Yesterday I travelled down to the NEC for the Caravan & Camping Show. Catching the early “OMG it’s 6:35AM” train from Stockport got me down to Birmingham International around 8:20 and it’s only a short walk over the foot bridge straight into the NEC main concourse.

I’d arranged to meet up with a few people for a bit of a catch up and to find out what’s planned for this year rather than just visit the show to see all the new caravans and motorhomes. Although it’s hard to resist!

First port of call was to drop by the Glossop Caravan stand and say hello. Last year Glossop Caravans allowed me to follow our caravan through the whole process of the service and gave me access to the service and repair facility. Hopefully I might be doing something else with GC later this year.

I took time to drop by and see Adam & Sophie on the Motorhome WiFi stand (http://www.motorhomewifi.com/). We have exchanged emails a few times about putting WiFi units in caravans and they have been working behind the scenes on a new range of products which will be coming out soon.

I had a brief chance to sit down and chat to journalist and fan of the full English breakfast Lee Davey (@tintent) and that thoroughly decent chap Andrew Ditton (@andrewjditton) about what’s happening this year and… well you will have to wait and see!

The whole caravan and motorhome industry seem to be in a rather buoyant mood. Early reports indicate this might just be a bumper year with everyone saying they are doing better than the same time last year especially with a lot interest from people who are new to the market. This seems to be backed up by recent figures from camping sites reporting an increase in early bookings for the year.

I also stopped to see John Turner from Visit Somerset and Tranquil Touring Parks. There is a lot of activity and some great things in the pipeline including some new sites being added… more about that soon.

If you’ve not been to the Caravan and Camping show at the NEC before, it’s well worth a visit, even if you are not considering a new caravan or motorhome, there are lots of accessories and “things that you just couldn’t possibly do with out although you don’t know it yet” to see. It’s on until Sunday 22nd so you can still plan to visit.

I’d just like to thank Sue for getting up at silly o’clock to run me to the station and then turning out in the evening drizzle to pick me up.

So that’s about it from me, but here’s a few more pictures… but you’ll probably never see it this quiet!