Does anyone own a motorhome or campervan?

My daughter and son in law had a VW camper van for years but recently sold it as their family had outgrown it.

I loved it and could borrow it whenever I fancied a couple of days away. I travelled around Scotland and England in it. I always camped overnight in campsites with showers and toilets as I had neither in the camper van.

My favourites areas were along the east coast of Scotland around Anstruther, Pittenweem and St Andrews. Beautiful scenery and countryside. I also loved Melrose in the Scottish Borders.

My only negative experience was one night I was camped in Melrose in February and the temperature plummeted to minus 8c. The onboard diesel heater decided to fail and the indoor temp in the van was minus 3c overnight. I went to bed with all my clothes on including my winter jacket and I was still numb with the cold 🥶

I can't imagine that degree of coldness, Grannynannywanny - it must have been purgatory! I've woken up many times with numb fingers, though!
Yet to do the east coast of Scotland, 'though we were the other side, in Dumfries and Gallaway a couple of months ago, which we absolutely loved. It was fantastic for cycling.
Up until last year we usually did a 6-7 week tour round France and Spain each spring, but last September we had a crash (no-one hurt), just 10 miles from home, which made us think of the hassle that would have been abroad, so we're now probably going to stick to the UK. The fact that health insurance is almost prohibitive now has added to reasons not to go!
I hope your daughter and son in law will be able to resume campervanning when the family have fled the nest!

Glad to hear no one was injured in the accident posset but I’m sure you must have been shaken up by the experience.

Your European trips sound like a great adventure. I haven’t left the UK in the camper van. My daughter gave me free rein to go as far as I wanted. But I was always conscious of the fact it wasn’t my camper van and didn’t want to add too much wear and tear .

Safe travels on your next adventure wherever it might be! 🚐

A few weeks ago I did my first camper van away trip with my daughter. She has a portapotti which I managed to negotiate in the night. I enjoyed the few nights away very much as we as a family camped with a tent for over thirty year. My daughter takes hers abroad.

Yes, we bought a motorhome a couple of years ago and have enjoyed touring all over Scotland and the north of England with it so far. It's 20 years ago, but very low mileage and does us just fine.
It does have a toilet and shower, but to be honest, we've never actually used the shower as we just use the facilities on the sites we visit. We enjoy having the freedom to take the dog with us too.
We do use it all year round, but one time we were at a site in the Borders and woke up the next morning to find it had snowed quite heavily during the night! The roads were fine though, luckily and we got home ok.

Grannynannywanny
Our coldest night was 13 below in Romania. We had a clue as to how bad it was going to be when icicles started to form on the wing mirrors as we were motoring round the ring road of Bucharest.
Then the windscreen started to ice.
We pulled into the first garage we could find and asked if we could park for the night.

petra 🥶 🥶

The very first time we went away in ours, we were driving down the M74 south of Glasgow when the heavens opened and it was torrential rain. It's a very busy motorway with lots of large lorries and I was already getting a bit nervous when suddenly out of nowhere a BMW in the outside lane aquaplaned and spun right across the three lanes in front of us. I have no idea how my husband did it, but he managed to avoid hitting it (or anything else) and luckily the BMW ended up on the hard shoulder without hitting anything else either. It was a terrifying experience. I was convinced all three of us (husband, me and dog) were about to die.

ViceVersa

The very first time we went away in ours, we were driving down the M74 south of Glasgow when the heavens opened and it was torrential rain. It's a very busy motorway with lots of large lorries and I was already getting a bit nervous when suddenly out of nowhere a BMW in the outside lane aquaplaned and spun right across the three lanes in front of us. I have no idea how my husband did it, but he managed to avoid hitting it (or anything else) and luckily the BMW ended up on the hard shoulder without hitting anything else either. It was a terrifying experience. I was convinced all three of us (husband, me and dog) were about to die.

That sounds very scary! It's good your husband had quick reflexes to avoid a collision.
I think that my husband was uber-cautious driving after our bump for quite a while, it does make you stop and think!

We are in our mud 70's. Started off years back with an old caravanette with portable potti. When husband got tge tap to work we coukd have opened champagne we were so chuffed. We bought it so we cottage our last rescue dog everywhere with us.
We then bought a Autotrail Apache nagging secondhand with the luxury of a fas fire and toilet, we travelled all over the UK. Had to sell it when husband developed health problems and couldn't drive for 3 years.
A few years back bought a smaller campervan to take tge latest rescue with us. We are on a little farm site at the moment meeting up with a lovely couple from Wales we met a few years back in The Peak District and gave been friends since.
Had masses of mishaps and adventures. Thought various reasons health and family have only had a few trips out in the kast few years.
Thinking of selling thus and gave something with single beds nit made up with the front seats. It will eat into our savings but why not. Trouble is needs to be less than 3.5 tons. Watch thus space,

I’m 70 and have had a 27 year old Toyota granvia for the past 10 years. I’ve had lovely holidays in her mainly in Scotland and going to the WOMAD festival. She is very basic with a rock and roll bed and two has rings and a small fridge.
It’s great to get away for a few days without too much planning. We stay on sites or wild camp in the forest if Bowland.
Every year I say that if I don’t use the van enough I will sell it but she is still here and continues to be used regularly. It will be a sad day when she is no longer with us.

Can you "wild camp" in a campervan?
Just wondering.

How lovely though. I have happy memories of caravans in my youth and my daughter's partner has one he converted himself that they use a lot.

NotSpaghetti

Can you "wild camp" in a campervan?
Just wondering.

How lovely though. I have happy memories of caravans in my youth and my daughter's partner has one he converted himself that they use a lot.

When people talk about 'wild camping' in a camper van, they usually just mean stopping somewhere off-grid - ie, with no facilities.

Oh, OK.
Thanks ViceVersa I didn't know that. Presumably they don't really need facilities if they have a camper van.

I thought they might have meant sleeping out somewhere - bivouacing (spelling?) somewhere near the van for example, for fun.

I am definitely beyond that now!

NotSpaghetti

Can you "wild camp" in a campervan?
Just wondering.

How lovely though. I have happy memories of caravans in my youth and my daughter's partner has one he converted himself that they use a lot.

There are books you can buy that list all the wild camping sites all over Europe.
There can be problems with these sites ( mainly in Europe) where people dump their toilets 😱
There’s really no need for this as their lots of pump out stations.
We have a holding tank in ours so we can go a week before having to pump out.

Petra - presumably you mean where campervans can be parked up legally overnight?

Not good to be toilet dumping grounds though.

We have many motorhomes/camper vans, "wild" camping (staying overnight free of charge) in our village car parks (the views are stunning). I have never seen any evidence of waste. People make a huge fuss about waste disposal without having any idea how it's achieved. There are a some locals who very much object to these overnighters but they are well and truly shouted down by the majority of villagers. We live in a beautiful place and the vast majority are pleased to share it. It's also good for local businesses.

NotSpaghetti

Petra - presumably you mean where campervans can be parked up legally overnight?

Not good to be toilet dumping grounds though.

Not just overnight.
There’s one site near Estepona in Spain where lots of people are living. That’s not unusual with these sites in Spain.
And you get your fresh bread, fruit and veg delivered every morning.

There’s a Wild Camping site on line.
I’ve stayed at this site a lot.
Lots of campers stop there for the ferry to Morocco.
We did that one winter.

wildcamping.co.uk/threads/tariffa-spain-any-good.55140/

From what I remember of Tariffa it is very windy

Does a touring caravan count? We are 78 & 72 and take our caravan all over the U.K. and France in spring, summer & autumn and then spend three months of winter in Southern Spain in it. We like to have the freedom of the car for exploring small towns and villages, where it might be difficult to get to in a Moho. We love our caravan, and spend at least five months of the year in it.

Had several motorhomes but found it hard trying to park anywhere in towns and villages in this country so we’ve returned to having a caravan which gives us the use of a car. We’ve visited so many places in this country and abroad that we wouldn’t have done had we been using hotels or rented accommodation. Can’t recommend Spain in the winter enough. So nice to get away from our cold, wet, dark country.

GrannyGravy13

From what I remember of Tariffa it is very windy

It is 😂

Lovetotravel
That’s why we tow a smart car. Not on a trailer but on an A frame. Less than 5 mins to disconnect and hook up.