , not always with a new van though ,once thru the channel tunnel going over to folkestone ,using the sat nav it was 12 at night , destination blackhorse site , she took us straight from the terminal through an estate , climbing steadiley onto a narrowing road which became even steeper and narrower , wet muddy road , tyres spinning for grip , over grown foliage marking the sides of the van ,no way i could have continued , there was a fork in the track , managed to manoevre ,and to go back all the way down the hill ,luv the sat nav but as you know you cant always trust it.

 

[wildcampersandlovingit]

A couple of years ago we agreed to go and support a friend who was taking part in an extreme endurance event in North Wales. As we were covering the time between about midnight and her finishing (about 4hours later having started at 5am the previous day!) we were asked if we would take the m/h in case she needed to just collapse and sleep!

Not being local another of her (local) friends offered to navigate for us. My girlfriend was driving and all was going well until about 2am. The marathon route went off road for about 10miles and said local friend told us to turn down this lane to meet up with her the other side when she rejoined the road.

We looked around and saw no signs so didnt give it a second thought. As we progressed (yep you've guessed it ) the lane got narrower and narrower with rocks and branches sticking out on both sides - a cloudy night with no moon so pitch black save for the headlights. Me leaning out of one side, navigator out of the other trying to look ahead.

Girlfriend turns to our navigator and asks him if this road is going to get any narrower - his reply "well I've never had problems getting my car through here" the look he got from girlfriend - had he not realised he was in a 7.5m long m/h?!?!?

As we rounded an incredibly tight bend the road suddenly widened and it was at that point we all realised just how much we had been holding our breath! Girlfriend now says if she can get through that she can drive anywhere!!

Oh and my friend did complete the event in just under 23 hours having swum 5miles, cycled 120miles and run a mountain route of 32miles - she was one of only 4 who completed out of the dozen or so who started