Glossop Caravans Aftercare

Finally managed to book our new van in for the wet locker to be fitted on Saturday 22nd January.  We bought the van in August and we were promised faithfully that all the extra jobs would be done for our collection date.  No such luck!  I can't quite believe it, but it has taken us months of writing complaint letters, phone calls and personal visits to the show room to finally get them to book it in for the locker to be fitted.

Great, I hear you say. No.  Not great.  Just had a phone call from them to say they are just putting on the electrics now and it should be ready for Saturday first thing.   There are no electrics on a wet locker!  Also, they told us that they could not put it where we wanted it, near the front of the van, so they have put it near the door.  I maybe wouldn't have minded so much, but they didn't even call us to check that this was OK.  They just went ahead and fitted it. 

So now we have a wet locker fitted which is taking up valuable storage space under the seating, plus, I am not convinced that they have indeed fitted a wet locker at all, but may have put in a battery box.  Which we don't need.

Yes, I am having a rant.  I did not want to believe what I was told by other dealers when we were looking for our new Swift Europa, but it seems they were correct after all.  The after care service you receive at Glossop caravans is non-existent. 

Anyway, on other news we visited the caravan show on Sunday.  Great day out.  Lots of vans to look in, food to try at the farmers market and plenty of offers to be had.  Plus, there was a company called Caravan Care Ltd.  They are a mobile caravan servicing and repairs company who will visit your home and fix any problems with your van that you may have.  They will also service it for you too and are NCC approved, so it won't affect your warranty.  Check them out on this link:  www.caravancarecheshire.co.uk so at least we won't need to use Glossops anymore.

Caravan & Motorhome show Manchester

The Caravan & Motorhome 2011 show is once again coming to Manchester this week.  Set in Manchester Central (formerly GMEX) it runs from Thursday 20th  to Sunday 23rd January.

It is going to be very exciting, with several new exhibitors including, Yeomans and Khyam.  All the regulars will be there including Swift, Bailey, Elddis, Lunar and Coachman.

Manchester Central has been extended to include a third hall this year which means even more stalls and displays to look at.

Open from 10am until 6pm on Thursday & Saturday, 10am until 9pm Friday, and 10am until 5pm Sunday, it is going to be an interesting event to visit.  Click here for more info:  http://manchester.caravanshows.com

Caravan Club Chaos

I bought Doug a load of OS maps for every location we are visiting.  You can't be too prepared you know.  Did you know that OS maps have been around since 1791? Check them out on the website, http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk.  Anyway, I thought I was prepared but hadn't counted on booking the Caravan Club site near York.  Doug had warned me the first day of booking is always busy - you can't book for the following year until the 8th December.  No matter, I was prepared.  Got up early and had a substantial breakfast, then sat by the phone waiting for 9am, the allotted time.

I made it to 8.55 before giving in and dialling the number. Picture my surprise when the phone line was engaged. I logged onto the website, 'the site is currently experiencing very high volumes of traffic, please be patient,'  Not to be beaten - if I can book tickets to see Michael Buble, then this is not going to defeat me - I took out my mobile and tried again; it's easier to redial on a mobile.  Alternating between trying to log on, dialling the home phone and then my mobile, I sat there for 45 minutes.  Talk about multi-tasking, I even had Jeremy Kyle on in the background.

I was just about to give up when a log in attempt finally got me onto the site.  In my excitement I very nearly logged off again, but quickly found the camp site I was looking for.  Boy, is the Rowntree Park site busy. It would be I suppose, as it's right in the heart of York, within easy walking distance of York Minster. Every weekend had been booked already.  How had my fellow CC campers done it? Did they have some special super power that logged them on quicker than the rest of us mere mortals?  I don't know.  I just knew I had three more sites to book and judging by my first experience it wasn't going to be easy.

I finally managed to compromise and booked two sites, so I suppose two out of three ain't bad.  But I'll be ready this December!

New Year, New Encounters.

An exciting new year for caravanner's everywhere is here at last.  Do you realise - well, you probably don't, seeing as we've only just met, so to speak - that we have been caravanning for five years this year.  Five years and I've only just got around to blogging about it.


If I'd realised just how much fun 'vanning was, I'd have been more forth coming with our antics.  The story of when we collected our very first caravan, a Swift Challenger 550L that we bought second hand on Ebay; only to discover they were located in Fife - over nine hours away - well, the tales I could tell.


Maybe I will sometime, especially the bit about my husband, bless his heart, leaving the caravan keys with the owner on their kitchen table. Yes, back in Fife. I may not have worried too much had he realised earlier, but we were over half way home by then.  Oh, how we laughed...

Searching frantically for the keys!

Well, now we have five years of experience behind us (maybe that should be experiences) and besides, how were we to know Scotland had so many wild deer roaming the roads. Anyway, we are looking forward to a full year of camping.


We have decided, due mainly to the unreliability of the air industry and the expense of travel abroad, to make the most of everything the UK has to offer, which now I have truly started to look, is quite a lot, and holiday entirely in the caravan in the UK.