"Getting to know you, getting to know a bit about you"

Hi Old Soldier/Pete
My name is Kathy, my partner Denny and I camped for years using motorcycle and sidecar outfits to carry all the equipment and dogs. We mainly went to the Isle of Man TT as our main holiday and just in and around East Anglia when work allowed. We got a caravan in 2001 and I took up towing duties as Denny did not drive, we decided as my retirement approached (he had retired a few years previously) that we would buy a motorhome and spend time just touring about. Unfortunately Denny was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer the same month as I retired and died last November.
I recently acquired a17yr old Auto-sleeper Duetto as the previous one was a bit big for one human plus a dog and I want to use it as an only vehicle, I really do not need to run a car as well. I still have the caravan but not sure if I am going to keep it, the Duetto does have a towbar so might use it for more than a spare room
I will be doing my first solo trip as soon as I sort the silly snags on the Duetto and I am starting to actually look forward to the challenge ... So if you see an old Duetto that is sporting Labybirds and Bumble bees give it a wave

Hi Kathy. Nice, if not sad introduction, sorry to hear of your loss. I bet you will have a great time in the Duetto, do you have a name for her, sounds like it should be "Flutterbye"! Where's home for you? .

Hi Pete ... It's a he and it is Denny the Duetto ... a fitting tribute as I can see him now muttering "But I wanted a Winnebago"
Denny loved life and wanted me to do all the things we planned ... and I intend to do just that ... just got to fix a water leak first ... hahaha

Hi All

Some while ago I posted a short piece about My Home Town, with the hope that others may also post something similar, which would then build up a good archive of places to visit, either home or abroad.

Anyway, here is the link to the previous post.

If you want to know a bit more about the Spinners (no not the group) then click to read our blog profile

Would love to hear from others!

Hi Spinner, yes I had read that. Nice write up about Bradford on Avon. We like it there and not too far to go either. Not as good as Wells though!!!!!

Hi Kathy, not too many "boy" motorhomes about and I'm sure HE is a fitting tribute to your Denny.

Hi All,

Thanks Old Soldier for getting me to eventually introduce myself. Name is Jean Maurel married to Lesly and living in the small island of Mauritius in the Indian ocean. Just retired but carrying working for the next year to save towards taking a year travel trip across UK / Europe.
Been a member for the last few months to start getting the feel and want to take this opportunity to thank you guys for very informative articles / blogs, Totally new and ignorant in the motorhome area but certain of wanting to join you guys on the road soon. Been compiling a list of queries to approach all towards starting up and what best buys , routes etc... and will be asking for your help with a point list soon, Judging from what I have read so far , I am sure that with your help we will be on the way to planning successfully a dream year gap .

Best to all and happy travels,

Jean.

Hi Jean Maurel.
Well that must be a first!! Don't get many motorhomes over there!!!!....or do you?!
Nice to hear from you and to know that this club may be able to help you with what can be a steep learning curve before you start your European adventures. No question will be too trivial so fire away when you are ready.
Looking forward to hearing more from you Jean.
Regards. Pete

Hi, I'm Paul and my wife is Sian. We have our first MH on order a Vantage Neo https://www.vantagemotorhomes.co.uk/neo-motorhome-info.php
We hired a Wildax for a week earlier in the year and had a great time around Yorkshire.
We hope to use the MH around UK and Europe.
Our provisional collection date is Sept 7th and we can't wait.

We live in South Lakes between Windermere and Kendal.
Cheers

Paul & Sian

Hi Paul and Sian.
Nice van, and a nice place to live. Good luck on your new adventures, tell us all about them!
Regards. Pete

Thanks Pete for your interest in promoting the club. We have been a socialy quiet club from way back and it is refreshing to see new members in abundance who seem keen to liven things up.
It seems to be Neil and Caromac's life work to assist Motorhome users to enjoy the lifestyle to the maximum.
Regarding the request for details of us I try to put as little personal information on all websites. We are frequently away from home traveling Europe and try not to advertise the home being empty. I come from a security background and old habits die hard.
One big plus you should find here is that the members are not clickie, in as much as you will find on some sites that meet every weekend somewhere or other. It ends up in social chatting others have no clue as to what the in stories are and when you do manage to attend one a feeling that you are an outsider. So the focus here has tended to be on Motorhomes and their foibles and the tremendous reservoir of stopover information.

Hi Pete, nice to meet you. We have owned a haulage business for over 30 years but now have only 1 lorry and driver. For the last few years, my husband and I shared a 44 tonner, and covered the other wagons when the drivers were away. I did all the office work and he ran the workshop. The roads got busier, haulage rates flattened while costs went up, other small hauliers were going under and we were exhausted. Now we have a Kemmerton XL and are exploring the scenic areas of the UK with our rescued collie pup. Our stress levels have plummeted and we have never been happier. We are not using campsites so are grateful for any suggestions for overnight parking. I have made some recommendations in the general forum but wonder if it would be possible for the website to have a separate section where members share their experiences of wildcamping, either good or bad, or knowledge of their local area. As many of us as dog owners, the mention of dog friendly park and pubs would also be really useful

hi new members fiona and stuart since june this yr. sold our house in malvern,worcs. and bought a kon-tikki 665 to live in and also travel to europe later next yr when stu has closed his business down in motorcycles later this yr. children have grown up so just us two and our jack russell jake, passports all done so our first trip with the four legged friend will b canada in october for 3 months visiting family then off to europe where-ever our noses wanna go. little permused by all rules and regs though!!!!
do we get to meet up on special events? three counties in malvern have an event this week-end, any one else going?

Hi Fiona and Stuart. Good to hear from you, looks like life will be one big adventure from now on and a trip through Canada is one of my dream ideas. Not sure if people meet up on here, I'm fairly new too and have not seen anything suggesting it might happen. Seems a much quieter site than some others and perhaps that's a good thing for a change!! We have been to the .Malvern show in the past, for us it was great for the actual motorhoming show but there were too many Cowboys and Indians !
For now, enjoy being a regular contributer, we can all learn from each other and all contribute good information, banter, photos and pub and motorhome stopovers for all members to benefit from.

Hi fionahowells

I am interested in your post.

Are taking the kontiki to Canada?

Perhaps worth starting a new post?

Spinner

Hello I'm Kim and my husband Chris have just become the very proud owner of a lovely Fiat Ducatto Newstar called Mimi. We have never been in a motorhome, we don't know any one with a motorhome but we realised now the family have grown up its our time. We are looking forward to traveling to Scotland in November (just to see snow on the mountains) and finding out all about life on the road.

Hi, my name is Mike and my wife is called Chantal. She is French. We live in the Rhone Alps region in France, about an hours drive from Lyon. We moved here almost twenty years ago. I used to be a HR director for several of the large London Luxury hotels.
We did own a camper back in 2001 but had to sell it a few years later. We built a new house and ran over budget.
We recently bought a Moncayo which is on a Fiat Ducatto Multyjet 130. we are ideally placed to visit Marseilles which is about a 4 hour drive, or Geneva which is about a three hour drive. We have just returned from a trip to the UK to attend a wedding in Devon. I had forgotten how bad the traffic was in the UK. We live in a small village. I have 6 acres of land with beautiful views across the valley.

Hi Mike and Chantal. Nice to hear from you. Sounds idyllic, bet there are a few on here who would love to live in that area. Despite the traffic, and of course Devon and Cornwall at this time of year can be horrendous, we still prefere to live in good old Blighty. Enjoy your travels and let us know of any good stopovers you might come across.

Hi Chantal and Mike ... lovely view you have and I am not a bit jealous of your van ... it's like a palace
You will have to come back when it's not school holidays ... not that it helps the traffic much ... I tend to travel at night when it's quiet ... love to see more pictures of your village and area

Hi

Well, it seems everyone is having a go so I might as well join in.

I am Paul, married to Lynda. In fact at the beginning of next month we will have been married for 40 long years!

We bought our first van, a Burstner, in 2011 and shortly afterwards had a tour of some of Europe (mostly France) for about 4 and a half month. On our return we bought our current van new, a Swift Sundance 630g which we have been very pleased with. We did fulltime for a while and hope to do so again when I finally retire properly in 2018.

In the meantime we live in a house about 20 miles south of Norwich and get away in the van as often as we can, all through the year.

I agree with what Traveller_HA5_3DOM said earlier, members in some other motorhome clubs seem to be a bit 'cliquey'.

Hope to meet some of you some time. We like going to the Warners motorhome shows.

Paul

Hi all,
For those of you who don't know me, I'm Tom, my wife is Jenny and we have two kids aged 7 and 8.
We are based in West Berkshire.
We have had 'elvis' our CI Carioca for 4 years, but I am thinking of upgrading to a larger motorhome at some point (if the right one turns up that is!)
We are mainly 'weekend warriors' and try to get away every other weekend, as well as 3 or 4 weeks in the summer and various 'odd' weeks during the school holidays, as and when the opportunity comes up.

I do not tend to use campsites, but that is just because it gives us the freedom to go where and when we want with little planning.

My parents have had a motorhome and boats all my life and I have had for the last 20 odd years too.
I am currently between boats but I have a kayak on the roof that gets used regularly and access to my parents and friends boats when ever I want.
So we are often found on the beach or near the coast.

Hello everyone
As you can see from our very imaginative user name .... we are Kathy and Steve.
We met working offshore on a rig in the North Sea, now still 'newleyweds' at 5 years.
I bought "Hettie" the Hymer in Germany 10 years ago and luckily Steve was quickly hooked on the lifestyle too, so we have been touring Europe together for 8 years with our incredibly fortunate 31 weeks off a year. We stored the van in various places on the continent while we flew back to Aberdeen to go offshore for 2 weeks then it was off the chopper and on to the next flight back to wherever the van was for our 3 weeks off. It was a fantastic work life balance and we were so lucky to be working on the same rotation and having 10 'holidays' a year, but we were often envious of the many retired couples we met who were touring continuously for months or years.
We used to say ...."when we retire we'll go to Morocco for the winter, tour Scandinavia ....." etc.

Now we are retired! Hoorah!
Well that's not quite true, we are, to be precise ..... unintentionally but happily unemployed. The North Sea oil industry being what it is we have both been made redundant so have decided to have a gap year or 3. if we are careful and lucky, Steve will stay retired and I will do some periodic work after our 3 year tour when the redundancy money dries up. We are currently in the UK for 2 months which is most unusual for us, but as soon as I am fit after wrist surgery, and armed with a 13 month MOT .... we will be off! Maybe Greece, maybe Sardinia and Sicilly, maybe back to Spain and Portugal.

We have been members for quite a while, but ashamedely not very active. I have added a few videos and stopovers, or rather Neil Mac has kindly done it for me as my IT skills are a bit limited. But apart from that I confess I log on very rarely, my lame excuses being poor and limited internet access on the road and also being too busy enjoying our motorhome life where internet is usually something we do in a hurry just to book flights or check emails, or if it is raining and we have free wifi.

Now that we have more time, I will make an effort to learn how to use the site to its full potential, share photos and travel tips, and maybe, if we get a lot of rainy days, I will even have a go at writing a Blog or two.

A big thanks to Neil and Caroline for the site and all the work put in, and
Hello again to the few we have met and happy travels to one and all.

I just thought I would bump Old Soldier's thread to encourage all the new members to tell us a little about themselves....

Same goes for the not so new members too

Lets be hearing from you

Remember the tune, "Getting to know you, getting to know all about you" We're not wanting to know "All.", just the basics. Sing along as you type, click the link if you need inspiration!!

Hi all. We are Simon and Alison & we are new to this camper van lark but are already in love with it. We have just bought an 18yo VW T4 Autohomes Komet and are looking for simple nights away when we get the chance. We live near Ramsgate in Kent. It would be good to hear from people local to us and hear about their experiences.