Collected our caravan from the dealers the other day & took it straight to the storage place we'd arranged.
All went well til we got 2 miles away. We used sat nav as didn't know the area too well & it decided to take us down a very narrow, very steep road. When we got near the bottom there was a very tiny little bridge to go under with a 6'6" width restriction & a sharp bend to enter. OH went a lovely shade of grey then decided we wouldn't make it. That's when the fun started.
The only other way to go was back up the steep, narrow road & the only place to turn was a steep, narrow little driveway leading to a day nursery.
After much revving OH managed to get the van, at the wrong angle, part way into the drive way but not enough room to swing the car round. Back out & in several tries later when the clutch on the car went limp & the most awful smell errupted from under the bonnet.
A lovely guy came out of his house & said they were waiting for an RAC patrol to come to them for a wheel change. I work for said breakdown company & phoned ours thru so we'd be the next job.
Patrol arrived, did wheel change & tried ours. Clutch had come back to life but the smell was still awful (patrol said it will linger for ages). Didn't tell him I worked for same Company - too embarrassed!
OH realised would still have to try to make the manoever & went grey again. The lovely guy who'd come out earlier said he'd been towing for years & offered to do it for us. He reversed straight back in one go, swung round at an angle I wouldn't have thought poss & went straight to the top! Made it all look so easy.
OH has now decided he needs a towing course before we attempt to move the caravan again.
You dont need a towing course you just need a map, oh, & chuck away that sat nav, they are more trouble than they are worth, especially when towing a caravan.
If you had'nt been looking at your sat nav you would have seen the 6' 6" width warning sign which I guess was at the start of the narrow road.
The clue is in "the sat nav decided to take us down a very narrow, very steep road"
Mus'nt argue with sat navs, must we?
------------- Sell my camper? I'd rather eat school semolina!
If you had'nt been looking at your sat nav you would have seen the 6' 6" width warning sign which I guess was at the start of the narrow road.
The clue is in "the sat nav decided to take us down a very narrow, very steep road"
Mus'nt argue with sat navs, must we?
Actually, there was no sign at the top. The road when you 1st turn into it looks quite normal (wide & not steep) so we had no reason to doubt the route. If there had been a sign or any indication of what was to come we obviously wouldn't have gone that way. It suddenly narrows after about 100 yrds & again, no warning signs for narrow roads or bridges. OH drives a high sided class 2 truck for a living so is well accustomed to watching out for potential problems, even when using sat nav. In this case there was nothing to watch out for until it was too late.
What I was picking up on was that its a typical sat nav story, call me reactionary but I hate the things & Ive been an HGV1 driver for 35yrs.
Sat navs are only the sum total of what somebody has programmed into them, there is no reason to suspect the imformation is always gonna be correct. Also they tend to be programmed for cars, not trucks or caravans.
------------- Sell my camper? I'd rather eat school semolina!
not a sat nav problem but we did the same at moffat turned right after the lane we should have turned at,very narrow and a dead end.no way turn round at all.a guy came out and helped me take off the van and back it into a garage space,i reversed out all the way and came back in for the van.very apologetic was i,he said your not the first lad by a long way and you will not be the last.
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.
Never mind we all cant be perfect can we?? You will get the hang of it and Im sure a course would give your OH more confidence!! Good luck for your next journey!!
------------- Jan:Braids Gretna, Feb Stanwix Park Silloth & Braids Gretna,
Quote: Originally posted by blondieandi on 23/2/2009
Never mind we all cant be perfect can we?? You will get the hang of it and Im sure a course would give your OH more confidence!! Good luck for your next journey!!
Think next time I'll follow at a discreet distance in my own car then I can pretend not to be anything to do with it if it all goes wrong!
Seriously tho, the course does look really good - we're ex-tenters so pack in a way that gets as much stuff as poss into the car but have no idea how a caravan should be loaded & need to learn more re the safety checks & maintenance etc... too so it's not just about manoevering...
What I was picking up on was that its a typical sat nav story, call me reactionary but I hate the things & Ive been an HGV1 driver for 35yrs.
The one we had directed us down a slip road onto the wrong side of the M6 - well it would have if we'd taken any notice of it! - and it couldn't even navigate us back from my mum's house less than 2 miles away. It went back in the box and that's where it stayed. I'm perfectly capable of reading a mapbook and road signs so that's what we use - we wouldn't have another satnav thrown at us!
------------- Tigermouse
I have a very temperamental personality - 50% temper and 50% mental
My parents collected their first van (mum aged 76, Dad aged 65) towed it all the way home and had not accounted for the kerb at the bottom of their drive, upon trying to reverse up his drive the kerb unbalanced the caravan and threw it nito the drive way wall, which was 6ft high, it punctured the side of the van......£1000 worth of damage done before it had reached a campsite, they were really upset and his confidence was knocked. However they still have the van fully repaired and are regularly out and about..... we sometimes all have a little giggle about it when we all get together ....big learning curve though!
------------- wishing everyone,,,,what you would wish for yourselves x
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Topic: Maiden Voyage!
