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 with us going to devon this year it got me thinking about the one long trip we took caravaning when i was young about 6. mum and dad had got a new caravan and they decied to go to cornwall with my aunty and her family who were long time caravanaers. This was mum and dads first ever trip. mum was terrabel traviling at the best of times and used to have a few whiskys just to get her from manchasetr to blackpool in the car on hotel holidays. so why she thought she could get to cornwall anyone can guess.  we allso had a little dog who decied she didnt like traviling eather on this trip. I think mum streesing set the dog off. sometime before the trip my mum had got hold of some sleeping tablets so about a 1/3 into the jurny she and the dog could take no more they stoped at the severces  mum crushed 1/2  tablet in the dogs milk and she had a coulpe and both fell asleep in the service station lol. dad put both of them in there caravan. and drove all the way to cornwall in peace and quiet lol.

   Ok so its not the done thing and breaks all the rules but it got us there quietly. I dont think the rules wer as stricked in the early 70s and for some reson mum  was quiet happy in there had even gone to the loo while we traveld down the motorway lol. The dog didnt wake up fully for 24 hours but there were no ill effcets. on the way back mum just took 2 more tablets and got in the caravan and we had found a vet while down there who gave the dog and injection that got her hoem safe and sound.

  I wondre now if this was tipical 70s caravaning  we were back home 3 days and the caravan was sold lol. but in the early 80s they got another little abi 2 birth that did manchester to blackpool and back 4 times a years to the same site. dad towing it and my mum in eather our car or my sisters following behined she never got over her fear of traviling lol

We holidayed several times in caravans in the 50s and early 60s, I'm sure, although they were statics in that they didn't go anywhere, they were only the size of say a typical Bailey Ranger today. Them after a couple of holiday cottages, mum decided that was too expensive so we bought a tent, stayed on some very basic tap in a field type sites where once the farm cats ate our butter and the cows tore holes in the tent with their horns.

Anne

My caravan holidays were a little different as my parents once took me on a floating caravan (houseboat) on the Norfolk broads for a week. the accomodation was very basic, only cold water and you had to walk up to the toilet block in the boatyard to use the loos and baths, this was in the mid 60s. we then progressed onto the moveable floating caravans in the way of a week spent onboard a rivercruiser boat, and this is something that is still a hobby and intrest for us all even today.

 We often take our caravan down to the Norfolk broads for a couple of weeks and either hire a day boat to explore in, or hop onboard a friends boat for a ride, we belong to a Broads based forum, of which im one of the moderators, so we have now gained alot of friends in the area who share our passion, including attending meets and BBqs in the area during the summer months.  

Julia

lol at that :)  We just didn't worry about safey whilst travelling back then did we?  Not a caravan holiday but i once sat with a cushion on the handbrake of a 5 seater car from Hertfordshire to Ayr in Scotland because there were 6 of us and the time before that i sat either on my dad's(he was the passenger as he never passed his test) lap or kneeled on the floor of the passenger seat lol.  I was 10 the 1st time and obviously Dad couldn't cope with me sat on his lap or feet for that long journey so i moved up to sitting on a cushion on the handbrake when i turned 11.

I now don't let my kids not wear a seatbelt even if we are just driving down the road.  I've never had an accident close to home but believe when they say that most accidents happen close to home.  I also used to travel in the boot of an estate quite regularly without a second thought.  I'd never let my kids travel the way i did back then but everyone did it then so it was acceptable in a way.

We also used to drive around in the back of my uncles transit van on deckchairs, dining room chairs or just sat on the floor for daytrips lol.  One time there was standing room only as there were so many of us being picked up from a party.  That was the last time we could do that as seatbelts were then introduced and a lot of those people including me can say that seatbelts have saved our lives!

That boat tale reminds me of our boating days.  We had boats since we were born first a cruiser and then a narrow boat.  My dad was a nutty professor type who built and installed most things himself - but very often this meant that getting everything working at the same time was a rare thing.  We seemed to live off tinned food or vesta, with tinned fruit or one minute pud for desserts with the dreaded evaporated milk!!!  We had to boil a kettle to get hot water to wash the dishes and had no bathroom apart from a porta potti - we had to wash over the kitchen sink.

At 4mph it would take about 5 weeks to get to London or back.  Dad hated caravans he could never understand how people could take a caravan to a campsite and stay in one place for their holiday when we would move on from place to place each day, although this meant that my brother and I relied heavily on each other as we were never in one place long enough to make friends really. 

I think its the boating which gave me my addiction to the outdoors but I'm happy with my caravan thank you very much, boating costs an absolute fortune!!! 

Indeed it does Fiona, unless your lucky enough to make friends with a few owners!

Most of the time the deal is a trip down the river in exchange for a meal and a pint down the local pub, we also have hire boat holidays which are donated by the companies as a weeks stay raffle prize at times, all you have to pay for is the fuel and insurance, so they are quite a bargain if you manage to pick awinning ticket and have a week onboard for a fraction of the price of a normal hire tarriff!

Like all forms of transport though, the fuel prices have shot up recently, they are no longer allowed to run them on 'red diesel' and the 40p a litre charge of about 5yrs ago has now hit a similar price to that used by cars at the supermarket pump, not good news when some of the big 45x12ft boats only do about 6 miles to the gallon!.

Julia  

We are lucky enough to have use of the boat as my dad has since moved onto a Dutch barge.  However, the layout with a fixed double bedroom to the front and a make up double at the rear doesn't really suit us for holidays (plus I'd need to make a few adjustments to his bathroom too as he stores his tools in there!!) so we settle for a few day trips a year with my dad, brother and his family instead.

I didn't know about the red diesel though I thought he was still running his off that!

We hired a boat for two weeks and holidayed with them in convoy in 2007 - it cost £2k (that was discounted) and it was the wettest most miserable fortnight possible.  We were supposed to have a jaunt down the River Severn but it was flooded so rather than a scenic holiday we ended up having to go through central Birmingham and all its industrial areas!!!!

ahhh the 70s ..... i remember the trip to St mawes in cornwall in our K regd Cortina with vinyl seats and no rear seat belts or in car entertainment towing our little cygnet caravan. we used to stop at tewkesbury cc site overnight both ways to split the looong journey.it was one hell of an adventure back in those days , i remember dad preparing car and caravan weeks in advance for the trip .

had some cracking holidays in it even with no double glazing/hot water/heater/240v/tv/electric pump...... the only luxury was a chemical loo !!!!!

are we really any happier nowadays even with all the kit in our cars and vans ?????