Tag Archives: Travel Trailers

NEC Show Roundup – it’s all technical…

28 Tuesday Feb 2017

Posted by in Caravan Electrics, Electrical, General, Maintenance, Modifications, Technical, tow vehicle, VW Amarok

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This is really a follow-up to my previous post – Smart Alternators: how they affect Caravans and Motorhomes….

While at the NEC show one of my big tasks was to get a number of technical questions answered by the industry players. One of my first stops was to Westfalia and to meet up with Rick Sykes and his colleague on the Westfalia stand. Rick is the national training manager for Westfalia and I was able to get answers to a number of questions that you have asked me and I’d not been able to answer fully. Continue reading →

Feeling Festive and Shooting a Video…

20 Tuesday Dec 2016

Posted by in Accessories, Christmas Markets, Gadgets, General, Gifts

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This time of year is great for getting away in your caravan or motor home and getting into the festive spirit. We have owned a caravan for 5 years now and every year to extend the season we have managed to take in a Christmas Market – Lincoln, Erddig, Cheltenham, Oxford, Birmingham to name a few. This year would be no exception and we had decided to re-visit Birmingham. Around the same time as we were planning this, Andy Harris, the TV presenter, owner of RoadPro and avid motorhome enthusiast had been in touch and had a product he wanted us to try out… and make a video! Continue reading →

Bernoulli – what’s he got to do with caravanning?…

25 Sunday Jan 2015

Posted by in Car Trailer, Towing, Uncategorized

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One thing that anyone new to towing feels nervous about is being overtaken. The pull and push as another, usually large vehicle overtakes can be so nerve wrecking for some that they never venture near a motorway. However a clever mathematician named Bernoulli back in the 1700’s had it all figured out.

So if you want to find out more, I’ve just published “Understanding the dynamics of towing – being overtaken” where all will be revealed.

2015 Caravan and Motorhome Show Review…

15 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by in Camping & Caravan Show, General, Motor Home, Reviews

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THE CARAVAN & MOTORHOME SHOW, MANCHESTER
15th – 18th January 2015
EventCity, Phoenix Way, Barton Dock Rd, Manchester M41

Show Opening Times:
Thursday: 10 – 6pm
Friday: 10 – 8pm (free for visitors from 5pm onwards)
Saturday: 9.30 – 6pm
Sunday: 9.30 – 5.30pm

2015 Caravan & Motorhome Show CoverThe 2015 Caravan and Motorhome show was held once again at Event City near the Trafford Centre shopping mall. Although in its 17th year, this is the fourth year its been held at Event City and 2014 saw a record-breaking attendance of over 27,900 visitors, up by 13% on 2012.  if the success continues at the current rate it won’t be long before it might have to go from a 4 day event to a 5 day event.

Although the weather was forecast to be a bit wild and windy, the sun was shining and the M60 motorway was surprisingly quiet as we left home this morning and it only took about 20 minutes to get there. Car parking is not a problem and this year they have introduced a temporary traffic light crossing on Barton Dock road to make it easier crossing from the car park to Event City. Continue reading →

More Mulled Wine and Markets…

17 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Christmas Markets, Events, General, Mini Break, Motor Home, Travelling in the UK, Trips, Uncategorized, Weekend Break

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Part Two of our Cheltenham and Oxford festive outing…

Wednesday 10th December

Thankfully the wild weather that was affecting northern England and Scotland didn’t extend as far south as Gloucestershire and after a bit of a late start we were packed up and ready to say goodbye to Briarfields and set off for Oxford. We called in reception to drop off our electronic tag that operated the security barriers and waved goodbye to our neighbour who was leaving in his campervan after an overnight stay. The Sat-Nav gave a distance of about 37 miles and a time of one hour twenty minutes to complete the journey. We pulled off the site just before eleven o’clock and headed out into the late morning traffic enroute for Oxford Camping & Caravan Club site. Continue reading →

Getting into the festive spirit…

06 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by in Christmas Markets, General, Mini Break, Travelling In Europe, Travelling in the UK, Trips, Weekend Break

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What!… It’s only August! 

One of the great things you can do in the run up to Christmas to get you into the swing of things is stay a couple of nights at a site that’s within striking distance of one of the many Christmas Markets held all over the country (and Europe for that matter) Staying local also allows you to sample some of the mulled wine and cider that’s on offer.

Last year we had booked to visit Cheltenham’s famous Christmas Market, but unfortunately due to the builders not removing scaffolding from around the house in time we had to cancel. However to make up for it we decided to do two markets this year! We have booked into Briarfields an independent site just outside Cheltenham with a good bus service right into the centre of the town. From Briarfields we then head back north to Oxford to the Camping & Caravan Club’s site for a few days so we can ‘do’ Oxford’s Christmas Market too!

christmas-marketsIf you fancy the idea of visiting one of the UK’s many Christmas Markets we use this handy website that lists all the dates and opening times… http://www.christmasmarkets.com/UK.html and currently they list over 150 markets in the UK and over 250 markets all over Europe.

If you have never caravanned  ‘out of season’ don’t worry. Caravan’s are great in winter… when it’s nice and toasty inside with some mulled wine… who cares what the weather is doing!

So it may only be August, but find yourselves a Christmas Market, find a site and get booked in and even better invite some caravan or motor home friends to join you.

A very early Merry Christmas.

Simon & Sue

Annual Service – “Dealer or No Dealer?”…

10 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by in Caravan Servicing, General, Maintenance

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I had booked our caravan in for its annual service for Tuesday 8th at Glossop Caravans, the local main dealer that we bought our caravan from 3 years ago. Now, by chance after a couple of comments on Twitter and a brief conversation via email with Jonathan Robe, Glossop Caravan’s IT Manager, it was arranged for me to spend some time and follow our caravan through its annual service to see what goes on behind the scenes at a major dealer’s service centre. Continue reading →

Lets be Practical…

05 Saturday Jul 2014

Posted by in General, Maintenance, Modifications, Projects, Technical

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Some of the most popular articles on Caravan Chronicles are the “practical” type posts. Anything from the electrical stuff through to little modifications and projects I’ve done. A while ago I had the chance to look through some of the caravanning magazines from the late 50’s through to the late 60’s and they were full of projects. Installing a new roof light, repairing door hinges, updating handles and magnetic catches… in fact all sorts. One interesting early article was about upgrading your caravans road lights to install indicators using the ‘new’ 7 pin plug! Continue reading →

A Pitch With A View…

19 Monday May 2014

Posted by in General, Mini Break, Travelling in the UK, Weekend Break

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We had chance to get away for a few days and decided to visit North Wales. We chose Tyddyn Du Touring Park, one of the Tranquil Touring Parks

Monday 12th May

The site we had chosen didn’t allow arrivals before 2:00PM, so it was an unusually lazy start to the day. Loading up the Freelander in the Manchester drizzle wasn’t much fun, but the forecast for the rest of the week said it was going to improve. We left home and arrived at the caravan storage unit still in the grey drizzle, and got a bit damp transferring our bits and pieces over to the caravan, but by the time we were hitching up the rain eased off. We pulled out of the compound at 1:30 and the sat-nav predicted our arrival to be around 3:15 and 87 miles down the road. Continue reading →