my first adventures help with planning please!!!

[rainbowgirl]

hi there

can you help me please
i shall probably go down to cornwall for a week in may with the children and not sure how to plan it - or do i not plan it at all i mean i guess SOME sort of planning is vital so i dont end up down at lands end when my week is up lol i want to chill out and go on a lttle tour! how the heck do i go about it please as for me just getting in the van and going is very exciting but is that the sensible thing to do or should some element of planning the route i go a must?

then in august for 2 weeks, myself and my 2 children are going on an adventure from our home in dorset up to the lake district and back!
how do i go about planning it, i mean ive got afew places i plan to go on the way up with a tour around the "tourist" stops of the lakes - do i belt on up there and stay there for 2 weeks with say one overnight stop on the way or what?
its overwhelming as theres so many places to go, i just dont know how to plan it!
also is it really possible to wildcamp in the lakedistrict (i heard its wardened and ive now multicolured stickers all over her (thats geraldine my van lol!) or should i book places up there in advance!)
one day i think it will all be obvious how i do it but for my first adventures im totally unsure and (clearly!!!) overwhelmed

thanks in advance for your help and tips

rainbowgirl
x:

 

[n8rbos]

i remember goin to france on an old motorbike i'd just bought ans filled up with fuel, a credit card and my girlfriend.what a time we had!!!!!! don't suggest it with kids though.be sure your vans checked over!, have breakdown recovery!,plenty of money inc contingency(cards )a map! plenty of stores onboard ie gas etc! plenty to keep kids occupied!(are we there yet?)read up on here about wild camping sites around the areas you're going to! when you get there feel safe or move and be sure to let someone know where you am each night!(i'm only saying the safety aspects cuz you mention no chap/husband!) other than this don't plan to much because it'll do your head in if you don't acheive what you set off to do!!!! hope this helps


enjoy!!!

 

[maureenandtom]

Rainbow Girl,

This is going to be a nostalgia thread - there's going to be lots to tell you about how our first trips went off. I'm going to struggle manfully against that urge. More than that, I'm, going to be a bit radical.

I could be sensible and say that you should make one or two trips fairly locally - say for a weekend or two not too far away. But I'm not gong to do that. Faint heart never won ... well, what you want to win.

So, grasp the nettle, best foot forward and stuff like that. Do a little research, and there's plenty here would help with information, and think outside the box. From now on, I'll speak in English.

You're not too far from Portsmouth. You might consider a short trip to Ouistreham (Caen) - there's a free Aire almost at the port. Or, would it take you an age to get to Plymouth? There are two free Aires in Roscoff, one of them at the Port. It needn't cost the earth, it's a foreign trip right off, it's not too far from home if the worst happened, which it won't and you can take enough food and gas with you not to worry about finding such things. Then you can come back here and tell us all about it with a huge sense of achievement.

I'm so envious.

Best Wishes

Tom

 

[Cornish Emmit]

Its nice to hear that you are thinking of taking your children to corwall its a lovely place with so much to see, from the noisy hustle and bustle of Newquay to the desrted coves of the south coast and it can become very addictive (we came down 9 years ago and moved down here 8 weeks later).
I am not a great fan of to much planning but i would do a bit of research before the trip. if the sun shines then the moors, beaches, woods and streams are great but if it rains ( and we do get a lot of rain )then children get bored very quickly.

Cornwall gets about 4.7 million visitors a year so it might be a good idea to have some kind of back up plan if wild camping is not possible. I have learned through working down here not to trust sat nav if you have a big vehicle, off the beaten track some of the roads get pretty narrow and cornish hedges are made of vegitation covered stone, pretty unforgiving.

Worth remembering, Cornwall isn't 24/7 even the big supermarket chains close at night as do most of the petrol stations but you can buy fresh eggs and veg at the side of the road.

We live in south east Cornwall and the only way I plan to leave is in a wooden box.

The best advice that I was given was drop your worries into the river as you drive over the Tamar bridge relax and enjoy Gods own county

 

[TWS]

Hi Rainbow Girl, we have just returned from a eight day trip in Scotland, I never really plan in detail, but just have a general idea of where I am heading, the thing with a M/H is that you can stop as and when. As for the children, what a great adventure. All I do is find a place to stop when I'm happy thats it safe ,legal and quiet we try and keep a low profile and use local services, I tend to move around a great deal, don't like to stay in the same place for more than one night. Good look with your travels.

Tom

 

[merlin wanderer]

lake district

hi there

can you help me please
i shall probably go down to cornwall for a week in may with the children and not sure how to plan it - or do i not plan it at all i mean i guess SOME sort of planning is vital so i dont end up down at lands end when my week is up lol i want to chill out and go on a lttle tour! how the heck do i go about it please as for me just getting in the van and going is very exciting but is that the sensible thing to do or should some element of planning the route i go a must?

then in august for 2 weeks, myself and my 2 children are going on an adventure from our home in dorset up to the lake district and back!
how do i go about planning it, i mean ive got afew places i plan to go on the way up with a tour around the "tourist" stops of the lakes - do i belt on up there and stay there for 2 weeks with say one overnight stop on the way or what?
its overwhelming as theres so many places to go, i just dont know how to plan it!
also is it really possible to wildcamp in the lakedistrict (i heard its wardened and ive now multicolured stickers all over her (thats geraldine my van lol!) or should i book places up there in advance!)
one day i think it will all be obvious how i do it but for my first adventures im totally unsure and (clearly!!!) overwhelmed
thanks in advance for your help and tips

rainbowgirl
x:

wilding in the lake district is not easy with children the spots are
usualy pretty remote have a night at pooly bridge its a site
lake walks to village kids will love it

 

[zippybo]

Hello there
From someone who is fairly new to motorhoming in the last 12 months, and who's now just really starting to find their feet (after taking the plunge and upgrading from an old LT31 camper, to an old (but delightful) Swift Kon-Tiki -he's called Frank by the way- I know exactly how you are feeling!

I live in Plymouth and I have clocked up some places in Devon and Cornwall in the last few months (as well as Dorset). I’m away most weekends in my van these days. I’ll share with you my outings (from day one to date) in Cornwall, as this is where you have expressed an interest. My first trip out was to Bay View Farm in Looe http://www.looebaycaravans.co.uk/camping.htm.

This is a site not too far from Plymouth and staying here really gave me the confidence to work out how to use the van properly (e.g. electric hook up, toilet emptying, and various learning curves that may present as they always do). There are always people on site who are willing to help with anything (e.g. I had to ask how to dispose of the chemical toilet waste ). This site is really nice and the owners are really friendly, so well recommended! Perhaps you might want to consider an overnight at your nearest/local site as I did? Or even stay outside your house on the street to get a safe taste of wilding- which i also did

However, after a couple of stays at Looe Bay, I really felt that I didn’t want to pay site fees, especially when everything I needed was in my van. I therefore started to Wildcamp and used this site to navigate routes and get inspiration. To date, on the North Coast, I have stayed at Harlyn bay near Padstow (see the forum for info), Trebarwith Strand at the Port William pub (see this site) and have also wildcamped at Widemouth Bay (near Bude) in a car park, which is ok whilst its out of season, esp at this time of year. On the South coast, my favourite place (by far) is Mevagissey (see my post on the forum thread for details) and also Par Sands (again see my post, but it seems like this spot is only good out of season as informed by 'local knowledge').

I’m sometimes really rubbish when it comes to decision making, so feeling secure with a plan, especially when starting out, can be helpful. However, Maureen and Tom’s post really struck a chord with me as I think they are really onto something here when they talk about 'grasping the nettle' and 'best foot forward' - something that’s called LIVING!

Thinking about it is ALWAYS harder than actually doing it (which isn’t really that hard once you're doing). However, it’s easy for me to say that, especially now that I’ve had 12 months of wilding/camping experience! Perhaps you should try!

I must say that the previous advice by fellow posters is invaluable (I also thanked Cornish Emmit just for his insights- as his comment about leaving Cornwall in a wooden box, alongside other commonly shared insights, was pure class!!

The forum thread on this site for Wildcamping in Cornwall is really well informed, as equally are the other regions. I have found them to be extremely helpful.

My best advice to you therefore is…

1. I suggest that you decide on a budget (which you haven’t mentioned), as this might dictate what you do and where you go/stay.
   
2. Then, have a look at the map and just plan a logical route, perhaps by complimenting the places on the forum and perhaps searching on the internet for some campsites in the desired area as a back up contingency.

(P.S the latest edition of Practical Motorhome (April) comes with a free glove box UK campsite directory for 2009 which should be helpful)

You mention your children coming along and I would perhaps have a chat with them about how they feel about ‘the adventure’ of motorhoming and see what they think about it all…. and then plan accordingly! E.g. do you think that they might be more happy on a site than wilding? Perhaps you can mix it up between the two? Perhaps, if you are on a budget, you could visit some attractions that will keep them happy without ever visiting a site? These are all questions that you (and your family of course) can only answer!!!!

In my experience, even if you don’t plan for the unexpected it will all be OK!!! (e.g. my old VW broke down in a lay on route after leaving Harlyn Bay and by the time the AA got to me, and got me back on the road, it was dark and tiredness had set in, so I went to the nearby Padstow Holiday Park and parked in the late arrival areas).

You’ll be fine once you’re out there and on the road (trust me, the AA will always come and if you can’t decide exactly what or where to go, just DRIVE and the road will decide for you

Good luck and please let us all know how you get on.
Happy Wilding