Can’t wait to get behind the wheel of your motorhome to kick off the new season of adventures?
Here are some snippets of motorhome news that might help you along the way.
New carpark stopovers in Wales
Two Welsh towns on popular touring routes are to allow overnight stopovers for what the local council describes as “caravanettes” – motorhomes, in other words – according to UK Motorhomes.
The pay and display carparks are at Quay Street in Cardigan and New Promenade in Aberystwyth where overnight stopovers are being introduced this season on a trial basis. No other public carparks in the county currently allow such use.
Campervan refusals by DVLA
The DVLA has announced a massive increase in the number of refusals it has made of applications to reregister vehicles converted into campervans, reported Out and About Live on the 21st of January.
In just the first 11 months of 2019, the DVLA refused 9,488 such applications. This compares with 2,266 rejections in the whole of 2018 and just 622 in 2017.
The DVLA is unable to give any explanation for such a huge increase in rejections and insists that any vehicle meeting the required criteria would be passed. Nevertheless, some van converters protest that their vehicles met the necessary standards but still failed to gain registration by the DVLA.
Auto-Sleeper takes the laurels – again!
For the second year in a row, Auto-Sleeper walked away with the Best Motorhome Manufacturer award for 2020 at an annual dinner hosted by the Camping and Caravanning Club on the 17th of January.
Organised in collaboration with Practical Motorhome and Practical Caravan magazines, the awards made on the basis of owner satisfaction surveys which were run between April and October 2019.
Concerns about “smart” motorways
January saw considerable media speculation about the safety of so-called smart motorways – where the hard shoulder is effectively turned into an operational lane of the motorway and safety laybys can be as far a mile to a mile and a half apart.
Drivers of motorhomes are likely to have a particular interest – if not concern – about the debate since they are among the most frequent users of such slower lanes of traffic.
You might want to read the discussion on the subject published in Practical Motorhome magazine on the 30th of January.
Pet-friendly pubs
If you’ve braved the elements and continued outings in your motorhome this winter, you’re also likely to have taken along the family dog.
Since any bracing winter’s walk always ends best at the local pub, it can nevertheless cause frustration if the beloved pet has to be left in the vehicle – or even worse tethered outside.
For a dog-friendlier welcome, therefore, you might want to browse the top ten list of pubs suggested by the online pet food supplier Webbox.
Have motorhome will travel
If you thought you’ve spent the winter months hatching an adventurous trip in your motorhome, you might want to cast an envious eye on a family from Derbyshire who are doing just that.
Mum and Dad quit their jobs, sold the house, and together with their children aged eight and five, invested in a 23ft motorhome. They are already in northern Africa on the first leg of their worldwide travels, recounted the Mirror newspaper on the 11th of January.
The whole family enjoyed a relaxing Christmas on the road and everyone is enjoying meeting new friends from different cultures in amazing places, they told the newspaper.
