First night!

[Black dog]

Just returned home after our first night wild camping. Can't wait to do it again!

We've been caravanning for years, always on official sites or private land belonging to friends etc. A few weeks ago I took the plunge and bought an old home-converted Transit on eBay. It didn't cost a lot, but I'd always hankered after a camper van and I thought this would be a good way to find out if it suited us (the VW bus we had for a year didn't count, as it was so small we had to sleep in shifts and everything on it failed to work).

We observed rule 1 for new caravanners - make your first night close to home so you can get back if something really goes wrong, but not so close that you can pop back for that forgotten item! We drove to a small fishing village about 15 miles away (see post titled Porthgain in the Wales/Pembrokeshire section). What a great night! We got there about 6pm and discovered we had forgotten the wine, so I crept to the pub and asked if we could buy a bottle. Five minutes later we were getting ourselves outside a very pleasant Pinotage and watching the sun set. We went over to the pub for a meal later and then bedded down for a good night's sleep. We were careful to park in a quiet corner of the harbour away from the pub and the slipway, and we had an undisturbed night. We got up about 8am, had a bit of breakfast and a walk along the cliff path, then bought a lobster from one of the fishermen and set off home.

Admittedly, we couldn't have chosen anywhere quieter, but we felt quite safe and unworried about being moved on (something which I had always thought would be a concern with off-site camping). What a great way to spend a weekend! Just planning the time to do it again, when we get the chance.

 

[swingsandroundabouts]

Congratulations ......

on becoming "one of us" and don't forget to wave to your fellow travellers.
We chose a motorhome over a caravan because my husband is disabled. It is so much easier when arriving at your final destination. You just pull up, turn of the ignition, switch on the gas and hey presto your all set

 

[Black dog]

Thanks for the good wishes. As an ex-biker, I always wave at someone doing the same daft things as I do.

Currently, it's waving at old Land Rovers. Now it will be campervans. Heaven knows what'll be next.

Incidentally, does anyone have a concise definition of the differences between:

• Campervan
• Motorcaravan
• Motorhome
• RV?

The old Tranny is definitely a campervan. But where do campervans end and the posher ones start?

 

[David & Ann]

Motorhome.....???

I could be wrong but this is the way I see it from some guy who filled me in a few years back.
1: Campervan is a VW van or similar which has been converted.
2: I think this expression was created by the British themselves when the conversion was thought up from towing caravans to having them motorised.
3: "Motor Home" is still used by the Canadians and the Ozzies. Even the Germans use the same expression, "Wohnmobil"
4: RV is absolute American
Perhaps, some one may have a better story to tell

 

[Black dog]

I've just bought the John Wickersham 'Build your own motorcaravan' book, and he says something similar:

• Campervan is usually a converted commercial van
• Motorhome/motorcaravan is usually a coachbuilt body on a commercial chassis or an A-class

In my own head (for what that's worth) I see them as:

• Campervan - VW or other commercial/delivery van (however large) converted to camper (I would class my Transit in here)
• Motorcaravan - older coachbuilt, looking like a caravan mounted on a chassis cab base
• Motorhome - newer all-GRP models, plus the posh looking A-class and up to the kind of thing Schumacher sleeps in
• RV - massive, ugly and tasteless, anything from a large motorhome with pop-out sides to a tractor-and-trailer heavy commercial conversion.

The first one's definitely where it's at for me.

(Yes, I had an interesting discussion with a German owner of a HUGE Hymer parked nearby in Italy this summer. With his limited English and my limited German, we still managed to work out that wohnmobil = campervan/motorhome, and wohnwagen = caravan.)