Traveling Abroad in 2011.

There are some good offers on DFDS Ferries this month for their Dover to Dunkirk route.

As an example, a car and caravan with up to 4 people can travel on the 10am sailing from Dover to Dunkirk on May 7th and return on the 0601 sailing from Dunkirk on May 21st for a total fare (inc fuel duty) of £122.00. Alternatively, you can use the 1400 sailing from Dover on the same date and return on the 21st on the 1401 sailing from Dunkirk for a total fare of £149.00.(dates are not fixed, these are simply examples).

These are really good offers when compared to Sea France on the Dover - Calais route. Traveling on the same dates the return fare is £227.00, a big difference for the convenience of landing in France a short way up the coast, and the £80 or £100 difference goes straight into the holiday pot (for serious things like ice-cream and beer of course!)

If you fancy traveling through the Channel Tunnel, you can go on the same dates for a return fare of £ 242.00. That train leaves from Folkestone and arrives in Calais.

I have never been able to see the cost difference to be worth it. From our point of view it is much more exciting getting on a ferry at the start of a holiday to the continent, but there again, we are all big kids when it comes to getting away I suppose!

Do remember that travel through France, Italy and Spain incurs motorway tolls. The costs vary according to the journey that you make on the toll roads. As an example, the cost from Calais to Nice would be €95.40

Make yourself aware of the speed limits when towing and any rules of the road in the countries which you are traveling to or through. You also need to inform your credit card company that you will be abroad for whatever period, this eliminates any embarrassment if your card is rejected when you want to pay for something.

I hope that you enjoy your holiday's abroad. Allow me to remind you to tell me about your experiences, both home and abroad. I will be happy to include them in the newsletter.

Travel Page. This time we look at a holiday in Cornwall

We headed off for Hayle in Cornwall in September for a fortnights holiday. We were staying at Gwithian Farm Camp Site which is just outside the town. It isa privately owned site and a very large one. As well as being a family/couples site, it also attracts a lot of surfers because of it’s location right on one of Cornwall’s best surfing beaches. We had a nice pitch and it was sunny and warm.

The site has a shop for essentials and the owners and staff are very friendly and helpful. We made the most of our time down there by traveling around the county and as far as South Devon. We went to see the Cambridge University Production of The Mikado at the stunning cliff side open air Minack Theatre near Penzance, it was fantastic to see the place itself and the show was wonderful.

We went to St Ives and enjoyed an ice cream on the lovely beach, and of course no trip to Cornwall would be complete without seeing Lands End. Newquay was in full swing on the Sunday that we visited. There was also a cliff top bowling match on and the view from the green is stunning all the way down the beach to the sea.

We rarely eat out because I enjoy cooking when we are away. However, we were tempted a couple of times. We enjoyed a harbour side meal in Looe. Whilst the pub opposite the site sells really good evening meals, but don’t forget to drink some of their fabulous ‘Snakebite Cider’, not too much though, it has a kick like a donkey!

Even with the long journey, a trip to Cornwall is still worth the effort. There is so much to see and do.

Let me know about your holidays, tips and advice. Its your club, make the most of it.

A letter of thanks to Reg and Dorothy

Derek and I, along with Les and Allison Difford spent a very pleasant weekend at ‘Ivanhoe’, Reg and Dorothy’s home. They made us very welcome, and made sure that we were comfortable in their splendid garden with its lovely pond and summerhouse.

Hook up connected, we were shown their toilet disposal, recycling facilities, and all round mod-cons, it was such a shame that illness prevented the others from joining us for the weekend.

Whilst Les relaxed with a book and Allison soaked up the sun, Derek and I pottered about the Fens in our little car. We all met up in the evening for a barbecue and my word what a feast it was. Dorothy went to a lot of trouble and certainly did us proud.

The sunsets were amazing. A flock of starlings descended on the grass after the rain, a sight to behold! The fish in the pond and Dragonflies above it were wonderful.

A big thank you to Reg and Dorothy for all their hard work and for making the weekend so nice and the Adria rally a success.

We hope that there are plenty more where that came from, we would certainly be among the first to put our names forward.

Best Regards

Derek and Caroline Ainscow

Caravan Cleaning Products

by Peter Phillips

I saw a feature on the Caravan Channel when Chris Gosling was demonstrating the virtues of a
cleaning product from a company called ‘CARE-AVAN’. It is a waterless system that uses only the liquid
in the spray bottle that you buy and a couple of microfibre cloths. It looked easy to do so I thought:
“sold to the man in the (slightly mucky) gleaming white Adria”

I ordered it on the web direct from Care-avan, I chose the1 litre bottle and 2 microfibre cloths, a total of
£19.99 (with free postage) Shortly after I had placed my order I received an email from Cathy at the
firm asking me to let them know when I had received my order! customer service is certainly a strong
point for them.

Well, I tried it last weekend and the results are stunning. The stuff is easy to use, you simply spray an
area and rub it gently with one of the cloths and then buff it with the other cloth. It is really as easy as
that. You can choose to do any size of area that you are comfortable with.

As you know, GRP doesn’t suffer the black streaks on caravan walls that Aluminium ‘vans do, but there
were some dirty marks just around the bottom of the windows. After cleaning with this product there
was not one mark left anywhere on the bodywork! It was sparkling clean and it looked as if it had been
polished such was the finish it gave. I can imagine that polishing it after this would give the ‘van a
fantastic ‘showroom’ shine.

I would have no hesitation in using this cleaner again (even though the picture on the bottle is of an
Olympus!). It does, as the old advert says, exactly what it says on the tin.

But if you prefer a hose-pipe..............
Autoglym make a caravan cleaner, and coming from that pedigree, you would expect nothing but the
best and that is exactly what you get. It costs £16.99 and is really good at removing stubborn dried on
insects, tar spots and does get the bodywork squeaky clean. Like the product above, this comes in a
spray bottle which you apply to a area and gently rub, the difference is that after applying the Autoglym
cleaner and rubbing it in, you must use a hose pipe to swill off the cleaner and then buff the bodywork.
I use the Autoglym cleaner regularly and find it to be a first class product which leaves your caravan in
tip-top condition with no streaks, providing that you swill off and buff it properly.
It is more labour intensive than the Care-avan product, but it does a really good job that you will be
pleased with.

I suppose it is a matter of taste and convenience as to which product you use. I suppose they could be
divided equally throughout the year. Care-avan when its freezing and you don’t fancy messing around
with a hosepipe spraying cold water everywhere and Autoglym in the nicer weather when the cold
water isn’t such an issue!

Option 3: A bucket of water, some car shampoo, a sponge and a hosepipe. You all know how that works!!!

Happy caravan cleaning, whichever method you choose!