A New Tow Car

I started looking for a replacement tow car nearly two years ago when little things started going wrong with my trusty old Mondeo estate - like the heating fan starting to make a noise and the front passenger door not always wanting to open from the outside. I started off looking at any big diesel estate for about
£3k but as the months wore on with nothing suitable in my price range I decided that I would need to be more specific and would also have to pay more. In the end, if something works - why change it? I was very happy with the Mondeo, it is one of the biggest estates on the market and, although not exactly common, there are more of them than most other makes. I finally found a suitable one in September at Henry's in Glasgow. It's a bit older than I was hoping for but, with one previous owner, is in good condition with a reasonably low mileage. No towbar but I got a fixed swan neck fitted by Fife Towbars in Thornton for a very good price. I'd only had it for a fortnight when I took the caravan off for the weekend and all went well - the new car seems to be even more economical than the old one when towing. It also has a much bigger fuel tank which is a real bonus when towing! All-in-all I am very pleased with it.

I must be mad

Since my last post I have had several very successful trips in the caravan with Cheeky and Choccy. Having two pets definitely takes up more room in the car (and makes more mess) than one so I must be mad to have taken on a third! It happened like this ...

I forgot to take Cheeky's mirror when I went on holiday to my cousin's in June. He was getting left alone in the caravan more than is usual and I was worried he'd get lonely or bored so my cousin bought another mirror for him. He was delighted! I even took a video of him talking to his reflection. Fast forward a few months and I played the video to a friend, in hearing range of Cheeky. Cheeky immediately started calling to the budgie in the video! I had already started to think maybe he needed a real friend, not just a reflection, and this confirmed it. I had a look on the SSPCA website for budgies needing a new home and spotted a young blue male. Just a few days later I brought Merry home. He gave me a scare at first with a tummy upset while he settled in however he is now doing really well.

The only problem is ... Cheeky is being a wee bit of a bully with the new bird and Merry is still young and recovering from rather a bad start in life so most of the time they are in separate cages side by side, Cheeky in the big one and Merry in Cheeky's old, small travelling cage. So now I've had to order another small cage on ebay so that I can go away with both birds in the caravan! Hopefully they will, in time, settle harmoniously into the big cage at home but perhaps it is too much to expect them to share cramped quarters while on holiday. Here they are side by side in the big cage, Merry on the left and Cheeky on the right. It is, of course, still possible that Merry is a girl, not a boy, as he/she is a bit young to sex accurately. I suspect Cheeky will be delighted if he is a she!

Cheeky and Choccy

My first caravan trip of 2016 was a weekend away to introduce Cheeky the budgie to the caravan. It was very successful - Cheeky chirped all the way up to Killin in the car and settled into the caravan well. His cage alternated between the front table and the top of the cooker when the latter was not in use. At night, he settled down and slept until morning allowing me to do the same. The resident ducks on the site made more noise than Cheeky early in the morning. It went so well that, on my return home, I found myself thinking that having another guinea pig as well as the budgie would not be any more trouble. I still had the cage and all the equipment for a guinea pig so I had a look in the pets for adoption section of my local Pets at Home and found a young male looking for a home on his own because he had been fighting with the other pigs. His name is Chocolate Brownie or Choccy for short.

Unfortunately my next trip after acquiring Choccy was for a week in April. All went well until the middle of the first night when the little pig decided to start gnawing his way out of his travel box which I had placed in the toilet. I put him back into his cage and went back to bed, wondering if I had done the right thing in getting him. I decided to stay longer at my first site just in case I ended up having to leave the caravan there and take Choccy back home to friends so that I could get some sleep on my holiday! I even considered the possibility of returning him to the pet shop. Fortunately neither option was necessary - after much anxious consideration I had the divine inspiration of using the coolbox for Choccy overnight. Lined with sawdust and hay, he was quite cosy but unable to climb or chew his way out. After a couple of nights with him in the 'cooler' I felt confident enough to move further away from home for the rest of the holiday. Cheeky, meanwhile, behaved impeccably.

Having two pets instead of one IS more trouble, especially when it comes to hoovering the caravan, however they are both good company in their separate ways. I am looking forward to more trips with them both. I am also looking for a second coolbox, for the food!

An expensive caravan companion

Cheeky the budgie is in rude health and I am looking forward to introducing him to caravanning soon, however, before I do so I will have to replace all the pots and pans in the caravan! I have discovered that birds are very susceptible to poisoning from the fumes given off by Teflon non-stick cookware. Fortunately most of my pans at home are stainless steel but everything in the caravan is Teflon non-stick. It's actually very hard to get reasonably priced pots or baking trays which aren't these days, especially baking trays. Not that I bake a lot in the caravan but I do have one non-stick tray which gets used quite a lot, even if it's just for heating a ready-meal in the oven.

Apparently ceramic non-stick is OK for birds so I'll probably get a ceramic frying pan and replace the rest of the pots with stainless steel, which is going to be a costly exercise! However doing nothing is not an option - I don't want to lose another bird!

Rising prices

I don't know what the Caravan Club are up to with their pitch prices. Last year I spent a couple of summer weekends on the economy (non-electric) pitch at Clachan for £3 less per night than a pitch with a hookup. It was not worth doing in cold weather as I reckon even in summer without the gas fire on I was using about £2 per night in gas however in July and August it was fine and I was planning to do the same this summer. Unfortunately someone, in their wisdom, has decided to make the charge for an economy pitch at Clachan (and also at Altnaharra) exactly the same as the charge for an electric pitch. That means the so-called economy pitch will be more expensive when I take the cost of gas to heat the water and cool my wine into account. The only advantage in booking it will be that I will know in advance which pitch I'm going on, thereby reducing the time between arrival at site and sitting with a glass of wine in my hand and a pizza in the oven.

It will also be cheaper for me, as a solo caravanner, to go to Bunree with hookup and a heated toilet block in April or Morvich with ditto in October than to go to Clachan, with no toilet block, in those months which is ludicrous. Are they trying to dissuade solo caravanners from going to Clachan and Altnaharra? Those are precisely the sort of sites solos like! I think it's time the Caravan Club realised that we don't all tour as couples or families and we don't want to pay for electricity we are not getting!

Rising Damp

I have just got the caravan back after a winter spent in two different workshops. I knew it would be away for a while getting the accident damage repaired but I hadn't bargained for finding damp in the shower room on my last trip of 2015. The caravan is quite well ventilated (ie draughty) and so has never suffered from damp, even over the winter months. Unfortunately, and unbeknownst to me, water had started getting in along a seam at the back of the caravan and became noticeable when the shower room wallpaper started bubbling. The plywood underneath felt spongy and when I stuck my damp meter into the spot, it read 45%! I booked the van into Wallace's at Kirkcaldy as soon as I got home from holiday and left it with them a week later. When the panel in the shower room had been removed we could see that the damp had travelled from the back corner along two wooden battens. Fortunately we had caught it before the wood rotted but it still cost over £500 to get the leak sealed, everything dried out and a new panel fitted inside. The moral of the story is to check for damp regularly and act on any reading over 20%. I had decided to save money on servicing by getting a mobile engineer to service the caravan in 2014 and 2015 but it turns out to have been a false economy as he didn't pick up the damp problem. That back corner had been reading 20% when I last had a proper damp check done in 2013 so the early indications were there. Next time I will act on them sooner.

PS. Glencairn Coachworks in Leslie, Fife have done an excellent job on the accident damage. The only difference is that I don't have a nearside fog light now because they couldn't get exactly the same tail light fitting for my old Bailey. The more modern version has a reversing light in its place.

A New Caravan Companion

Cheeky

It is with a heavy heart that I write this post because my caravan companion of more than 3 years, Tom the guinea pig, has died. He was at least 7 years old so he had done well but I will miss him. He was just ideal for taking in the caravan - no trouble at all. Instead, I now have a budgie called Cheeky who I am hoping will be my new companion in the caravan. I have been thinking of getting a budgie for some time, having looked after a friend's bird a few times, and so, when I spotted a budgie in the window of a caravan on a site last year, I had a chat with the owners. They said the budgie went everywhere with them and it certainly seemed quite happy in its cage in the caravan so I took that as encouragement.

Happy

Unfortunately my path to budgie ownership has not been trouble-free. I found a brand-new cage in my local charity shop in November and so had no more reason to delay getting an occupant. I saw an advert for baby budgies on Gumtree and bought a lovely white and blue baby bird from a breeder in Tullibody. He was very tame, sitting on my finger almost immediately, and I put the fact that he didn't fly very well down to his young age. Sadly, Happy was actually weak and ill and died six weeks after I had bought him. I was (and still am) heartbroken and was wary of trying again, however a friend recommended the pet shop in Kirkcaldy where she had got her healthy budgie and so now I have Cheeky. He is not nearly so tame (yet) but is a much better flyer and all round healthier bird. The original cage I bought is small enough to take in the caravan and I now have a bigger one for the house so I am hoping that, by the time I next go away in March, Cheeky will be travelling with me.

More on Caravan Equipment

I am very pleased with my second water container - it makes life a lot easier. If I'm only staying 2 nights on a site and showering in the toilet block, the 40l container does me. I've also bought a second bag for it. It's not a custom made bag for aquarolls (looks like a dry cleaning bag) but works very well and was a bit cheaper - bought on ebay.

I've also managed to buy a new hitch cover on ebay - it is a Maypole cover, very reasonably priced and does the job fine.

Lastly, I saw this useful bit of equipment on sale in Aldi - a combined thermometer and hygrometer. It doesn't need batteries and is very useful for showing how humid the caravan is. It comes with a detachable stand or can be hung on the wall. I use the stand and put it back into its box for travelling. I've ruined a pair of binoculars through leaving them in the caravan to get bounced around and so am very careful now with any potentially fragile equipment!

Oops!

I can do most things on my own with the caravan however reversing can be a bit of a problem when there's no-one to guide me. A problem which I usually solve by either using the mover or jumping in and out of the car like a jack-in-the-box to check where the back of the caravan is. Unfortunately I was not able to use either strategy recently while reversing the caravan up a friend's driveway. The mover would not have coped with the incline and I had to keep the foot down and keep going once moving otherwise the car would stall. The result? I reversed the caravan into a large wooden flower tub. The rear tail-lights were literally wrapped round the tub when I got out to see why I had stalled. Nightmare! Fortunately the plastic rear panel of my beautiful Bailey straightened itself out when I pulled forward but the lights on the nearside were a mess and the rear panel was cracked underneath. The moral of the story is never reverse up a long sloping drive without someone to help.

I managed to sellotape the red and orange plastic pieces of the lights back together and duck tape it back onto the caravan so that I could get home (amazingly the bulbs were still intact) but the insurance bill is going to be big. Bang goes my no-claim discount (again).

PS. I have now discovered how to check the caravan brake lights on my own - by jamming my folding camp chair between the pedals and the steering wheel! It applies enough pressure on the brake pedal to make the brake lights come on.

Baking in the caravan

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while will remember my earlier post about cooking in the caravan, which can be summed up by the simple phrase - don't bother! I still tend to adhere to that when it comes to main courses however I have been experimenting with baking puddings in the caravan, partly because I have a lot of frozen fruit from my garden stored in my freezer. I started with fruit crumbles - making the crumble topping in advance of caravan trips and storing it in the fridge or freezer. I have also had a lot of success with ready-rolled pastry which can be filled with fruit, which has defrosted en route to the site, and baked in the oven. Easy peasy.
Then I saw a recipe for posh bread and butter pudding in Saga Magazine using brioche instead of bread so I decided to try a variation of it on my latest weekend away. I keep a collection of aluminium containers from ready meals in the caravan as they make handy casserole dishes.

I buttered one, placed two layers of brioche slices spread with lemon curd and blackcurrant jam in it and filled with a mixture of 1/4 pint milk and 1/4 pint cream with 2 beaten eggs and some caster sugar. Baked in the oven until set, the result was delicious, especially served with strawberries and cream!

A frightening experience

The A9 is a bit scary at the best of times when towing a caravan but it became positively frightening on a recent trip when I broke down on the dual carriageway south of Drumochter summit. I had been tootling along fine doing 60 on cruise control when suddenly there was a lurch and a loss of power. I managed to pull in to the entrance of a small side road where I inspected all 6 wheels, suspecting that a brake had bound on. All seemed OK and there was no mobile signal where I was parked so I pulled back on to the dual carriageway. Big mistake. I struggled to get up to 40mph and had to stop again, hazards flashing, when I spotted black smoke coming from the rear of the car. Still no obvious brake overheating. At least I had a mobile signal in my new position so I used it to phone the police as I couldn't get the outfit off the carriageway. I also phoned Mayday - the Caravan Club's breakdown organisation for caravanners. While on the phone to the latter, the police left a message to say that they would be some time, which was worrying as the number of vehicles which did not see the caravan until the last moment was frightening. I stood behind the crash barrier 100m before the caravan, waving people to pull over into the fast lane and praying that no-one would hit my beautiful Bailey. It took the police 35 minutes to get there - was I glad to see them! I also appreciated the couple with the caravan who pulled in behind me to see if they could help, especially as they were putting their own outfit in danger by doing so.

The police put out warning signs and then helped me limp along to a layby, black smoke belching, and breakdown arrived 10 minutes later. Turned out a hose had come off the turbo and was easily fixed at the roadside, allowing me to continue my journey. I am now going to buy the biggest red warning triangle I can find, just in case I ever end up in the same position. I will also remember in future to put on the hi-vis vest I always keep in the car - it might have helped convince motorists that I was not just waving at them for the fun of it! The average speed cameras on the A9 have reduced the number of idiots doing silly speeds on the single carriageway sections however the dual carriageway sections still resemble F1 racetracks - not a good place to break down, which is worrying, given the proposals to dual the entire Perth-Inverness section but without a hard shoulder. I also couldn't help wondering if the police presence on that section has been reduced since the average speed cameras were introduced. My patrol car had to come from Perth.

All-in-all it was a frightening experience and I am thankful to God that me and my caravan came out of it unscathed.

Caravan Equipment

I have been thinking for some time of buying a second Aquaroll, in fact ever since I started visiting a site with no toilet block. I use about 20 litres of water to shower and the Aquaroll I bought with the caravan only holds 29 litres so it needs to be pretty full before I shower. I did look on ebay and gumtree a while back but it was difficult to find what I wanted within reasonable driving distance from home so that I could collect it. Prices for 2nd hand Aquarolls were about £25. However, I have now bought a brand-new 40 litre water container from Aldi for £29.99, reduced from an original price of £39.99. It is not an Aquaroll and is maybe not quite as sturdy however it looks fine, has the same size caps as my Aquaroll on top and side and is not too heavy when empty. I still need to see if one handle will fit both carriers, which would save having to keep both handles in the caravan. I will also need to buy a cover for it, as I keep my water containers in the caravan toilet when travelling and find that covers or bags are very handy when the containers are a bit dirty. However I am very pleased with my purchase.

I am now looking for a replacement hitch cover for the caravan as the one which the dealer gave me when I bought it is now falling apart. I am also looking for a new catch for one side of my gas bottle locker as the existing one has broken. Unfortunately these things are not standard across all caravans and so, although I have seen similar catches on ebay, none are quite the right size. I may try the Bailey website next.

I can't imagine what caravanners did before ebay existed - there always seems to be something I need for the caravan and ebay is usually my first port of call. I bought levelling ramps, a CO detector, towing mirrors and water container covers from the site, all at very reasonable prices. My nearest caravan shop is 12 miles away and so although I like to browse there when I get the chance, ordering online and getting it delivered to the door is easier. I've even bought a caravan battery online, from a battery website, with next day delivery.

If any readers have favourite websites for caravan stuff, do let me know via the comments box. I'd be keen to hear from you.

Calor Gas Recall

Thanks to an article on the technical pages of the April edition of the Caravan Club magazine, I checked my 6kg Calorlite cylinders recently and discovered that both of them needed to be returned to Calor under a recall scheme! The recall covers all cylinders from 2008 to 2011 inclusive unless they have a hole stamped into the metal ring round the top. Details can be found on Calor's website. I enquired about returning the cylinders in my nearest Calor stockist only to be told that I would not immediately get replacements, in fact it could take some weeks. Since both cylinders were affected, this would have left me without gas for some considerable time and may have impacted on my summer holiday. Fortunately I phoned Calor before handing in the cylinders. They told me that, if the stockist has full replacements, I should be given them. Back to the stockist I went, armed with this information. I still had to fight to get their last two full cylinders as replacements for the recalled ones but they gave in after a phone call to Calor. I now have two full cylinders instead of one nearly empty and one full, at no cost to myself! Happy camper!

Getting excited!

I'm starting to get ready for the first caravan trip of the year! I was up at the caravan storage today putting the battery back in (I keep it in the house over the winter to avoid it freezing). I was relieved to see that it had retained its charge as I need it to power the mover to get the caravan out of its space in storage and hitched up. I also checked the tyre pressures and the mover - two years ago the mover seized over the winter and couldn't be wound on to the wheels at the start of the season! A more regular regime of oiling the moving parts seems to have solved that problem. Fortunately my caravan does not suffer from damp (because it is quite draughty) so I don't need to remove the cushions over the winter. I do take out anything that might attract mice after another caravan at my storage suffered damage to the upholstery during a winter from mice, although I suspect they brought the culprits back from their last trip to France that season! I've never seen any sign of the little blighters in my caravan.

I've stocked up with tea and coffee and food for the birds (you can tell where my priorities lie!) and I've checked things like shampoo, toilet chemicals and loo roll so I'm now good to go! Everything else I need will be in the car. There's just one other thing still to do - book my pitches on the Caravan Club website. I can't wait!

Floods and landslides!

The Falls of Dochart

My last caravan trip of 2014 was later than I'd hoped due to difficulties getting time off work so the clocks went back on my first night. That was OK as I was pitched at Maragowan, Killin so that I could go to the Annual Dinner of my mountaineering club in the Bridge of Lochay hotel. The next day, after a long lie, I upped sticks in the rain and headed north to Bunree. Unfortunately, I only got as far as Crianlarich, where a road sign indicated that the A82 was closed at Ballachulish due to a landslide. I knew that the blockage was likely to be north of Bunree however the police advised me not to continue as the tailback was considerable at that point. By 2pm I was back at Maragowan and it was pouring. I got settled, had a quiet afternoon and was just about to make dinner in the evening when the warden knocked the door and told me they were evacuating everyone to Clachan due to flood warnings. Cue a convoy of caravans out of Killin in the rain. It was 9pm by the time I'd got pitched at Clachan and I was soaked. So was the car - I discovered the next day that I'd accidentally opened one of the back windows when talking to the warden at the entrance to Clachan and I'd left it open on one of the wettest, windiest nights of the year! The car is still drying out.

A peaceful evening at Bunree

The rainbow

I had intended going on to Morvich from Bunree however Morvich was also closed due to flooding so I decided to stay a total of 4 nights in Killin and then spend the rest of the week at Bunree. Maragowan never reopened - it was a couple of feet underwater at one point - but I enjoyed my stay at Clachan, always one of my favourite sites. Bunree was also really pleasant and quiet, it being the last week they were open. I even caught a glimpse of a Sea Eagle, soaring in the wind and saw a rainbow before I left.

Wildcats and Eagle Owls - my summer holiday

I can't believe I haven't blogged since the 1st June - the downside of working as a gardener! Because I can't leave my clients' gardens for too long in summer I was only able to get away for a week with the caravan at the end of June but I managed to spin it out to 9 nights. I spent the first two at Invernahavon and managed to up my score of wildcats to 30 - only 100 to go! I then towed up to Brora, hoping for a day on the beach but the weather did not cooperate so I went to see the falconry display at Dunrobin Castle instead. I can thoroughly recommend it - the falconer obviously knows his stuff and is very entertaining. The birds are magnificent. I only wish I had a camera to do them justice!

My favourite is the eagle owl - absolutely beautiful. It's not cheap getting in to the castle so, unless you are into old buildings, make sure you time your visit to coincide with the falconry. The gardens were a bit of a disappointment with not much colour - I expected better at that time of year.

From Brora I headed up to John O' Groats and a pitch on my cousin's farm. Unlike Brora site she now has broadband and wifi so I can keep up to date when visiting. The downside is that I need to think of a new excuse to visit Flavours ice cream shop down at Groats (as the locals call it). Their ice cream is wonderful and the service is friendly. I wasn't so impressed with the Natural Retreats cafe at Groats - the wifi was down and the service a bit indifferent. I can also make better carrot cake myself! However it does offer nice views of Orkney.

I stayed at Brora again on the way home and again the weather was not really beach weather. Having done Dunrobin, there wasn't much else to do in the area. I'm not sure I'll go to Brora next year - the wardens are nice and so is the site but it's always full in summer and I felt a bit claustrophobic in the first pitch I chose - surrounded by a sea of caravans. Being woken up at 8.30am by the neighbour's telly did not help. (Note to caravanners with awnings - they are not soundproof.)

It was a long day towing home from Brora so, next year, I think I'll go back to using Culloden as a convenient stopover, despite its lack of wifi.

Eagles and Partridges but no Wild Cats

I didn't spot any more wildcats on my recent trip to Invernahavon site near Newtonmore - instead, thanks to wifi on the site and twitter, I discovered that there were a number of free events running that weekend in the Cairngorms National Park and so I went to two of them. The first was a guided walk through Glenmore forest by Trees for Life. The guides were very knowledgeable and the forecast rain did not materialise so it was very enjoyable. The second event was a talk on raptors by Roy Dennis - an expert who has spent years studying raptors and following their movements via satellite tagging. The talk was excellent with a good question and answer session afterwards but was very poorly attended. It was a held on a nice Sunday afternoon which may not have helped. It finished just in time for me to drive to Inshriach Nursery for a cup of tea and scrumptious cake followed by a wander round the gardens.

The caravan site is very pleasant, although the sound of traffic on the nearby A9 was intrusive at times. The toilet block is good and there is a mix of hard standings and grass pitches with a few seasonal caravans scattered around. It has changed ownership recently and, according to some regulars I spoke to, has not changed although there is some concern that it might in the future. My main concern is that there is no warden on site overnight or for parts of the day and tents are allowed to pitch where they like, not just in the designated tent area. My peaceful grass pitch at the far end of the site was spoilt on the last night by a family pitching a tent right behind it "because they always pitch there" even although the tent area was empty. In the end I moved the caravan rather than put up with their noise.

I always like to take some books to read when I go away in the caravan and, this time, I had a copy of The Eagle's Way by Jim Crumley which I had won in a facebook competition run by the RSPB. I thoroughly enjoyed it - Crumley's descriptions of eagle-watching in the Scottish hills are poetic and also give an insight into the life of a dedicated naturalist. He also has some thoughful observations on the re-introduction of the Sea Eagle to Scotland and, in particular, whether the east coast birds will stay in the east or migrate west, as some have already done, notably Sula who is currently starring in the BBC's Springwatch. I'd definitely recommend the book to all wildlife fans.

Talking of wildlife, I got a superb view of a red-legged partridge sitting on a stone wall not a stone's throw from the caravan at Invernahavon and also spotted thrushes and meadow pipits in the grass. I could faintly hear a cuckoo calling - my first for 2014. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos - the partridge made like a road-runner as soon as I got the camera out and I didn't take it on the forest walk because I was expecting rain! Inshriach Nursery tea-room is a great place to watch red squirrels which come to the feeders just outside the window, along with a variety of birds. I definitely recommend it!

Gulls fly south - I head north in search of wildcats

My first caravan trip of this year seems like a fading memory now, however I am planning the next one! Everything went well last month, unlike my first trip last year which was beset by problems, including a dead battery and a seized mover - the hazards of not using the van over the winter. I had an uneventful drive up to Bunree site near Fort William where I stayed for six nights. The weather could have been better (it was very windy) but I did get some sunshine and an afternoon skiing at Glencoe.
I also did some bird watching and was fascinated to observe that, in the late afternoon, all the gulls seemed to be flying SW down Loch Linnhe. None went in the opposite direction. I watched for quite a while as groups of gulls appeared from behind the headland to the north and headed south. If anyone has an explanation for this behaviour I'd be really interested to hear it!

I'm now turning my attention to future trips and have booked a weekend at Invernahavon near Newtonmore in the not too distant future. I have not been to this site before so am looking forward to seeing what it is like. It is in a good location for hillwalking but, if the weather is bad, I can also do some research on my family tree as one of my grandfathers came from that area. I may also see if I can find more of the Newtonmore wildcats - I've found a few already but there are lots more to get! I've managed to book time off work so that I can stay 3 nights and make the most of the trip. If I like the site, I may well use it as a stopping point for my summer holiday, when I head further north for a week. The joys of planning! I can't wait to get away again!

Down with pop-tops

I hate pop-tops - you know - the modern equivalents of the VW caravanette without the character. I never pitch next to one if I can possibly help it and I get a sinking feeling when I see one coming towards the vacant pitch next door. I think there should be a separate area on site for these tents-on-wheels. Caravans don't have much sound-proofing but these campervans have none, plus, they are fitted with car stereos - not a good combination. I very rarely have to ask the neighbours to turn it down but, recently, I had to do so twice with the owner of a campervan who liked to listen to the radio and assumed that all her neighbours did too - at 10.30pm. Also, the sliding side doors, which most campervans seem to have, make a hell of a racket when the occupants decide to visit the toilet block in the wee small hours of the morning. Give me a caravan with proper on-board facilities for weak bladders any night of the week. Campervans are ideal for wild caravanning, where they can park up in a remote layby and not bother anybody, indeed I sometimes wish I had one myself for that very purpose. They are not good neighbours on caravan sites and so, if you, dear reader, happen to own one of these blots on the landscape, please do not park it next to my beautiful Bailey. Go off and find a layby somewhere, far from human habitation. Or buy a caravan.

Caravan Companions

When I first started caravanning I was amazed at the number of caravanners with dogs. And not just one dog - I have seen as many as four dogs in one caravan. I shouldn't really have been surprised - not all guesthouses or holiday homes allow pets and so caravanning is the obvious choice if you don't want to be separated from your pet. It saves the hassle and expense of pet-sitters or kennels. I had a guinea pig when I bought the Bailey but never took her away with me - she could be quite vocal when she wanted fed and she also had an annoying habit of rattling her cage bars with her teeth. Fortunately I had a friend who was happy to look after her, in return for my doing some budgie-sitting.

When the guinea pig died I decided to be pet-free but, after a few months, I was asked to rehome a male guinea pig whose family were emigrating. Tom has turned out to be much quieter than either of the two females I have previously owned and so I took him away one weekend to see how we got on. He sits quite happily in his cage on one of the seats and goes in his travel box in the toilet overnight. He seems to cope with the car travel and is an ideal caravan companion, apart from the hay and sawdust all over the floor.

Recently I offered to take a dog whose elderly owner had died. He was a lovely old boy and I was looking forward to taking him caravanning, thinking of all the walks we would do. Unfortunately Pip turned out to be extremely active for his 14 years and would not settle if I was in the room. He was even worse when I took him up to the caravan at the storage yard - he was just not happy in the van and also had trouble negotiating the steps into it. I have very reluctantly decided that he is not the dog for me, because all my holidays plus some weekends are spent in the caravan and I don't see the point of having a dog if I can't take him on holiday with me. Now I am surprised again that so many people have dogs in caravans since not all dogs take to it and not all dogs travel well - Pip didn't, in spite of my buying a cage for him to travel in.

I will probably be looking enviously at dog-owners on my next caravan trip and wishing I could have taken Pip with me, however he has gone to a good home - one without a car or caravan.