Club Motorhome Bloggers

A long, tedious and thoroughly boring story about matters so petty you wouldn't believe led us to the point of saying 'Enough!' on Friday - so I won't go into minor details.

We're very fortunate to be doing this work by choice rather than necessity otherwise such an outcome would have left us in the lurch. We've actually enjoyed the job as previously posted and haven't minded helping out with whatever jobs were necessary to make the campsite work properly. The problem has been in the form of one of the other workers who is known to be a moaner and somewhat of a difficult character. Unfortunately we have had to share our duties with this person and have been regularly undermined in our efforts.

This culminated in an official (friendly) meeting to get the matter sorted over a cup of coffee and biscuits, at which the other party (and husband) walked out in a huff refusing to discuss any issues. Management were appalled apparently but not prepared to make any further efforts to resolve the issues.

Anyway, rather than continue to work in an unpleasant atmosphere which basically casted a cloud over this otherwise lovely environment we decided to be the ones to quit as the others were more senior and solidly installed in the warden's lodge and obviously weren't affected by their own behaviour - I guess we gave the management an easy way out.

We've been offered the opportunity to stay on 'camped' as long as we like but we've felt a couple of days is long enough and we're moving on tomorrow - a burden lifted!

We have tried a few setups that would give us some transport when we are parked in one place for a while. Cycles, then a scooter and rack (which was great) but we then acquired our lovely dog and the scooter became rarely used. I wasn't keen to be towing a trailer around with us although I have no problem with towing having had quite a bit of previous experience with lots of different trailers but the storage of it would always be an issue for us whether based at home or visiting friends and family as we do in our motorhome. We also use Aires for most of our European travelling and parking space could sometimes be an issue for motorhome, car and trailer.

The most practical solution for our usage was to use an A-frame. It means that we have a car to use for exploring and other general use - the car can also provide extra useful storage space when travelling as a bonus!

We (I) came up with the bright idea of all this when we were in Spain before returning to the UK for the summer. We had already committed to a start date for our job as campsite wardens and the ferry was booked for a couple of days beforehand so time was a bit tight for actually getting a car and the A-frame. Firstly, I sourced the car I wanted over the internet - sadly it was in Gateshead and we were going to be working in Cornwall! A deal was done over the phone to buy it (I know, I know, but you have to take the odd chance here and there!) and the dealer agreed to deliver it to a location that I would advise later.

Car bought, a 2003 Suzuki Jimny which I had read was a good car to tow (post 2004 models are not however). It is a perfect size for the two of us and Digger, plus as a very light 'proper' 4x4 its great for getting off the beaten track when required.

I then started to research a supplier for the A-frame itself. After much reading about possible regulation changes looming from 2014 I contacted several suppliers via email to enquire about costings and suitability etc. Surprisingly, not all of the companies even answered and others either said the car was too old for them to adapt or, another wanted to sell an A-frame + car package and wasn't interested otherwise!

A slight change of direction for my blog....

This summer caromac and I have become..... campsite wardens!

We normally spend a lot of each year touring in our motorhome and a lot of the year is spent in Spain but there's always an annual trip to the UK for MOT and service etc (and to visit family and friends of course) which avoids the hottest times when in southern areas. Well this year we decided to spend the whole of the summer in the UK and thought we would try incorporating our motorhome interests into this plan.

I thought I would blog about our experience because we have found out by friends' reactions to our plans, that a lot of people seem to think it would be an ideal occupation for them too but not many actually progress to doing it - so I'll tell it how it is, to offer encouragement (or discouragement) to others  .

A couple of months ago Caromac drafted a suitable CV for us as a couple and emailed it to all the campsite job vacancies that we could find - we ignored the ones that offered just a free pitch in return for work, we intended to actually earn a living while doing this!

The first week at the Denia aire was great. Beach walking for Digger, a fine local tapas bar which we were very happy to introduce some fellow members to 

Those that played it safe ordering bocadillos etc were quite obviously envious with our groups choices of a selection of the freshest local tapas - when in Spain and all that!

Saturday was the giant paella day and very good it was too. the owners of the Aire supplied this free to us and it was much appreciated. Following the paella we drew our raffle which had made a total of €132 - Thank you again all those that contributed.

All too soon the first week was over and we all (well, nearly all) transferred to the Aire at Calpe for the second week. Another 'super' Aire and within a few minutes walk to the beach and bars, restaurants etc.

To the left hand side of the resort is a coastal walk which wends its way along the rocky coastline...

Our latest rip is to the combined Club Motorhome, Motorroamers and Facts meet at Denia and Calpe on the Mediterranean coast of Spain.

We arrived a couple of days before the start of the meeting and were nicely settled in by the time everyone else had arrived.

The meet has got off to a good start thanks to the excellent organisation skills of C7KEN!
Yesterday was the first official day and Ken held a welcome meeting to elaborate on his plans ( at the local bar ). He's got plans for a cycle ride to show new visitors the local facilities and a ride into Denia.

We got off to a flying start with a raffle that we are holding to contribute to our chosen charity Asthma UK with over 90€ raised so far - A BIG thank you to all that have bought tickets. The draw will be on the Paella Day which if I remember rightly is Saturday. The prizes being: 2 Club Motorhome Tee shirts, A Club Motorhome baseball cap, A £5, 2 x £10 and a £30 memership vouchers . (If you are not at the rally but would like to help by donating we have a donation button on the front page of the Club Motorhome website)

But its not all busy, busy, busy - The beach is only a short walk away...

Well, we're still waiting around for our overdue grandchild but tomorrow is going to be the day!

In the meantime we took the opportunity to stay at our latest Pub Stopover - The House on the Green at North Wootton on the outskirts of Kings Lynn in Norfolk. Its a lovely old country/village pub and I've made it a featured stopover on Club Motorhome.

The landlord is very keen to encourage motorhomes to stay over and we are happy to recommend the pub if you are passing that way.

The trip up through France was much as planned, the only change of nightstop was Biarritz instead of Hendaye Plage. We wanted to have electricity where possible for heating as we had been expecting some very cold temperatures.

Typically unsecured WiFi was as hard to find as usual, hence the lack of blog updates en-route. As things turned out we were quite fortunate with the weather, only getting misty, foggy stuff from the northern half of France upwards.

Pets Passport at the Eurotunnel terminal was straightforward and they actually checked Digger's chip this time, unlike last time when we could have had any old dog with us. They even gave us a free copy of Practical Motorhome Magazine and a couple of Dog magazines too.

We've been in the UK a week now and are getting through our list of jobs while here and still waiting for the new grandchild to arrive......

I discovered 2 consequences of our last minute packing efforts: