Practical Caravan February 2020

At Practical Caravan we never stop touring, no matter what the time of year; but it’s during the off-season that our thoughts turn to trips for the year ahead. My plan is to tour to Alsace in 2020, a region I’ve visited briefly, but never fully explored; and it was thinking about this that inspired our feature on p16, in which all of our team and our regular writers reveal what they want to do, and where they want to go, in the upcoming year. They make for fascinating reading: responses vary wildly, but all are inspirational. Once you’ve read them, do let me know your caravanning resolutions for 2020. From all of us at PC, we wish you a very Happy New Year. sarah@practicalcaravan.com Editor-in-chief SARAH is a keen…

‘This is great hiking country. The Tarka Trail is a 180-mile waymarked route inspired by the famous novel’ Where are we? The Valley of the Rocks, near Lynton, in north Devon Coordinates/postcode 51.2317° N; 3.8558° W/ EX35 6JH Nearest campsite Sunny Lyn Holiday Park (www.sunnylyn.co.uk) What’s going on? Look out for Exmoor ponies wandering this spectacular landscape, which we visited for our Great Escape this issue (p24). Which outfit? Bailey Phoenix 440 towed by Mitsubishi Outlander 19 MY PHEV 4h 2.4 Auto Photographer Tim Andrew…

Just over a year ago, we bought a secondhand caravan. As we are aged 70 and 73, we thought the time had come to bring a little more adventure to our holidays. Sheila had never toured and it was years since I towed anything bigger than a garden trailer. So it was a bit of a gamble for us. A shakedown trip proved all systems worked. From there, our adventures have been, well, adventures! We’ve spent time in Suffolk, Lancashire, the Lake District, Northumberland, Yorkshire and the Cotswolds. We’ve also been to Belgium, Holland, Germany and France. Sheila has learnt to tow, too. A bonus is that our two working dogs have taken to touring as well. You’re never too old to join the fantastic caravan community!…

■ In reply to two of the letters in issue 420, I have a couple of suggestions. First, Graham Richardson’s letter about the screws coming loose on his glass cooker-top – I found putting a drop of glue on the threads helped. Second, David Green’s question about the toilet roll unravelling when they were on the road – he might like to try putting an elastic band on the holder next to the roll, bringing the band over, across the roll, and securing it on the other end of the holder. This works for me! Ernie Clayton ■ We are planning a trip to Europe next year, but are worried about my wife’s medication. Our doctor can only prescribe one month at a time, and their hands seem to be…

1 Pitton Cross Caravan and Camping Park, on the Gower Peninsula, has a Winter Getaway deal for next year, allowing you to book a two-night stay for £50; additional nights are only £25. Offer valid 13 Sept 2020-26 March 2021. 2 Work continues on a new site in Sherwood Pines, Nottinghamshire, to be run by Camping in the Forest. It’s going to have 150 pitches (63 hardstanding), and facilities will include bike- and dog-wash. 3 Adults-only Wells Touring Park in Somerset has opened a coffee lounge. You can also get a site loyalty card; stay for five nights (each stay costing over £36) and you’ll receive a night free. 4 Warren Farm Holiday Centre in Somerset has declared its first year offering en-suite pitches “a success”. The pitches have a…

Private numberplate firm Click4reg.co.uk has released a list of the most frequently broken driving laws, as well as some of the least-known rules of the road. The most broken rule by far is using a phone to pay for food at a drive-through: 78% of 2192 drivers admitted doing it, with 23% unaware that this is illegal. Some 67% of the drivers questioned admitted to being overly aggressive behind the wheel, while 63% owned up to beeping their horn while stationary. Here are the most broken rules… ■ Using phone to pay at drive-through (78%) ■ Swearing/aggressive behaviour (67%) ■ Beeping horn while stationary (63%) ■ Driving over 30mph on street-lit road (61%) ■ Fitting sat nav to wrong section of the windscreen (55%) And here are the least-known rules……