Caravaning In the UK

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Ridge Runner

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I came across a series of Videos by a New Zealand Lady who came to the UK last year and hired a sizable Caravan and a Vehicle to tow it and She took on some of Britain's challenging roads, Bless her and she did really well considering the Roads in New Zealand are much wider like those in Australia, There is a whole series' of these video's by here which are well worth watching, And they will give those of you who have thought of coming here and hiring a Caravan and doing the same some insight so you can avoid the pitfalls of some of the UK's quaint little villages,

Enjoy. :Y:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6Kj4LRasuM

This video is full of 12th century houses and 14th century "PUBS" :playful: :beer: :beer: :Y:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ASqVkkYtc4

And this one has the steepest street in the world, Lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8vNJ-4dRRQ
 
I think the world's steepest street is in Dunedin NZ and the road down to Okains Bay NZ is one of the narrowest and winding ones that i have ever driven on, she may have had some homegrown experience.
 
I have driven around NZ and found that most of the road's not that great..

One-way bridge .assive big drop off with nothing stopping you going over the edge etc

Goody
 
Blocker said:
I think the world's steepest street is in Dunedin NZ and the road down to Okains Bay NZ is one of the narrowest and winding ones that i have ever driven on, she may have had some homegrown experience.
Click to expand...

According to the Guinness Book of Records it is the steepest,

There are road down in Devon and Cornwall and Dartmoor much much worse, some are So narrow you have to fold your mirrors in, Others you have to do a 3 and 5 point turn just to get round the corner, Most of the roads in Devon and Cornwall were made for Horse and Cart and were never intended for Cars and they worked well enough for the cars in the UK made in the 50's and 60's but modern cars are a lot wider and they just don't fit,
 
The Record was handed back to New Zealand on the 8th of April 2020, The Video was made in July 2019.
 
Tell you what , my old Falcon with the protruding 1970`s caravan mirrors towing an old Millard would be a hairy experience over there . Not much room for error.
 
just starting said:
Tell you what , my old Falcon with the protruding 1970`s caravan mirrors towing an old Millard would be a hairy experience over there . Not much room for error.
Click to expand...

Yeah it would not be a fun ride over here for sure,

A few years back I drove a 1966 Dodge Duel Cab 4x4 Pickup that was Left hand drive and it was lifted about 150/200mm and it was just too big even on modern roads let alone those narrow country roads,

I think all trailers over here are restricted to a width of 2.55m and 7m in length, Nearly all Touring Caravans are closer to 2.3 to 2.4m wide and nearly all have them have real bad load capacities although the can have an upgrade applied to them but not many can carry over 300-400kg,

Eriba Caravans have the best load weight with some of them being able to carry up to 550kgs, and they look Cool too, they look like one of those American aluminium Airsteams :Y: :inlove: :inlove:

That Galaxy 500 in your Avatar would not fit round the corners on the road where I live 8.( 8.(
 
Ah! never got to Devon and Cornwall, got cut off in the Cotswolds by a virus. Would have loved that, always prefer the back-roads.
 
Blocker said:
Ah! never got to Devon and Cornwall, got cut off in the Cotswolds by a virus. Would have loved that, always prefer the back-roads.
Click to expand...

If you ever get the chance again that is real the old England and some of those villages are over 1000 years old and then some, :Y:
 
Ridge Runner said:
just starting said:
Tell you what , my old Falcon with the protruding 1970`s caravan mirrors towing an old Millard would be a hairy experience over there . Not much room for error.
Click to expand...

Yeah it would not be a fun ride over here for sure,

A few years back I drove a 1966 Dodge Duel Cab 4x4 Pickup that was Left hand drive and it was lifted about 150/200mm and it was just too big even on modern roads let alone those narrow country roads,

I think all trailers over here are restricted to a width of 2.55m and 7m in length, Nearly all Touring Caravans are closer to 2.3 to 2.4m wide and nearly all have them have real bad load capacities although the can have an upgrade applied to them but not many can carry over 300-400kg,

Eriba Caravans have the best load weight with some of them being able to carry up to 550kgs, and they look Cool too, they look like one of those American aluminium Airsteams :Y: :inlove: :inlove:

That Galaxy 500 in your Avatar would not fit round the corners on the road where I live 8.( 8.(
Click to expand...

Actually ,it is a left hand drive Fairlane with a soft top . It belongs to a mate. Drives pretty smooth ,but i had to drive it as a wedding car on winding ,hilly roads and it got tricky ,especially being left hand drive and the length of it.
 
just starting said:
Ridge Runner said:
just starting said:
Tell you what , my old Falcon with the protruding 1970`s caravan mirrors towing an old Millard would be a hairy experience over there . Not much room for error.
Click to expand...

Yeah it would not be a fun ride over here for sure,

A few years back I drove a 1966 Dodge Duel Cab 4x4 Pickup that was Left hand drive and it was lifted about 150/200mm and it was just too big even on modern roads let alone those narrow country roads,

I think all trailers over here are restricted to a width of 2.55m and 7m in length, Nearly all Touring Caravans are closer to 2.3 to 2.4m wide and nearly all have them have real bad load capacities although the can have an upgrade applied to them but not many can carry over 300-400kg,

Eriba Caravans have the best load weight with some of them being able to carry up to 550kgs, and they look Cool too, they look like one of those American aluminium Airsteams :Y: :inlove: :inlove:

That Galaxy 500 in your Avatar would not fit round the corners on the road where I live 8.( 8.(
Click to expand...

Actually ,it is a left hand drive Fairlane with a soft top . It belongs to a mate. Drives pretty smooth ,but i had to drive it as a wedding car on winding ,hilly roads and it got tricky ,especially being left hand drive and the length of it.
Click to expand...

It thought it was a Fairlane but the rear window angle made me think it was a Galaxy because I don't think the 2 door fairlane's were made In Australia,

Is that a 302 or a 351w ? The American ones also came with the 390 Big Block as did the Galaxy's :perfect:
 
It`s a 2 door Fairlane with a 302 Windsor. I think he imported it .
1597734801_fair.jpg
 
I have many memories on caravanning in Australia. Our family did the Red Centre trip back in August 1980 in a schmick XY GS 351 Cleveland V8 Falcon with buckets seats ,a four on the floor with the 8 ball for a gearknob and the tow mirrors as well as the mesh stone guard /deflector for the windscreen and mesh sunvisor ,which are both hanging in my shed 40 years later . We had the Viscount in tow with the bulky sway rods ,which my dad still has . We broke an axle on the caravan on the way back through S.A , but there were two spares in the boot !!!! It was all dirt roads back then from Coober Pedy to the Rock. We had some sort of early electronic ignition in the car and broke down 50 miles from the rock and had to get towed the rest of the way. I think there was another car towing our van for us. 3 Things stuck out from that trip. My Great Gran died before we got home , we heard on the radio that Yootha Joyce from George and Mildred had passed away and we were at the rock about a week after Azaria went missing ,but before all the chaos that followed. I can track that timeline because Yootha died on August 24th 1980 and we were halfway between Coober Pedy and Ayers Rock when we heard the news and Azaria went missing on August 17th. Went home through Mt Isa and the Gold Coast. Not sure if this was the trip where there were big thunderstorms and deafening torrential rain on the coast. Got all this recorded on slides somewhere. We used to have slide nights watching on an old projector screen. Gotta value the memories because things just aint the same these days.
 
just starting said:
I have many memories on caravanning in Australia. Our family did the Red Centre trip back in August 1980 in a schmick XY GS 351 Cleveland V8 Falcon with buckets seats ,a four on the floor with the 8 ball for a gearknob and the tow mirrors as well as the mesh stone guard /deflector for the windscreen and mesh sunvisor ,which are both hanging in my shed 40 years later . We had the Viscount in tow with the bulky sway rods ,which my dad still has . We broke an axle on the caravan on the way back through S.A , but there were two spares in the boot !!!! It was all dirt roads back then from Coober Pedy to the Rock. We had some sort of early electronic ignition in the car and broke down 50 miles from the rock and had to get towed the rest of the way. I think there was another car towing our van for us. 3 Things stuck out from that trip. My Great Gran died before we got home , we heard on the radio that Yootha Joyce from George and Mildred had passed away and we were at the rock about a week after Azaria went missing ,but before all the chaos that followed. I can track that timeline because Yootha died on August 24th 1980 and we were halfway between Coober Pedy and Ayers Rock when we heard the news and Azaria went missing on August 17th. Went home through Mt Isa and the Gold Coast. Not sure if this was the trip where there were big thunderstorms and deafening torrential rain on the coast. Got all this recorded on slides somewhere. We used to have slide nights watching on an old projector screen. Gotta value the memories because things just aint the same these days.
Click to expand...

My Brother was in the Theatre acting with Yootha Joyce in the late 70's,

I had a few XW's and XY's, and I had a 64 Compact Fairlane and quite a few F-100's and F-350's as well as a few Chryslers from 1956 up to 72 and a HQ Monaro 2 Door and a HJ Monaro and a Torana,

About a year or so back there was an XB GT Coupe for sale over here, :Y:
 
They are going for big money nowadays. I owned a 14 year old straight ,rust free XY , but a drunk ran into me and wrote it off .We have had a few XY`s and XW`s . Classic car. Been down the Torana route , too. Spent too much money on an LH SLR5000 mock up and then sold it.A cop magnet. My brother had the Landau and an XB at one point . I loved Yootha. UK sitcoms were the best thing back then. On the buses, Bless this house , It aint half hot, some mothers do have `em , etc etc . Watching them now, i wonder why they were so funny.

[video=480,360]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AdQd04mLnc[/video]
 
just starting said:
They are going for big money nowadays. I owned a 14 year old straight ,rust free XY , but a drunk ran into me and wrote it off .We have had a few XY`s and XW`s . Classic car. Been down the Torana route , too. Spent too much money on an LH SLR5000 mock up and then sold it.A cop magnet. My brother had the Landau and an XB at one point . I loved Yootha. UK sitcoms were the best thing back then. On the buses, Bless this house , It aint half hot, some mothers do have `em , etc etc . Watching them now, i wonder why they were so funny.

[video=480,360]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AdQd04mLnc[/video]
Click to expand...

I miss the older cars before they started stuffing them full of computers and stuff,

Those sitcoms were funny because they were about everyday people facing everyday situations closer to real life, Nower days comedy is more about some smart a$$es putting other people down, and if it is not based around that it's based on filth, I swear like a trooper at times and I have worked in some pretty crude places but some things don't need to be posted on TV and some things don't need to be said,
 
Love thy neighbour with Eddie and Bill was good back then , but very politically incorrect today and you can understand why.

A bloke who used to run a car yard in town has a big collection of classics , or he did when i got to see them a few years` ago. He had the same convertible Fairlane ,but in right hand drive as a factory car. Very few were made, as far as i know.
 

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