Guest Sally at Go M Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Come on chaps. I'd love you to tell me about the most gobsmacking things that have happened to you since you've been motorhoming - may be a great place, an amazing experience, or something which stopped you in your tracks and made you think. Be warned. it may appear in print, and there is a chance of a prize. Sally :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 The day we suddenly realised that you can have a great time without either a caravan site or an orange umbilical cord! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libby Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Hi Sally, Getting short of copy are they then. Lets see if I can dream up something. The only thing that comes to mind at the moment is the FIAT problem, I don't have one but I would be really Gobsmacked if I had just doshed out cash for a faulty vehicle. If there's a Wooden Spoon prize then I suggest it should go to FIAT for causing the most disruption to our pleasured hobby. Hope you liked that Sally. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chas Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 The look of torment on the face of a CCC site manager when you say you have not booked ahead, and you also do not need EHU. >:-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 chas - 2009-07-31 3:07 PM The look of torment on the face of a CCC site manager when you say you have not booked ahead, and you also do not need EHU. >:-( Surpassed only by the look of self satisfied condescending arrogance when he (or his CC counterpart) then tells you that the site is full even for just one night and even though there are still lots of empty pitches at 7.00 pm just waiting for people who will never turn up! Magic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porky Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Watching an 18 month old boy in the rain jumping up and down, and splashing around in deep puddles with the inevitable falling over and shreiks of delight on a Forest Holiday site in the New Forest this year. Well we have only just started our motorhome life. Roy Fuller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadjo Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 most amazing discovery just the joy of motorhoming for it's own sake, the freedom and the relaxation it brings, the getting away from it all and the adventures we have had and still to be had. we are so pleased we took the plunge wish we had done it years ago:-) cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROON Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 That wonderful feeling when you turn on the engine and start your journey, leaving all the problems you have in your home life at home. No-one else to share it with, but the Motorhome is my friend, my haven, my counsellor. Joy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Cutting short a Scottish tour because of a pain in the neck and the thirteen hour drive back from Kinlochewe. It turned out the be two shattered and dislocated discs. A bit too close to being paralysed.Seven hour drive back from holiday in Callander with stomach ache. Turned out to be a burst, gangrenous appendix. The subsequent complications made for an interesting few weeks in hospital. I didn't learn to stop touring Scotland. I did realise motorhoming is worth living for and that helped me through both life threatening events. Drinking tean and eating cake, waiting for the recovery man by a chair lift in the Cairngorms. Stunning views as the sun went down; watching the AA man snaking up the hill to reach us.Doing the northern tip of Scotland without any van power as the electrics gave up. Amazing how much fun you can still have.I didn't learn to stop touring Scotland. I did realise motorhoming is worth living for and that helped me through both life threatening events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkc Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Hymn to the Hymer To feel my castle move beneath me To feel that magical power. To see the needle slowly climb To seventy miles an hour. To leave souless rain-soaked roads behind To rest on an impassioned farm To flee the sun starved city streets To gorge in the Emerald Tarn. To lay my head in some drop down bed To hear the grandkids gently snoring To sleep dead beat in some quiet back street To the sound of distant traffic roaring. To sit with a drink, raised glasses clink To see everything within arms reach To drive to stone skimming distance To the edge of some wave kissed beach To stop at night on some unknown aire To wake to the song of birds To lift the screens on a whole new world Too stunned to find the words. To leave the thing packed house behind To take only what I really need To stand alone on my own four wheels To become a different breed! PKC 2009-07-31 The very simplicity and nakedness of man's life in the primitive ages imply this advantage, at least, that they left him still but a sojourner in nature. When he was refreshed with food and sleep, he contemplated his journey again. He dwelt, as it were, in a tent in this world, and was either threading the valleys, or crossing the plains, or climbing the mountain-tops. Henry David Thoreau. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hallii Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Wild camping on a Spanish beach for the first time, sitting outside in the pitch black looking at stars I had never seen before and drinking Rioja wine in the company of a German, Dutch and Danish couples, waking in the morning to a blue sea and even bluer sky, then down to the beach and snorkeling and flippering around the rocks in luke warm water. I am off again in September, woooohoooo! Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROON Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Awwwwww, pkc. That was lovely. Thank you for sharing that with us. Joy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GypsyTom Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 Tracker - 2009-07-31 3:20 PM chas - 2009-07-31 3:07 PM The look of torment on the face of a CCC site manager when you say you have not booked ahead, and you also do not need EHU. >:-( Surpassed only by the look of self satisfied condescending arrogance when he (or his CC counterpart) then tells you that the site is full even for just one night and even though there are still lots of empty pitches at 7.00 pm just waiting for people who will never turn up! Magic! Funny, I've never know normal, reasonable and well-mannered people be treated like this by any site warden. I suppose it comes down to your initial approach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vindiboy Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 We had a scarrey experience on a Municipal Camp site at Bergerac in France a couple of years ago we were camped facing the river Dordoine and sat out side the van enjoying the evening sun and a glass of wine. We went to bed about 11 -30 ish and the next thing we knew was at 6 am the next morning we had someone banging on the van door. It was the camp site guardian ,yelling at us to get up and move to higher ground as during the night the river had risen about 30 feet and was lapping our van awning.It was not even raining but further up stream there had been torrential rain apparently, huge trees were being washed down river too. An amazing experience with everyone helping each other move awnings and vans etc.This was in June ,not when you would expect floods but there you are, we had a free night though as the Guardian decided not to charge anyone. *-) *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 (1) Watching a Mother Otter feed Crab to her two cubs (with no salad I noticed), and Teach them how to catch them, just a few yards from our pitch at Craignure on the Isle of Mull, (2) Waking up to the most Glorious Sunrise, across a beautiful Pure white Beach on Harris after being kept awake by Corncrakes calling for most of the night. (I wouldn't have missed it for the world !) All this made possible by the freedom of having a Motorhome ! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROON Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Ravisi, I read your post three times wondering what you meant by cornflakes calling ..... then realised I was a lazy reader. *-) :-D (PS Is that a photo of your van? Wow.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkc Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 ROON, Yes, I think it quite likely you were mistaken, Cornflakes only call after dawn, I think what Rayjsj heard at night was probably the Lesser Spotted Tweetabix, Regards PKC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hymer C 9. Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 pkc - you do it for me every time :D Carol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peter Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Tracker - 2009-07-31 3:20 PM chas - 2009-07-31 3:07 PM The look of torment on the face of a CCC site manager when you say you have not booked ahead, and you also do not need EHU. >:-( Surpassed only by the look of self satisfied condescending arrogance when he (or his CC counterpart) then tells you that the site is full even for just one night and even though there are still lots of empty pitches at 7.00 pm just waiting for people who will never turn up! Magic!So speaks the man who doesn't even use the sites he readilly slags off. How dare he have the gall to malign the site wardens in this way. The ones I've met have all been helpful. I wonder how he would cope with loads of whinging old codgers like himself, grumbling all the time about someones dog having the temerity to piss on the grass, or something equally inoccuous. *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkc Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Well Carol, Thank you very much, it's tweet of you to say so. Regards PKC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapido-lass Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Lovely poem PKC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkc Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Thanks a lot Rapido-lass, my pleasure, glad you liked it. Regards PKC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 The first time we realised that once you crossed the Channel you had no need to book anywhere in advance so could go when and where you pleased knowing that there would always be a free or low priced Aire or a Municipal to stop on with no worries. Bas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hughmer Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 Auvergne September 2001. Spotted a gentleman emerging from the forest carrying a bolletus mushroom bigger than a football. As we like mushroom hunting we thought it a good place to stop a while so parked on the side of the road, just a typically French bit of gravelly stuff, ready to go walkabout next day. From 5am we heard cars arriving and people moving about. When we surfaced at 8.30 we spotted a chap loading the boot of his car with boxes of bolletus and we realised we were definitely in the right place. It was clearly a popular spot for camping. Although we were the only ones there for 2 days, - at 9.30 every morning a van arrived. It was the local baker with bread, eggs, milk and anything else including veg and local vin de pays by arrangement. After breakfast the first day we spent about 4 hours harvesting in the forest and came back with bags of mushrooms including magnificent ceps. We did it the next day too, and the next. In fact we didn't move the truck for 5 days. Just collected and ate Mushrooms. On toast, in omlettes, by themselves, soup, you name it we ate it. We found wild raspberries and blueberries in abundance, which we also picked. For those of the "take only memories" persuasion, - sorry, but while I agree with the sentiment as regards wild flowers, - wild fruit is delicious and in this case there was so much of it, it would have rotted on the stem before the birds could have eaten it all. Two French couples arrived in camping cars and we learned from them a better way to cut and dry the mushrooms and 2 methods to preserve them, one in oil and one by steaming, - but you need lots of Kilner jars and a big boiler for that. (You see this kit in Drogeries and big supermarkets come autumn time). They had one and we watched intently as they carefully arranged all their preserving jars in tiers on the racks in the pot and then set the huge burner to work underneath. Was this amazing, well yes for us it was. The sheer joy of being able to pull over onto the side of the road and forage for wild food for nearly a week, to share this good fortune with others from whom we learned so much, and to find ourselves still eating the (dried) fruits of our labours nearly 4 years afterwards was indeed something that gave us great pleasure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkc Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 Posted: 17 August 2009 4:12 PM Subject: RE: Go Motorhome...quick look. Quote; Tracker Nevertheless it may well be worth all of the £1.75 that this issue cost me! Discovering that Tracker actually put his hand in his pocket and paid out £1.75p. :-D Regards PKC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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