A Place for Everything…

29 Monday Aug 2016

Posted by Simon Barlow in General, Modifications, Projects, tow vehicle, VW Amarok

Tags

The additions to the Wolf continue, despite the recent news from Glossop Caravans at our last service, that we have damp in the caravan. Hopefully we will hear soon whether or not its covered by the warranty. So, moving on, a couple of additions to the VW Amarok. After installing the sliding bed, I noticed that there was some space available between the end of the bed and the truck bed at the cab end. It was only 70 mm, but I thought with a bit of creative construction, I could come up with a contrivance to hold some of the stuff and tools that we normally schlep about with us. Using 18mm birch ply phenol finished board I came up with a storage box that is fitted to the bed and projects forward right up to the truck bed front wall… Continue reading →

Towing With The Amarok…

13 Saturday Aug 2016

Posted by Simon Barlow in General, tow vehicle, Towing

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Amarok, Roll N Lock, Touring, Towing

Our recent trip to the Caravan Club’s Blackshaw Moor site near Leek gave us our first chance to tow with the Amarok.

The Amarok I found has an excellent driving position giving a good all round visibility despite being a large vehicle, 5554 mm long including tow bar and 2228 mm wide. This was brought home when a Discovery Sport pulled up next to me and I was looking down into it! In normal solo driving, the 8 speed automatic gearbox keeps the engine rpm low, not often going above 1800 rpm. Even pushing it quite hard the rpm remains low, showing just how much torque the 2 litre BiTurbo engine has (420 Nm of torque at 1750 rpm). First gear in the automatic box has been designed for off road use and pulling away towing a 3200Kg trailer. Although the rear end is a classic leaf spring suspension although unconventionally the springs are mounted outside the chassis rails to give less roll for a given spring rate, the clever design of the front suspension and the long 3095mm wheelbase keeps everything smooth and even speed humps don’t cause bounce from the rear end and as soon as any load is introduced on the rear bed (and you can put just over a tonne in there!) everything is really quite relaxed and the standard shock absorbers work well. Even in the wet and on roundabouts with no load in the back, everything is under control and so far I’ve not had the Electronic Stability Program kick in. All wheel drive is permanent on the automatic no matter if you are in on-road or off-road mode. The Torsen differential splits the power 40:60 between front and rear wheels and this reduced understeer on wet corners to zero if you are being slightly over enthusiastic. One thing that did surprise me is just how spritely the wolf is.

The Amarok stands on 19 inch rims fitted with 255×55 Continental Crosscontact Extra Load tyres with a load rating of 1090 Kgs which which give it a great footing. We are trying running with the standard pressure of 29 PSI all round for the moment, although the rear tyres can be run at 44 PSI for a maximum load of 5 people and 1000 Kgs load in the rear bed.

Inside everything is functional and seems well laid out. Road and engine noise are minimal even on motorways, especially when the gearbox drops into 8th gear which is classed as overdrive, and at 60 mph the engine is just ticking over at a shade over 1200 rpm. As there is loads of torque available even at this rpm, putting your foot down to accelerate doesn’t always require a downshift to 7th. The brakes are impressive and surprisingly have a lot of feel to them despite the Wolf being a truck. The Amarok is fitted with VW’s brake assist and if you jab on the brakes in an emergency stop situation, it detects how fast you apply the brakes then automatically applies maximum braking effort… it also then starts flashing the brake lights to bring attention to the fact you have just done a full brake emergency stop and then turns the hazard lights on.

When we purchased the Amarok we opted for the Whitter tow bar, which while not the slimmest fitting tow bar available does give us options for adjusting the tow ball height over three settings when required. It’s equipped with an Alko machined head tow ball.

To keep everything secure in the rear bed, we opted for an American made Roll N Lock cover supplied by Up-Country Autoproducts. It arrived in a huge box with a good set of instructions, but if you go onto Roll N Lock’s website there are a couple of good installation instruction videos and after watching them a few times, it took me about two hours to fit on my own and that included removing and refitting the sports bars. Roll N Lock provide an optional fitting kit so you can install the OEM sports bars (as far as I know it’s the only retracting cover that can accommodate the OEM sports bars). The Roll N Lock adds about 30 Kgs to the weight of the Wolf.

As I did’t fancy leaping on and off the tailgate every time I wanted something from the back of the pickup bed, I opted to install a German made Antec Sliding Cargo Tray also from Up-Country Autoproducts. When retracted the bed can support 550Kgs in the driving position and when pulled out to about 75% of the bed length can still support 250Kg in standard form fully extended out and can be upgraded to 350Kg by replacing the bearings. It took just over an hour to fit on my own and again, watching the manufacturers video’s on U-Tube a couple of times filled in a few steps that were not clear in the instructions.

It incorporates tie down rails on all four sides, although I might install a couple of cargo rails that allow you to install multiple anchor rings (the same type as used in aircraft holds). The sliding bed adds another 65Kgs to the weight. I’m still playing about with loading configurations for the bed. We currently use a number of Really Useful Box Company boxes to store everything and these work out well. The only thing I might do over winter is build a custom storage box that fits semi-perminantly at the rear of the slide under the Roll N Lock cover to store all the off road recovery bits, straps, shackles, air compressor etc.

Towing…

Coupled up the whole outfit with our current caravan is 41 feet 6 inches long. Reading through the Wolf’s manual there is quite a big section on towing. One interesting feature I noted is when the caravan is plugged into the Amarok’s 13 pin socket, the alarm system covers the caravan, so if you leave the Amarok and lock the doors turning the alarm on, if anyone tries to unplug the caravan or cuts the cable it will set off the Amarok’s alarm.

VW recommend turning off the engine autostop feature. Although the caravan towing electrics are set up so that if the engine stops, the fridge circuit is switched off until the engine restarts. I’m not sure why they recommend this but I’ll try to find out. While towing, I followed VW’s advice and turned it off.

As soon as you connect the caravan electrics up to the Amarok, the vehicle detects the presence of a trailer and a number of parameters are changed. The rear parking sensors are turned off (and you see a trailer on the sensor display) and the rear vehicle fog light is disabled so the front of the caravan is not lit up bright red in low visibility situations. The other changes are to do with the electronic stability system, ABS, off road and gearbox modes. The handbook recommends shifting the gearbox into sport mode for towing, which extends the rev range in each gear before an upshift is commanded. You can also use the gearbox in manual mode shifting up and down manually between each gear.

With the caravan hitched, sitting in the drivers seat I didn’t feel as though I’d need towing mirrors as I could clearly see down both sides of the caravan. I did opt to fit our towing mirrors however, and I did adjust them so as they were quite close in. This still gave me a great view down both sides of the caravan to the extent I could easily see each of the orange side marker lights in the caravan. I also thought having them fitted would reduce the chance of VOSA and the Police pulling me in for not having them.

Where we store the caravan, pulling out from our spot requires a 270 degree right turn. I didn’t measure it but to felt like the turn was tighter than I could have achieved with the Freelander, despite the Amarok’s greater length. Stopping to double check all the road lights and fridge were functioning correctly, I wasn’t disappointed and the guys at North West Towbars had done a great job of getting everything wired correctly. We pulled out of the storage facility into the centre of Stockport and I’d opted to go via the A6 and then the A523 through Macclesfield to Leek, which is a bit of a mixed road with plenty of bends and some hill climbs. To be honest, and this is probably an over used statement, but after a couple of miles through Stockport and down the A6 I didn’t really notice the caravan. The width of the Amarok meant that after a couple of hundred miles solo I was already use to placing the vehicle the right distance from the kerb and the caravan width meant it was nicely in line all the time. Through Macclesfield there was a section where a lorry was unloading and the road became a single carriageway. The oncoming vehicle flashed me to come through and I put my foot down and the Amarok caught me by surprise, it dropped a gear and took off like a scalded cat. I was used to putting in a lot more accelerator in the Freelander for a similar manoeuvre.

During the journey, the engine temperature remains nailed on 90 degrees and the oil temperature varied between 85 degrees and 99 degrees so I don’t think the engine was working too hard. The gearbox didn’t surprise me with any odd changes (except for my enthusiastic manoeuvre above!) and on a couple of long down hill sections, I flipped the leaver into manual mode and dropped a gear and the Amarok held it’s speed nicely with only minimal use of the brakes. I certainly didn’t have to ride the brakes as you have to with some automatic vehicles when being pushed downhill by 1500 Kgs of trailer. I’m not sure, but I think that sport mode on the automatic gearbox with a trailer attached is different than without a trailer attached.

Arriving at the site, you do realise just how long the unit is and it required a bigger reversing area to get the caravan located on the pitch aligned with the peg, but the good all round visibility helped, especially having the caravan so far away from the rear window, there were no blind spots and I could see the caravan clearly…. and Sue did a good job of guiding me in via the two way radios.

There are a couple of things that I don’t like. The reversing light (yes ‘light’ not ‘lights’) is very poor. VW have thought it only needed one reversing light, and for that matter one rear fog light. The reversing light is on the near side and would not attract a moth at night when its turned on. So one of the mods will be to install two under bumper LED lights via a suitable fused relay. Looking at some of the Amarok forum posts, this seems to be a common mod. The other mod is then to convert the normal reversing light into a near side fog light by replacing the LED unit and changing the wiring over. I’ve already ordered and had delivered the LED units for the reversing lights and will be tackling this job soon.

The second thing is the GPS unit. I guess I have got used to the TomTom unit and programming my own POI’s. The actual map display on the unit is great and the display of the map is really clear. However, the navigational aspect is not a good as our TomTom in my opinion. The other thing I would have thought is as it’s a commercial vehicle, the GPS unit should be able to be programmed with size and weight… and details of a trailer, but alas, no. I think it is the same software that is used in the VW range of cars. Why can’t manufacturers team up with the guys that know about navigation and offer inbuilt TomTom or Garmin products.

I have however recently discovered a web site that allows you to store POI’s on the memory card and access them through the GPS…. apparently you can also set some navigational parameters too. I’ll let you know how I get on.

Cross Country Solo…

Friday gave us chance to have a run out solo across the back roads of the Peak District over to the National Tramway Museum at Crich. I set the TomTom for the shortest route and it directed us up and over some spectacular scenery on B roads and a couple of single lane tracks. A road closed diversion added another eight miles to our trip. The Amarok performed well, most of the milage gained solo so far was on a short motorway commute to the airport so having a chance to throw it a round a bit gave me an insight into its abilities, and I wasn’t disappointed. At no time did I feel it was lacking power and the two litre engine performed like a bigger unit. We came back via the A6 and Buxton which is a bit of a fast twisty road in places and despite its size and weight handled really well, feeling extremely sure footed… well enough for me anyway. I don’t do excitement while driving anymore! The climate control and aircon are great, with Sue being able to adjust her side exactly to her preference and leaving me to do my own thing. I can’t wait for winter now when we could never agree on the setting in the Freelander.

Returning home, the sat-nav wanted us to turn right out of the site and head towards Buxton, then cut across back towards Stockport I opted to return the way we had come through Leek and Macclesfield. The return trip was exactly an hour and the towing again was easy with the Amarok and it feels just as sure footed when making good progress towing through twisty sections of road. I wasn’t going to do the ‘Elk Test’ but I feel that it would not give me any nasty surprises especially as the Electronic Stability Programme works with the ABS when towing. I really think VW should enter this for the tow car of the year awards.

In conclusion, it’s everything I hoped it would be and it has so far exceeded my expectations. It’s comfortable, roomy and has lots of storage inside the cab. The Atacama version is fully featured and I don’t think it misses anything we would need. We are both really please with our choice. I’m looking forward to the motorway tow down to the NEC for the Motorhome & Caravan show in October (unless we get away before then!). If you see us there and would like to have a look round an Amarok or just say Hi, do stop by.

If you think that you might like to try one, go and visit your nearest Commercial VW Centre and if you are anywhere around Manchester, drop in and see Jessica at the Manchester Van Centre VW in Trafford Park and tell her I sent you, she won’t run away… promise!

Still to come…

We have still to fit a few other bits of equipment to source and fit…

Vehicle Tracking System
HD Dash Cam.
Led Reversing Lights.
Thule Bike Rack Mounting System.

For the vehicle tracking system, I’ll be talking to a few of the exhibitors down at the Caravan & Motorhome Show at the NEC in October to see what options there are. The HD Dash Cam is a little easier, There is an excellent website called “TECHMOAN” and the video reviews on there are straightforward and honest and I’m my opinion some of the best reviews on tech equipment. I think I’ll be choosing the DDPai M6+ unit with a battery pack to use the parking features.

I’ll keep you updated on how we go on.

Choosing A New Tow Vehicle – The Finale

04 Thursday Aug 2016

Posted by Simon Barlow in Projects, tow vehicle, Towing

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Caravan, Touring, tow vehicle, Towing

So after all the spreadsheets, test drives, sorting insurance and towing electrics, emails and telephone calls, the end was in sight. We had a collection date, the 28th July. Apart from our very first brand new car… a racing red MG Metro back in the early 80’s, Sue had always been the one to collect our cars from the showroom, however this time, it was Sue that was working so I was on my own. It took around half an hour to go through all the paperwork and sign on the dotted line several times. Despite the Manchester drizzle the walk round was in-depth and covered all sorts. Inside, Jessica went through all the systems and paired my iPhone to the audio system, even storing some of my most often used radio stations in the memory.

Jessica waiting to give me the grand tour and hand over the keys.

Handover done, everything explained I said goodbye to Jessica who had been so helpful through the whole process, I turned the key, slipped it into drive and pulled out of the forecourt. The odometer showed exactly 48 miles as I turned “Project Wolf” on to Village Way.

My experience with a Commercial Vehicle Dealer

I have mentioned this before, one of the things a few people expressed concern about was actually dealing with a commercial vehicle dealer. Well having dealt with Manchester Van Centre VW I can only comment on my experience. The customer service on first contact was excellent. The whole buying process was handled by one person, Jessica, who did everything. We weren’t passed off from one person to another through different stages of the buying process. I know we are not (well me actually) easy customers… I like to know the in’s-and-out’s of everything and do like getting into the details and asking awkward questions. Through our initial contact with Manchester Van Centre VW to driving out of the forecourt with our new vehicle took a total of 10 days and I either spoke to Jessica or exchanged emails nearly every day over that period and we were kept fully informed throughout the process. My dealings over a few months with VW UK while doing all the research was not as good, emails often going unanswered. Dealing with VW GmbH in Germany was excellent however and they went the extra mile (or kilometre!) to provide information requested.

Are all VW Commercial Dealers the same? I can’t answer that one. Can I recommend Manchester Van Centre VW? Based on my dealings with them, yes. I’ll let you know how it all goes at the first service and if I need to change my views.

On the way back home I had to call in to the North West Towbar Centre in Stockport. When they originally fitted the tow bar, they were two terminals missing and needed to order them from Westfailia. They did contact me directly to let me know before I picked up the Amarok and I arranged to drop in.

While they were fitting the missing terminals, I had another chat with the guys there. I had already had a look underneath at the tow bar and the standard of fitting… you can tell a lot by the way cables are routed and fixed into place, and these guys had done a good job. Everything was routed away from anything that could chafe the loom, the loom was enclosed in a flexible PVC conduit and secured firmly to the vehicle.

While I was there I also checked out the fittings I’d need for the bike racks. They have a full display of Thule products and I was able to check exactly what bits I’d need. Heading home, I called in to fill up with diesel… 52 miles on the clock and 65.74 litres to fill up. I can now start another spread sheet to record mileage and fuel.

So What’s Next?

Well we have a few bits to fit:-

Roll N Lock cover for the pickup bed.
Antec Sliding Bed Tray.
Thule Bike Racks.
Charging station for the two-way radios.
Fire Extinguisher.
Additional truck bed lighting.

… and of course I need to get the thing weighed on a VOSA weigh-bridge.

The figures given on the V5C are a Mass In Service of 2197 Kgs and a Maximum Permissible Mass of 3170 Kgs. On paper, based on a MIS of 2197 Kgs, the 85% ratio is a trailer MTPLM of 1867 Kgs. Our current caravan calculates at 68%. All that is subject to what it weighs on the scales though.

Our first trip towing will be in a few days and I’ll let you know how we get on and my thoughts. I’ll also show you some of the bit’s that we have added.

Choosing A New Tow Vehicle Pt3…

28 Thursday Jul 2016

Posted by Simon Barlow in General, tow vehicle, Towing, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Amarok, Caravan, Touring, Towing

If you haven’t already done so, it might be worth reading Pt1 and Pt2 first.

We hadn’t originally set off to visit Manchester Van Centre VW originally, but had gone to Costco to pick up some supplies. However we were early, the queues to check out non-existent and we found ourselves back in the Freelander quicker than expected. It’s not so often that both our time off coincides so neatly so it was a bit of an opportunity to go and have a look at an Amarok. We parked up and walked towards the showroom entrance, Sue said “I like that colour” as we walked past a new Amarok Atacama parked outside. Sue, by now was a dab hand at spotting Amaroks from a wide range of distances!

The choice of vehicle colour is a funny thing, we have had black vehicles for years and I wanted a change. The original Amarok I had seen was all white, with chrome, and I’d got it in the back of my mind as down to either white or silver. But Sue was right, it was a rather nice blue, a colour I’d never even considered. In fact I don’t think we have ever owned a blue vehicle.

Once inside the receptionist introduced us to Jessica, the sales person. Now at this point I have to admit… I am the customer from hell. I know I am. I don’t like sales people in general. You just have this feeling that one half of their brain is working out if they have or will make their sales target and the other half is calculating their commission if they sell you something. What’s left is dealing with you. I asked Jessica a few basic questions and went with both barrels into towing electrics.. and rather than looking like a startled rabbit caught in the headlights, calmly said “I don’t know I’ll go and ask someone” not the usual sales technique of waffling round the subject… a bit like a politician does.

I think I mentioned it in a previous post that a number of people had said that they are unsure about commercial dealers, mainly because they don’t have any experience of them I guess, but my experience in all the dealings we have had with Manchester Van Centre is that they are really friendly and they do know their product range. If you are in the market for a VW Camper, they happen to have a really neat white van set up in the showroom and these things are in big demand. Apparently a couple of the staff also have them and are active campervanners.

Although they didn’t have an Amarok demonstrator available – it was already out and booked up for quite a while, Jessica arranged a test drive in one of the managers cars, so we went off for a drive round in a blue Atacama… big mistake…. I had originally worked everything out on a Trendline, not the special edition Atacama. I now wanted the Atacama, damn, I fell for the classic sales trick!

The test drive was successful, so figures were exchanged…. several times and a couple of days later we placed our order for a shiny blue – the blue Sue said she liked, Amarok Atacama BiTurbo Blue Motion.

The Tow Bar Tango

The next thing was to sort out the tow bar. I wanted a fixed bar… no problem as VW do one, ad 13 pin electrics. Again no problem VW can do this but the fridge and leisure battery charging circuits are not included and VW don’t have a kit for doing this. Ok, not a problem as Jessica said she could arrange for this to be done before we pick up the vehicle. A day or so later in a chance phone conversation with Jessica I asked what type of relay would be fitted, knowing that it needed to be linked into the vehicle electrics and fully integrated with the auto stop start and energy recovery system on the alternator and not a voltage sensitive type. Jessica suggested that I talk directly to the company that would be doing the final bit of the wiring.

After two hours of trying to get through to speak to the right person on the phone I eventually spoke to someone who was supposed to be the contact given to me. The conversation did not inspire me with confidence. I asked about the relay and was told it was a voltage sensitive type. When I asked about integrating with the stop start and energy recovery, the person didn’t have a clue and said they had been fitting these for years without problems. I also asked about the size of the cable and was told the always use 2.5mm. Long story short… I emailed Jessica and said don’t let this company anywhere near the vehicle. Fit the VW side of it and I’d arrange for the remaining two services to be completed after I’d taken delivery.

This got me thinking, there must be a OEM kit for the vehicle. A quick email to my contact in Germany soon elicited a result. Westfaillia do an approved kit. A quick search on the Westfailia website for my nearest supplier came back with North West Towbar Centre in Stockport. Now there was a name I had heard of. They had been given a big thumbs up by a few of the Caravan Chronicle subscribers and I’d also recommended them to a couple of people who had experienced issues and they reported back had their problems resolved successfully. A quick phone call to them confirmed they did have the correct Westfallia kit and they could do the job and it was a switching relay, not voltage sensing.

As it was now late, I fired an email back to Jessica to tell her to cancel the VW tow bar and electrics, I’d get the North West Towbar Centre to do the job after I’d taken delivery. The following morning Jessica rang me. She had been in touch with the guys at North West Towbar Centre and arranged for Manchester Van Centre VW to take our vehicle down on Monday to get it all fitted out ready for us to collect it on Thursday and If I paid them directly, it would be cheaper. Now how’s that for a bit of top dealer service.

The Insurance Waltz

I’d just finished a twelve hour night stint at the airport and arrived home about eight on the Monday morning. Time to arrange the insurance. I’d already arranged to cancel the Mini Cooper insurance arranged through the Caravan Club the previous week and received a shock as I’d expected to just transfer it over to the Amarok. Unfortunately the Caravan Club insurance doesn’t insure pick-up’s. For the life of me I can’t understand why…. or couldn’t at the time.

I started with the well know comparison web sites and immediately got re-directed to their commercial vehicle sections… Pick-up’s are designated as commercial, even if they are privately owned. I filled in the various sections and eventually got some quotes back.

Now you might want to brew up and get yourself comfortable.

As our vehicle was having one of our old registrations transferred on to it, it hadn’t rattled through the DVLA system at this point, so I could not enter the registration, but had to find the exact vehicle description, which I did on all the sites. To actually arrange the insurance I had to ring the various companies. So I started with a quote that seemed reasonable, it had no claims protection, legal cover, a minimum excess, all the usual bits and seemed like good value. I rang the company giving the quote reference number on the screen.

The person on the other end of the phone ran through the details of the information with me. Everything was OK and they could use the registration number I gave them even though it was not on the DVLA system yet. So far, so good. He then asked would I be using the vehicle to commute to a fixed place of work… well yes. Ahh, you only have social and domestic cover ticked, not Social, domestic and commuting. I didn’t see a box to tick for that I said, just social and domestic and I assumed that as it was private use only… a box which I had ticked, would include cover for travelling to work. No, that’s not covered. OK, I need that, so how much does that add… £100. I nearly fell off my chair. So that covers me and my wife for travelling to work then? No… just you. I snorted coffee (which I needed having been awake by now for over 24 hours) over my keyboard. What! If you want your wife adding we can do that…. it will be another £50. This was getting expensive very quickly.

Right, so I’m covered for social, domestic and travelling to a fixed place of work for both myself and my wife then and towing our caravan. Err…. not towing a caravan… that will be extra and we only do third-party fire and theft on that… for another £120. What use is TPF&T on a caravan when I’m towing it… I want fully comprehensive. We don’t do it. I thanked the person and hung up. I was imagining what else would be an extra… Ahh you didn’t mention you wanted to breath in the vehicle… that will be another £50. It’s a bit like the scenes from Carry on Camping… everything was £10 extra.

Right, I’ll ring someone else… and the conversation went in a similar vein. However this person suggested I try ticking the “Carry Own Goods” box instead of “Private Use” box as it might come back with better quotes. I went back to the comparison websites and edited my original information. On checking the “Carry Own Goods” box it then started asking for a trading name… I entered Caravan Chronicles…. although this could lead me into a whole new dark place.. never mind, I continued. ‘Please state the radius of delivery for your own goods’…. well Caravan Chronicles is read in Australia so I guess 20,000 miles would cover it…. it didn’t like that and suggested I try again. I tried various distances and…. well it was crap to say the least. I had now been awake for about 26 hours.

I tried ringing a third company…. this time they person understood my plight and said they would have a word with the underwriters and see if there was anything they could do. They would call me back.

While I was ingesting the last of the caffeine I hadn’t snorted all over the place, I started to flick through a copy of Land Rover Owner magazine that I’d received a few days earlier through the post and as luck would have it I flicked on to a full-page advert for Adrian Flux…. now there was a name that I knew. They specialise in covering all sorts of 4 x 4 and specialist and modified vehicles. Kettle on, fresh coffee in my mug, I sat down for the long haul and gave them a call. I spoke to a very nice gentleman in Norfolk and he understood my situation, took some details and within 15 minutes we were fully insured, with all the bits I wanted and by the time I had finished on the telephone to him, my email inbox had dinged and there were my policy documents and insurance certificate.

The insurance company that said they would call me back….. well I’m still waiting.

So after 4 hours of being on the phone, I now had a sweaty ear from the telephoneium and had been on the go for 28 hours. All I had to do now was hi-tail it over to see Jessica to sign the paperwork and let her have a copy of my driving licence.

'The Wolf' at North West Towbar Centre all ready to go in for its tabor and electrics tone fitted.

‘The Wolf’ at North West Towbar Centre waiting to go in for its towbar and electrics to be fitted.

On the way back, I decided to drop into the North West Towbar Centre in Stockport. The Amarok had been taken over to them that morning to have the tow bar fitted. It was the first time I had been there and it was great to actually see a shop – quite a big one too – stuffed full of actual products that you can touch, pickup and feel the heft of their construction rather than one of these dinky show shops full of nothing and posters.

I introduced myself and spent half an hour or so chatting to one of the guys there. They do know their stuff when it comes to electrics and we talked about some of the problems with modern vehicles and fitting aftermarket equipment to them.

Time to head home…. I had one last task to do, and that was to order the Roll N Lock rear cover, but that’s going to be for another day.

Next time: Picking up the Amarok and starting to fit some kit.

Choosing A New Tow Vehicle Pt 2…

26 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by Simon Barlow in Blog updates, General, Projects, tow vehicle, Towing

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Caravan, Caravanning, Caravans, Project Wolf, Touring, tow vehicle, Towing

If you haven’t read “Choosing A New Tow Vehicle Pt 1…” you might want to start there first.

So what happened to scupper all my spreadsheet deliberations in the early hours of the morning while driving to work?

I was on the M60 heading towards the airport thinking about what aircraft were due out… as you do, when a large pickup passed me. Not with one of these truck tops on the rear but a hard cover over the pickup bed and 4 bikes mounted on a rack above the bed. I hadn’t a clue as to what make it was as I wasn’t into pickup’s really but it did look really neat and by the time my brain got into gear to see if I could identify the make, it was gone.

All that morning I was thinking about pickup’s…. maybe I was missing a trick here and a SUV type vehicle wasn’t the way forward, but a pickup was. They seem to be one of the vehicles of choice in the USA for people towing travel trailers, but that’s a whole different market. There are a lot of caravaners in the UK using them too. What was I missing?

A couple of days later I saw what I thought was the same vehicle again on the M60, this time with no bikes on the back. It had a VW badge on the tailgate. I thought VW didn’t make pickup’s. But this got me thinking again, was a pickup the way to go… lots of people use 4 x 4 pickups to tow with, they seem to have plenty of room, be practical, have seating for five and are generally built tough as they are usually designed for commercial use.

A chance conversation about caravans at work with someone who had recently changed his Discovery for a pickup… a VW pickup.

A few days later I started searching on the internet for information about pickups… there is more out there than I thought. My original spreadsheet got a bit of a re-write over the course of a weekend.

A day or so later we were staying down at Plough Lane Caravan Site and we saw another Amarok on the road which was the first time Sue had seen one and it renewed our interest again, and as luck would have it we were near to a VW Commercial Dealership (have a read here https://caravanchronicles.com/2015/09/20/wiltshire-wanderings/) so we dropped in. It was ticking all the boxes, but more research was still required about 4 x 4 pickup’s. My spreadsheet grew.

Now, I’m not going to give you a long list of the ones we looked at and the reasons for dismissing them in our particular case, some people might have chosen them and for them, they tick all the boxes which is great. The others didn’t tick enough of our (well my) boxes and the Amarok did. So “Project Wolf” was born.

“Project Wolf”

I did not know what to call this series of blog posts when I was making my notes, I read that an amarok, or amaroq, is a gigantic gray wolf in Inuit mythology, said to stalk and devour any person foolish enough to hunt alone at night. Unlike real wolves who hunt in packs, amaroks hunt alone. This kind of stuck in my brain and I started scribbling “Project Wolf” at the top of the pages I had in my note-book where I’d written about stuff for the Amarok.

After my first conversation with the dealer in Swindon, I needed lots of questions answering and fired off an email to VW UK. And got a quick reply telling me nothing of what I really wanted to know. So I tried again, this time to VW in Germany. Not telling me much more… but in lots of detail of course. Thankfully the Australians came to the rescue, although the specs are a little different, it helped fill in the blanks.

The start of my growing spread sheet about pick-up’s-v-SUV’s

Searching on the internet it seems that the Amarok is going down a storm down under in Australia and there are lots of videos and information on Australian 4 x 4 forums about the Amarok… as well as quite a bit of stuff from southern Africa and south America. I spent the next couple of months gathering information and adding even more columns to my spread sheet, then going back visiting other manufacturers web sites filling in blank bits for their particular 4 x 4 pickup’s to keep things on a level playing field.

Image (c) VW GMBH

OK… So why choose a pickup?

Glad you asked. Well these are OUR reasons and thoughts. They may not coincide with your particular circumstances, but here’s why… for us.

The loading and storage capacity are huge when compared to most SUV 4 x 4’s. The weight capacity is around 1000 Kg’s and most can take a standard Euro-pallet footprint. That’s a lot of caravanning extras. A lot of pickups can be fitted with a van style top that will allow wet dogs, bikes and other stuff that you wouldn’t put inside a vehicle. Although we don’t particularly want a cab style top but would prefer a flat lid with a bike rack on top. And we don’t have a wet dog. We may have a wet awning though. The tailgate can apparently support 250 Kgs… handy for tailgate BBQ’s! It also makes it easy for me to throw in a big snap-on tool chest and use it as a work bench when tinkering with aircraft electrics.

A lot of pickups are still built on a ladder chassis (like the old Land Rovers) for strength and generally have a longer wheelbase which for towing increases stability. The hitch nose weight limit is generally higher – 150 Kg upwards and generally they are heavier so a lower towing weight ratio can be achieved.

Comparing our Freelander to the Amarok I got:-

Freelander Mass In Service=1723 Kgs, Caravan MTPLM=1490 Kgs, giving a towing ratio of 86.5%

Amarok Mass In Service=2093 Kgs, Caravan MTPLM=1490 Kgs, giving a towing ratio of 71.1%

The Amarok 85% figure is a caravan with a MTPLM of 1779 Kgs and 90% comes in at 1884 Kg’s. The maximum rated towing capacity for a braked trailer is 3200 Kgs.

The other factor for me is the build. Most pick-up’s are built for commercial use and things tend to be a bit beefier. The seats are a bit tougher, the springs, brakes, switches…. everything is designed and made with heavy use in mind. OK this can make them a bit more utilitarian in their design and look inside, but I wanted something that would still look good after 100,000 miles.

The mechanics too tend to be a bit more industrial. The vehicles are not built to a minimum weight just to get good MPG or performance. They are designed for a working life with minimal down time and servicing costs. With all this In mind and much more we (well I) settled on the VW Amarok as the main contender.

OK… so what’s hot about the Amarok?

Here’s a few things I like… mainly taken from the VW literature and I guess is similar to other offerings.

ABS and EBD – Anti-lock Brakes and Electronic Brake Distribution. ABS is pretty standard now but the Amarok ABS also has Off Road ABS as well and is linked to something called EBD which essentially helps prevent lockup of the rear wheels when under less load (i.e. lightly loaded in the back) or when the vehicle’s weight is transferred to the front wheels when braking. Handy for those wet grass campsites.

Hill Hold Assist – handy for hill starts when towing and Hill Descent Control – Available on a lot of 4 x 4’s but the big one for me was unlike the Land Rover version (which is great by the way!) it operates in off-road mode at any speed below 18 MPH when the vehicles ABS is being used. It controls the braking automatically to prevent unintentional acceleration going down hill even in slippery conditions.

Brake Assist – senses how fast you apply the brakes and if it senses you are doing an emergency stop automatically applies the maximum braking effort available.

The 2.0 Litre BiTDI Engine produces 180 PS (132Kw) or 180 Hp in old money which is similar to some larger engines in other makes. The two turbos help the engine give a huge 420 Nm of torque when mated to the 8 speed automatic gearbox, which has first gear optimised for off-road and pulling away when towing heavy trailers. 8th gear is designed as an overdrive to reduce revs and maximise fuel efficiency.

Here’s one from the F1 world…. regenerative braking. When you brake the energy recuperation system uses momentum to turn the alternator and charge the battery, making the most of the energy when you brake.

Permanent “4 motion” four-wheel drive. All wheel drive is permanent on the automatic no matter if you are in on or off-road mode. The Torsen differential splits the power 40:60 between front and rear wheels, but when off-road the system automatically distributes power to the wheels with most grip… and works with hill start and hill descent control.

There were a few other things that I liked… for example you can put a 32Gb SD card in the radio with all your music from your iPod on and the hands free system seemed quite easy to use too. There were more 12 volt power points than you could shake a stick at, including one in the pickup bed, handy for your cool box!

It has all the usual stuff too, leather interior, cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, cup holders everywhere, storage draws under the front seats, inbuilt sat-nav.

It’s not small – 5254 mm long (excluding tow bar) and 2228 wide at the mirrors. With our caravan hitched it will be a total length of around 12.54 metres or about 41′ 2″ in real money.

The MPG figures were OK too…. but that with VW has to be seen in perspective of course.

So with all my geeky and techie boxes ticked…. all we had to do was go and prod one in real life and take it for a wiz round the block!

Now I think VW have missed a trick here, VW Car Dealerships don’t sell Amarok’s, you have to go to a VW Commercial Dealer, and after talking to a few people, this seems to be a bit daunting as a lot have people have never stepped into a commercial dealership before. Our nearest VW Commercial Dealership is Manchester Van Centre VW in Trafford Park where we met the lovely Jessica… but more about that in Part 3.

Here is a sneaky preview of an Amarok from Down Under….

Choosing A New Tow Vehicle Pt 1…

26 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by Simon Barlow in Accessories, General, Help Guides, tow vehicle, Towing, Uncategorized

≈ 28 Comments

Tags

Caravan, tow vehicle, Towing

Stopping at Rivington Pike services for a coffee. All 38 foot 6 inches of outfit.

Our Freelander is now becoming a grand old lady of 10 years vintage, we have owned her from new and she’s just passed the 90,000 miles mark so we thought it might be time to retire her from towing duty. However we intend keeping her and started to look round for a suitable replacement to take on the task of towing the caravan. As at some point in the future we hope to move up to a twin axle, twin bed caravan I started looking for a vehicle that would be capable of towing what we hope to move towards in the future.

Now, this is my (our) thoughts and the rational for our eventual choice. It may not be perfect for you or even close to perfect, but this is what we considered in our choices and hopefully going through the process will help you now or in the future when you come to start thinking about a new tow vehicle.

There are lots of options and styles and we needed to narrow down the list quite a bit before getting into the detail. I did read all the reviews from the last “Tow Car of The Year Awards” to see what was being considered by the industry as the top performers, but in some respects the awards are slightly tilted in my opinion as they only review vehicles that have been put forward by the various manufacturers…. which I guess is a marketing tool for them. So there are some vehicles that are not in the awards that should be considered.

Types

We have always had 4 x 4’s as our main vehicle, with an eclectic mix of second vehicles, sports cars, saloon cars etc. Personally we don’t think a saloon or estate type vehicle, even a 4 x 4 version would be right for us. This narrowed it down to SUV type 4 x 4’s and 4 x 4 pickups.

We have nearly always had a Land Rover in the family, I passed my test in one back in 1978 and was quite used to them. Sue had been driving one for longer than she will admit to… both Discovery’s and Freelander’s. The only thing neither of us had any experience of owning was a pickup style vehicle.

4 x 4’s – Choosing a body type

So we are now down to SUV’s and Pickup’s. We very seriously looked at what we needed or thought we might need.

Currently we have a roll out Fiamma Awning, but this might change so we thought about what we would do with a wet awning when packing up… not wanting to put it in the caravan. We also thought about our bikes, we don’t take them with us on every trip, but on some occasions that we hadn’t we wished we had. The ability to take them easily on every trip was a requirement. We didn’t want to carry them on the roof though, so a rear mount on the vehicle was a must. Currently they hang off the back of the Freelander’s spare wheel and it didn’t interfere with towing the caravan and was fairly easy to load and unload. The idea of lifting them on and off a roof mount didn’t appeal to me.

We have a few things that live in the caravan – levelling blocks, corner steady blocks etc that I’d like to carry in the vehicle, and the Cadac, sometimes we don’t take it due to lack of space in our current vehicle (I hate carrying things on the back seat).

Ease of loading – it’s an art loading up any tow vehicle packing everything in so it doesn’t rattle or move about and is safe, so a rear load area that is bigger than our Freelander was a must. We actually think we are pretty slick when it comes to loading as everything is in stackable “Really Useful Box Company’ boxes.

We naturally started looking at 4 x 4 SUV type vehicles – it’s what we know most about and again being big users and fans of the Green Oval, started looking at Landy’s. Now here’s the thing, at the Land Rover dealers…. as we got out of the Freelander… my wallet went off on its own ordered a coffee and a Panini, sat down and said “no way dude”. The wallet was right. The cost of purchasing, yearly servicing and maintenance of one of the Green Oval products was giving my wallet cardiac arrhythmia. Although it may have topped the tow awards for years, it wasn’t an option for us cost wise.

OK, so what else was there similar to a Land Rover? I listed on a spreadsheet all the alternatives and proceeded to wade through them over the next couple of months.

What you have to be aware of is we started this process over 12 months ago, so I’m compressing the time scale down quite a bit.

From the spreadsheet I whittled it down to engine size, towing capacity, Gross Train Weight, Hitch weight limits, braked trailer limits, serving costs, purchase price, wheel base and rear axle to tow ball length, width, height, cost of tower and electrics…. you name it, it was included on the spread sheet. Eventually I came out with the top three contenders… well on paper at least.

Automatic or Manual Transmission

The final choice was whether to go manual or automatic for the transmission. As much as I like manual transmission for 4 x 4 off road capabilities, we weren’t going to be doing a lot of green lane off roading and automatic was the obvious sensible choice.

So with my spreadsheet stuffed full of info, boxes ticked, lists of suppliers for racks and odds and ends then next task was to visit dealers to push, pull, prod, open, shut, question and test drive my (our) top choices.

Job done.

A few days later, while driving to work at silly o’clock in the morning (about 4:45 am actually, I do remember it well ) my careful cogitations unravelled in spectacular fashion.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while…

27 Sunday Dec 2015

Posted by Simon Barlow in Gadgets, General, Modifications, Projects, Uncategorized

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Caravan, Caravans, Modifications, Towing

I’m sure that anyone that is a four season caravanner will recognise this… in winter you arrive on site around six in the evening in the dark, in the pouring rain. You get to your pitch and it’s a tight reverse manoeuvre on to it. Your partner gets out with a torch to guide you back. In the rain it’s hard to see out of the side windows and mirrors and you partner disappears into the blackness with only a point of light from their torch to give you any idea where they are. You put the vehicle into reverse and the reversing lights on the rear of the tow vehicle light up the front of the caravan like a National Trust stately home but not much else. You now struggle to see the corners and edge of the pitch in the contrast of the brightness of the floodlight front of the caravan. The darkness down each side caravan and the illumination from the reversing lights of the caravan just seem so far away the little orange side marker lights are not much help in lighting up the area around the van.

This has happened a few times to us and I’ve been pondering over it for a while. What I’d like is not only the normal LED awning light but one on the off side of the caravan and on the rear too with the ability to be able to switch on all three to give a general illumination around the caravan when manoeuvring at night. The LED awning light on our Swift caravan is quite effective at providing enough illumination on one side so what about two more being fitted? Or giving the side marker lights the option to be changed from orange to bright white? They could be controlled from just inside the main door and a simple electronic circuit to turn them off after a few minutes or when the caravan is disconnected from the tow vehicle could be incorporated or even off the key fob remote so you could turn them on when returning back to the caravan in the dark.

Off side and rear illumination would be handy too when it comes to the late night “Oh God it needs emptying/filling” moment just as the full moon disappears behind a cloud and the batteries are a bit run down in your torch (or flashlight for our American cousins) and you just happen to be next to the EHU bollard that the light doesn’t work.

Now while we are on the subject….un-hitching or hitching in the dark is also a bit of a black hole, pun intended. Hitching or un-hitching using a torch becomes a bit of a pain and if you wear vari-focal or bi-focal glasses, using a head torch means constantly adjusting it to get it in the right focus area to see. So, while the additional awning lights are being installed, what about a similar light above the front locker that can be turned on to light up the hitch head allowing easier coupling and un-coupling?

It doesn’t have to be standard on all caravans, but what about an “All Seasons Touring” option pack that could include the above and other things… like mud flaps on the caravan? I’m sure you can think of other things as well. So manufacturers….It’s too late for 2016 caravans but what about considering it for the 2017 range?

I think I can feel a couple of projects coming on…

A Cheeky Pre-Christmas Break…

24 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by Simon Barlow in Christmas Markets, General, Mini Break, Travelling in the UK, Weekend Break

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Caravan, Caravan Club, Caravanning, Christmas Break, Towing

Now being classed as ‘semi-retired’ i.e a part-time job means that I’m limited as to when I can get away. This coupled with Sue’s on-call commitments and theatre schedule at the hospital means that our trips are a bit last-minute. Regular readers will know that since buying our caravan we have always tried to fit in a Christmas Market trip, just to get into the festive spirit. This year looked like it was not going to happen. However, having to use up the last of my holidays before year-end and coupled with the fact the cardiac unit at the hospital was quiet meant we could just about fit in a cheeky little break before Christmas. We had originally set the time aside for a possible trip down to the Isle of Wight to see some friends as one of them was due to undergo surgery a couple of weeks earlier. However surgery was delayed and it would have been too soon after the op. So the next problem was where to go?

Over the past few years we have done a few Christmas markets and a quick check of the ChristmasMarkets.com web site soon gave us the dates for all the markets and Birmingham seemed like a good candidate. Next was to find a site within walking or bus distance – who wants to drive to a christmas market when there is lots of wine being mulled !. The Caravan Club came up trumps with Chapel Lane Caravan Site about 8 miles south of all the Christmas action. A quick check of the Caravan Club website showed the site had spaces and four nights were booked.

Thursday 17th December

We were both off the day before and so we could take the clothes and bedding down to the caravan, which made it easier as all we had to do was load up the comestibles boxes and fridge stuff into the back of the Freelander on day of departure.

Setting off from the storage unit at 10:20 soon had us on the M60 and eventually navigating the road works on the A56 cut through to the M6. Although quite busy the traffic was flowing. We made a brief stop to pick up coffee at Sandbach Services (yep we had forgotten to make a flask of coffee before setting off). I’d programmed the site in as a POI on the sat-nav so it took us straight there without any dramas. It was about 12:40 when we checked in. The site was quiet with maybe twenty or so vans and motorhomes so we had a choice of pitches, eventually opting for one on the corner opposite the facilities building.

Well we had to have some Christmas lights…….

Friday 18th December

The weather was forecast to be grey and overcast but no rain and after talking to the wardens the previous afternoon we had an option of catching the bus ( either the X50 or 150 from near the campsite entrance) or catching the train. A train journey of twenty minutes versus a bus trip of about an hour won out. It’s just over a mile (1.2 to be exact) from the site to Wythal Station and it took us about twenty minutes to walk there.

We originally opted for Snow Hill as a destination but looking at the map, Moor Street Interchange was closer. Tickets were £6.80 return each for an open return and the train seemed a logical choice as it was more frequent at peak times. You can buy tickets from a machine at the station entrance.

Victoria Square

Moor St Interchange is right next to Selfridges (the pimply building) and is a good landmark to use for getting round. As it was only 10:30ish we… well me.. actually needed a coffee top up so we made a stop at a coffee shop to check the map and come up with a plan of action. The streets were still fairly quiet and we wandered down New Street towards Victoria Square. Following the market signs we navigated round a building that was in the process of being demolished to Centenary Square where there were some smaller craft stalls and a ferris wheel. We headed back towards Victoria Square where the smell of cooking bratwurst sausages, donuts and mulled wine got to us. We purchased a couple of mahoosive red bratwurst sausages, which were delicious.

Looking down New Street from Victoria Square

Looking down New Street it was getting busier and we set off towards New Street Station. A few weeks before we had watched a program about the demolition of the old concourse and opening up of the building, including a new roof, and we, well me really, after working for a number of years for one of the train companies and passing through New St so many times, was keen to see the results. The transformation is amazing….

It was now light and seemed bigger, and the transformation with all the shops and food areas was such an improvement. However one thing to note – the signs for the toilets on the main level all direct you to facilities that are on the rail side of the barriers. The only loo’s that are available for non rail travellers are on the mezzanine level.

Even though it was a grey day never rely getting fully daylight, the light coming into the main concourse area made such a difference.

We had spotted a couple of options for lunch and continued exploring the rest of the malls that were now linked to the main station building. It reminded us of Boston, Mass. where you can walk from one mall through to the Prudential Centre and on to another mall without ever going outside… kind of handy with their winter weather.

Eventually we headed back outside on to New Street and wandered past all the market stalls that were all now brightly illuminated and with lots of people shopping. We did notice that some of the stalls did seem to repeat, having the same things for sale as another stall further up the street.

By the time we had got to the other end of New St again (and I’d bought a new camera) it was time for a late lunch and a sit down (plus I wanted to play with my new purchase). We wandered back to New Street Station and headed for a tapas bar (Tapas Revolution, Grand Central Station) we had spotted earlier.

After enjoying some tapas washed down with a rather nice house red, we ventured out again and re-visited some of the locations we had been to earlier so I could take a few photos with the new camera (OK why the new camera… well normally I’d have a full frame body with a 70-200 on the front and a couple of other lenses on my back pack and sometimes I just don’t want to carry all that gear about but have something I can slip in my pocket but still have the functionality and resolution of my normal gear and a Canon G7X fitted the bill)

Mulled wine, hot chocolate with squirty cream and live festive music…

By the time we got back to Victoria Square again, Sue decided it had to be mulled wine time by now and I wanted one of those hot chocolates with the squirty cream on top. The large Swiss chalet building had a bar underneath and a balcony with a group playing festive music. Just as we got served, it started to rain so we squished in under one of the covered tables with a few others to listen to the music. All very festive… except for the rain but it was way to warm to snow.

Saturday 19th December

For the past couple of years I’d always wanted to visit the Heritage Motor Centre as it is located adjacent to the Jaguar Land Rover Gaydon Centre the home of the Land Rover Collection. I’d had it as a POI in the GPS for a while and we had been in striking distance of it on several trips, but never had the time (or it was a school half term) However we thought it would be a quiet time to visit, so set off to drive the 12 miles from the site. We came off the motorway and followed the sat-nav through some road works and turned into the road that leads up to the entrance and were met with a small banner cable tied to the fence:- “The Centre is closed for refurbishment and will reopen on the 13th Feb 2016”. Nooooo!

It’s my fault, I should have checked on-line, but in all fairness who the heck thought they would close the whole damn thing. I was not a happy camper to say the least. I’d even picked up a brochure in the site information centre about it too!

Sue to the rescue

Sue being Sue had put one of the pamphlets from the information centre in her bag about Hatton Shopping Village which also had some christmas things going on and was only a couple of junctions back along the M40, so sat-nav suitably programmed we turned round in the empty drive to the motor centre and headed off to our new destination. It was a bit off the beaten track and if you go when it’s raining you need a 4 x 4 as the overspill car park is a field of deep Warwickshire mud.

There is an eclectic collection of shops from farm produce to bridal gowns and everything in between. It’s not huge but there are some nice outlets selling local crafts. We both spied a sweet shop that had a resident chocolatier and after small investment we emerged stocked up with a bag of hand made chocolates and regular readers will know my weakness for coltsfoot rock and traditional cough candy. Opposite the sweet shop was a furniture shop and in the small window there was a rather nice reproduction art deco square table lamp that would just be right in our hallway at home. Wallet somewhat lighter we emerged with a lamp. We continued our wanderings… past the bridal gown shop where a young woman was trying on a wedding dress… It took me all my strength to stop Sue from pressing her nose up against the window… not really, but it did look nice even I have to admit that.

We continued round and as luck would have it just as it was lunch o’clock a cafe appeared. The menu had a reasonable choice – Sue opted for salmon fish cakes with poached egg and hollandaise sauce with green leaf salad and I went for chicken schnitzel and a cheese sauce.

Unfortunately when it arrived mine was served on a planed down scaffolding plank. Sorry but scaffolding planks, bits of driftwood, roofing slates, cute mini dustbins/flower pots/buckets, shovels (yep there is a place somewhere that serves breakfast on a shovel) to me are not my cup of tea. Call me strange, but I do like a plate with my food.

On the way out we called in the village shop and picked up a hand raised pork pie and a selection of local artisan cheese along with a jar of sweet chilli jam and a fresh cottage loaf – still warm, just the required ingredients for an evenings grazing sat with one’s feet up in front of the TV. I wouldn’t say Hatton Shopping Village is a destination in its self, but it is worth stopping off if you are in the vicinity or passing near by.

Sunday 20th December

We woke up to clear blue sky and a chill in the air, it was only 6 degrees according to the digital thermomiterbob do-hicky, which was a drop from the past few days where it had been in double figures.

After the incident of the closed museum the previous day, I did check to make sure the “Think Tank” was open, it was and so we set off in the Freelander back into the centre of Birmingham not far from where we had been on Friday. It took us around 25 minutes and passed through the centre of Kings Heath so mid-week or on a Saturday it might take a little longer. Birmingham Science Museum is housed in one of the university buildings at the heart of the university complex. Quite handily there is a multi-story car park right next door and we took a gamble that on a Sunday morning it would be quiet. If you do decide to pay a visit head for the multi-story car park on Jennens Road rather than the sat-nav info on the web site as that takes you to Curzon St – the ‘wrong’ side of the car park for the entrance. Walking out of the car park it’s easy not to see the sign for the entrance. Car parking was a reasonable £3.20 for the time we were there.

For the two of us, including a planetarium show it was £27.50, which is not too bad I guess. The museum is spread over 5 floors (there are lifts) and we headed down to the ground floor to start there.

The museum is great for children/grandchildren with lots for them to get involved with, however for me, it does seem a little haphazard in it’s layout and as though the curators have had to cherry pick exhibits to fit into the available space.

After we had visited the planetarium for one of the shows we headed back down to the ground floor to the cafe for coffee. We were in the queue and the chap in front of us wearing a USMC shirt turned and asked “Is that a Breitling Emergency you are wearing?” It must be a man thing. I can generally spot Breitling watches at 20 paces and Sue is always amazed at this skill. And Sue herself wears a Breitling that she would never expect anybody to recognise. After a bit of a chat it turned out he did have the right to wear that shirt – he was a US Marine (semper fi) and he still had his Breitling issued by Uncle Sam.

I think Sue was swatting up…. expecting me to ask question later…!

I can’t resist a bit of Black and White now and again!

Monday 21st December

Monday started clear and chilly, and it didn’t take long to pack everything away. We had already taken the awning down on Saturday evening as the wind was quite gusty and it was flapping around a bit so while Sue cleaned inside, I loaded up the Freelander and squared everything away outside. It was a joint effort making the sammiches for the trip and I stored them in the electric cool box on the back seat of the truck, along with some water.

It wasn’t long before we were ready to hitch up and pull off site. We remembered to post the barrier tag through the reception letter box and we headed out on to Chapel Lane. The run back home was as easy as the trip down with the M6 being fairly free-flowing again.

What do we think?

A great four-day mini break with a Christmas Market, some trips and some great memories. Chapel Lane Caravan Club site is an ideal base for Birmingham and the surrounding area. There are plenty of things to do and see in Birmingham and within a 20 to 30 minute drive from the site there is easily a week’s worth of places to visit. Extend the driving range to 45 minutes and there is enough to do for a second week.

The site seems well run and very clean and there is little or no road noise. Showers were hot and the facilities block well maintained and clean. They however might get a little busy when the site is full. The Club WiFi works OK with good signal strength and good phone signal too. TV reception was not a problem.

Would we go back? – It’s on our list of places to re-visit as there are still lots of places to visit in the surrounding area.

For those wishing to visit the Caravan Shows at the NEC it would be a good base for a show visit and to include other attractions in the same trip.

We would just like to wish all our caravanning and motorhome readers a very Merry Christmas.

Simon & Sue

Wiltshire Wanderings…

20 Sunday Sep 2015

Posted by Simon Barlow in General, Mini Break, Travelling in the UK, Trips, Weekend Break

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Bath, Caravan, Caravanning, Caravans, Chippenham, Great Western Railway, Plough Lane, Swindon, Swindon Designer Outlet, Touring, Towing, Wiltshire

Sunday 6th September

Despite the weather the previous week being a bit ‘iffy’ Sunday started out bright. We had loaded up the caravan the previous day and within 20 minutes of arriving at the caravan storage compound we were hitched up and ready to set off by 9:35 for the 170 mile journey south to Plough Lane Caravan Park ( a member of the growing number of Tranquil Touring Parks sites) near Chippenham in Wiltshire.

Virtually all trips south for us involve the M6 and even for a Sunday it was busy, but the traffic was flowing and we didn’t get held up. On the northern outskirts of Birmingham it slowed to 30 to 40 MPH and there was a bit of a queue to get on to the M5. Once that hurdle was passed, again it was a nice easy drive with the traffic thinning out the further south we got. We were planning to have a coffee break and leg stretch at Michael Woods services ( a brief look at the map and I’d planned in my head M5 to Bristol and then M4), but the Sat-Nav had other ideas and brought us off the M5 early and we did a pleasant bit of cross-country. On this trip I had a new gadget to play with, a TyrePal tyre monitoring system (a full review can be found here) and was fascinated by how the tyres responded to different types of road – motorway and A roads. We arrived at Plough Lane around 13:15 and as we pulled in we were 3rd in the arrivals queue.

We pulled up to the automated barrier and pushed the button… a friendly voice told us to drive through the barrier and pull into the parking lay-by… when the next parking lay-by was empty pull forward into that one.

Waiting in line.

We drove through the barrier and pulled in. We could see the next caravan ahead of us. While we were waiting I dug my camera out and took a few photos.

The TyrePal unit on test showing the near side caravan tyre at 69PSI and 23 Deg. C.

The caravan in the bay ahead of us pulled forward to reception and we moved up another bay and a motorhome pulled in where we had just been. In all it only took seven or eight minutes before it was our turn to pull forward to reception.

At reception we were greeted by Helen Wilding, who with her husband Rodger created the site nearly 20 years ago. After a brief introduction and run through of the facilities we paid our £10 deposit (refundable) for a token for the electronic barrier and given a mahoosive site guide… probably one of the most comprehensive site guides we have ever seen!. We were given directions to pitch 39 (the site has around 50 pitches) and we returned back to the Freelander to follow the road round to our pitch.

We had booked on to a fully serviced pitch which had plenty of space and it didn’t take long to set up and plumb everything in.

It was time to relax and enjoy the clear blue skies and warm September sunshine… and have a read through the mahoosive visitors guide!.

Monday 7th September – Chippenham

Chippenham (tourist guide) is in western Wiltshire, at a prominent crossing of the River Avon, between the Marlborough Downs to the east, the Cotswolds to the north and west and Salisbury Plain to the southeast. Plough Lane is only 4 miles outside Chippenham and in the site visitor guide it said there were maps in reception for a nice short walk around Chippenham along the river. Never ones to turn down a river walk, or a bit of shopping, we drove into the centre and parked in the central car park near Brunel’s railway viaduct constructed as part of the Great Western Railway connecting London to Bath.

Being Monday, Chippenham was fairly quiet and we soon found somewhere to have a coffee and do a spot of people watching. We decided to head into to Waterstones where I bought “The Girl In The Spiders Web” the fourth book continuing Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo” trilogy, and do some window shopping. As well as the main street, there is a small shopping arcade complete with a Tesco’s if needed and on the opposite side of the street a modern open air shopping mall with a Wetherspoons, which we returned to later for a late lunch.

The main shopping street in Chippenham – come here on a Friday or Saturday and it’s full of market stalls.

At the top end of the high street is a small square with the “Buttercross” stone structure erected in 1570 and used for the sale of meat and dairy products .

Once we had completed the rounds of the shops and picked up a few essentials we set off back down the high street towards Town Bridge to follow the map we collected from the site reception. It was an easy walk of about one and half miles and mostly level that first crossed over the river on a foot bridge and passed through a park….

… and then turned to skirt round part of the golf course with a rather grand building overlooking it…

Continuing to follow the path brought us right by the side of the river and you could glimpse through the trees some of the houses that backed on to the river Avon.

We continued to follow the river Avon and you eventually come across a foot bridge that takes you back into Chippenham… or you can carry on to the next bridge to cross back over… we continued to the second bridge.

Crossing over the bridge we stopped a while and just stood looking up and down the river… a great place to play “Pooh Sticks”

The path continues and leads you back into Chippenham past some really interesting old buildings that looked like they were rather grand houses when they were built. It was time to head back to the centre and call in Wetherspoons for a late lunch then back to the caravan and consult the mahoosive site guide… to plan tomorrows adventures.

Tuesday 8th September – Swindon

For a number of years I worked for one of the train operating companies, and that involved me travelling down to Swindon to First Great Western offices frequently. Some trips I’d take “The Welsh Rattler” as we knew it, from Manchester to Newport and then get on the London train stopping in Swindon. Other times I’d take the cross-country to Reading via Oxford and catch the Bristol train to Swindon. I used to prefer the Welsh Rattler route and each time entering Swindon station you pass the long line of buildings that made up the Great Western Railway Engineering Works that covered some 320 acres and at its height employed over 14,000 people. When I was travelling to Swindon over 12 years ago, a lot of these buildings were just shells some with no roofs. Now however some have been converted into a new shopping mall and a couple of others are now “Steam” – Museum of The Great Western Railway. Still having an interest in steam and the railway in general, it seemed like a visit to both was on the time-table for a first class day out.

Follow the road signs for either the Designer Outlet or the Museum and they will take you to one of the main car parks. It’s a ‘take a ticket’ on entering and you pay for your ticket just before you leave. However.. here’s a top tip: Do the shopping mall first, then the museum. When you buy your ticket for the museum ask for the car parking validation ticket. When you are ready to leave take this back to the information desk in the shopping mall along with your car park ticket and you will get free parking!

The mall… or “Swindon Designer Outlet” is packed full of the usual shops, however they have managed to retain lots of features of the original engineering works – some sections still have the travel crane’s and you can see where the old line shafts that ran through the workshops once were held on massive bearings. Even if you are not into shopping, its worth a walk round just for the architectural interest. Keep an eye out for the brass plates on the walls that tell you which part of the original works you are in. There are also a few of the old machines once used in the engineering works dotted about. There is a great bandsaw that I wouldn’t mind in my workshop!.

We picked up coffees ‘to go’ not knowing how long it would take us to walk to the museum and headed outside following the signs… the foam on my latte hadn’t even cooled and we arrived outside the entrance. Thankfully there’s a couple of benches and we sat and finished our coffee before going in.

The Museum is well worth a visit. The exhibits are first class and unlike a lot of museums you can get up close and walk on, through, under and even pick some things up. The story of the Great Weston Railway engineering works is fascinating and it’s well worth buying the modestly priced guide (front cover shown above) A number of the displays are interactive and while Sue watched on I managed to set all the signals and points in the box correctly to allow the Royal Train to pass through… OK so it was meant for children, I’m just a big kid really. Sue even commented on how much she enjoyed it and rated it on one of the best railway museums we had visited. It’s just a pity that they can’t run a heritage railway from there operated by steam engines.

Lunch in Wagamamma

After leaving the museum we headed back to the mall and called in to Wagamamma for a late lunch. While we were eating talk turned to replacing the Freelander., which we bought new, but was now nine years old. Originally I’d had in mind to go for another Land Rover, specifically the new Discovery Sport, but Land Rover are now just pricing themselves out of the sensible market not only with the initial purchase price but also the dealer servicing. Not keen on the 4 x 4 offerings from Toyota and Mitsubishi, or anyone else for that matter, by chance a week earlier on the way to work I was stationary next to a white VW Amarok. It was the first time I’d seen one and by coincidence, days later I was talking to someone who had bought one a few months earlier to tow their caravan. I was relating all this to Sue who said she had never seen one, so a quick Google on the phone looking for photos I discovered we were only a mile away from the Volkswagen commercial vehicle distributer in Swindon. So a quick detour on the way back to the caravan was planned.

We spoke to Craig one of their sales people and had a good poke round one in the showroom. It was ticking all the boxes ….. 4 x 4, low emissions, two litre twin turbo direct injection diesel producing 180PS (BHP in old money), eight speed auto gearbox, ladder chassis and could tow 2300Kg’s. It was big, apparently it didn’t need towing mirrors at 1.954 M wide and 5.254 M long and weighed in at 2093 unladen, 3170 Kg gross and a gross train weight of 5950Kg. (The mirrors thing has yet to be tested). Sitting in it was comfy and there seemed plenty of room in the rear seats. There were a few questions the salesman couldn’t answer… was the 13 pin electric fully ISO compliant (I.e. the leisure battery and fridge circuits installed), did the ECU need programming for trailers, what was the hitch nose weight limit, any known issues with LED trailer lights), so I’m going to ping off an email to VW with these and a few other questions. With that new vehicle smell still in our nostrils we headed back to Plough Lane with a few brochures tucked under our arms. Watch this space.

Wednesday 9th September – Devises

Wednesday started out rather misty and was forecast to be a bit of a grey day. Consulting the mahoosive visitors guide, a trip into Devizes seemed to be the way forward. We loaded up the Freelander with warmer gear, just in case, and set off. Parking was easy to find and about a minutes walk from the main shopping area. Compared to other towns around the area, Devizes, although having some tourist type shops, is mainly a working town for the locals. Pulling out a handy map (copies are in Plough Lane reception) we navigated our way around the shops, and of course stopped off for a coffee part way round. Sue wanted to visit Caen Hill Locks which is about a five or six minute walk out of the town centre.

The famous Caen Hill Locks are a flight of 29 locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal. The 29 locks have a rise of about 230 feet in 2 miles and come in three groups. The lower seven locks, Foxhangers Wharf Lock to Foxhangers Bridge Lock, the next sixteen locks form a steep flight in a straight line up the hillside. A final six locks take the canal into Devizes. The locks were designed by engineer John Rennie and provided a solution to climbing the very steep hill. Apparently the locks take 5–6 hours to traverse in a boat and lock 41 is the narrowest on the canal or so we were told.

As the locks are so close together there is a danger of running out of water… or over spilling the next lock, so there are elongated ‘pounds’ (I think that is what they are called) that project sideways away from the canal between locks to take the volume of water from the upper lock and store it for the next lock down the flight. We walked down the tow path about half way down the flight, overtaking a few barges descending the flight in the process. Part way down, if you are in need of a spot of refreshment there is a small cafe in the old lock keepers house – or a couple of locks away a nice looking pub with a beer garden on the canal side… well it looked nice Sue reckoned because they had a cat. We turned and headed back up the flight… passing some of the barges we had overtaken while walking down and some of the barges that were still climbing the flight. Walking back into Devises we passed the Wadworth Brewery… handy place to do a tour if the weather is inclement, and decided to seek out a modest lunch in a cafe we had passed earlier in the day. Doing another circuit of the shops we strolled back to the car park and headed back to Plough Lane. That evening I finished the book I’d bought on Monday and started drafting the review for the TyrePal TPMS unit loaned to us.

Thursday 10th September – Bath

Today was our 32nd Wedding Anniversary… how time flies! So something special for lunch in way of a celebration we thought. Consulting the mahoosive visitor guide once again Bath seemed a good option and we could easily get there via bus and train. The visitor guide said timetables for buses were available in reception. The number 91 stops right outside the site… well about fifty feet from the end of the drive… and goes into Chippenham calling at Chippenham Station. A quick check of train times and the train from Chippenham into Bath Spa only takes 12 minutes… it could take that long to find a car parking space in Bath apparently!

We caught the 09:45 train arriving in Bath 12 minutes later after passing through Brunel’s famous Box Tunnel. The weather had been kind to us so far and today was no exception… warm sunshine and clear blue skies. We headed for somewhere to get a cup of coffee, sit down and consult the map (copy available in the site reception) for a plan of action. One of the best ways we think to get a feel for a new place is to take one of the open top bus tours available in many cities. We used the City Sightseeing ‘hop on hop off’ tour costing £14 each (£8.50 for children). There is an added bonus as there are two routes – the city centre and the skyline route all included in the price. We trundled round the city centre route and in the process learnt a little more about Bath’s history. Hopping off the bus we headed for a stroll round the shops, stopping off at some of the sight-seeing spots. A quick stop in the Apple shop to buy a new mouse for my Mac Pro and a new lead for Sue’s iPhone and it was time for a late lunch. An old school friend, Sue Adams had recommended the Pump Station for a suitable anniversary lunch, but the queue for a table was a bit long so a quick check with google gave us directions to Yo Sushi. Always a good standby for us. Time to walk off our lunch and capture some of the classic tourist spots of the city.

Hmm…. could Bath be connected with rugby in any way?

Crossing over the bridge (above) we descended some steps and walked along the river for a while, passing the rugby ground and the big flood gate sharing the path with dog walkers, cyclist and joggers all enjoying the September sunshine.

We planned on catching the 16:43 train back to Chippenham so it was time to turn around and head back to the station. The train was packed but we managed to find two seats. not long after we were sitting outside Chippenham railway station waiting for the number 91 bus and reflecting on how much we enjoyed Bath and making a point to come back and visit again soon.

Friday 11th September

Friday was going to be an easy day before setting off for home the following day. We decided to visit the market in Chippenham to pick up some fresh bread to make sandwiches for the trip back and a few other bits and pieces. I’d finished my book the day before and wanted something else to read so we called in Waterstones again. I didn’t spot it, but Sue’s eagle eye spotted “After The Flood” about what the Dambusters did next by John Nichol (John is an ex RAF pilot who was shot down in his Tornado during the first gulf war in 1991 and I have a signed copy of his book “Tornado Down” about the shooting down, his and John Peters subsequent capture and torture). So that was my reading sorted out. In the afternoon I settled down to write my review of the TyrePal tyre pressure and temperature monitoring system that had kindly been lent to us by TyrePal. You can read my review is here.

Writing in possibly the best office you can have!

I was so impressed by the product, it’s on my list of things to buy… as soon as we have sorted out if we are going to replace the Freelander with a VW Amarok. Of course like any good writer I have my editor…..

“… well that’s a grammatical disaster for a start…..”

… and that doesn’t make any sense at all.”

Saturday 12th September

Saturday started wet. It had been raining quite hard over night and was still raining when we got up. One cup of coffee later and the rain had stopped and the clouds were slowly breaking revealing patches of blue. We started the well rehearsed routine of packing up. By quarter to ten we were done. All that remained to do was to drop off our barrier token and return the by now well-thumbed mahoosive visitor guide. While Sue walked round to reception, I hooked up the caravan and did my usual pre departure walk round. It wasn’t long before we were pulling on to Plough Lane heading back towards home. Interestingly, this time our Sat-Nav decided to take us directly to the M4 and west towards Bristol before turning northwards along the M5. The trip home was much longer… this time it was down to a couple of accidents on the M6 in Staffordshire which delayed us by about an hour. We eventually arrived back at the caravan storage site a little after three o’clock. Another adventure done.. but not the last of our Wiltshire Wanderings I’m sure of that.

Other Places to visit:-
Cotswold Motoring Museum & Toy Collection - http://www.cotswoldmotoringmuseum.co.uk
Avon Valley Railway - http://www.avonvalleyrailway.org
Atwell Wilson Motor Museum - http://www.atwellwilson.org.uk
Swindon & Cricklade Railway - http://www.swindon-cricklade-railway.org

Caravan Chronicles

~ not just another caravan blog

Tag Archives: Towing

A Place for Everything…

Towing With The Amarok…

Towing…

Cross Country Solo…

Still to come…

Choosing A New Tow Vehicle – The Finale

So What’s Next?

Choosing A New Tow Vehicle Pt3…

The Tow Bar Tango

The Insurance Waltz

Choosing A New Tow Vehicle Pt 2…

“Project Wolf”

OK… So why choose a pickup?

OK… so what’s hot about the Amarok?

Choosing A New Tow Vehicle Pt 1…

Types

4 x 4’s – Choosing a body type

Automatic or Manual Transmission

I’ve been thinking about this for a while…

A Cheeky Pre-Christmas Break…

Thursday 17th December

Friday 18th December

Saturday 19th December

Sue to the rescue

Monday 21st December

What do we think?

Wiltshire Wanderings…

Sunday 6th September

Monday 7th September – Chippenham

Tuesday 8th September – Swindon

Wednesday 9th September – Devises

Thursday 10th September – Bath

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Towing…

Cross Country Solo…

Still to come…

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So What’s Next?

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The Tow Bar Tango

The Insurance Waltz

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“Project Wolf”

OK… So why choose a pickup?

OK… so what’s hot about the Amarok?

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Types

4 x 4’s – Choosing a body type

Automatic or Manual Transmission

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Thursday 17th December

Friday 18th December

Saturday 19th December

Sue to the rescue

Monday 21st December

What do we think?

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Sunday 6th September

Monday 7th September – Chippenham

Tuesday 8th September – Swindon

Wednesday 9th September – Devises

Thursday 10th September – Bath

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