RV / Caravan rental and use in the UK.

ejfranz wrote:
...
Steve, I know you have a smaller vehicle, but you must be a great driver...

I enjoy driving my camper here and find it relaxing, but driving in the UK was not relaxing and in many areas there were no views as you are surrounded by hedges or stone walls.

I like to view it as a challenge - who says I can't go down there? :B



Steve.

Hi all,
Got back from the UK yesterday and did over 3000 miles with a Citreon C4 Cactus 5 speed manual car on all types of roads and there is no way I would take my truck on many of those roads as it would not fit and you would be driving with part of your truck in the oncoming lane. Yes there are buses that do some of the narrow 2 lane roads and when they met up with another bus to truck each is squeezing into the bushes and crawling past each other.
There would be no issues with traveling on the M routes and many of the A routes, but heading into some of the smaller towns that only have single lane routes and turn outs it would be extremely tight as on some of the roads 2 cars passing would barely fit.

Steve, I know you have a smaller vehicle, but you must be a great driver.

I enjoy driving my camper here and find it relaxing, but driving in the UK was not relaxing and in many areas there were no views as you are surrounded by hedges or stone walls.

My son rented an RV in Europe .... Ended up staying in B&Bs after a very short time.

Thanks DiploStrat on the info for Seabridge, but it is not worth it for our short trip, Maybe when we head to Australia for 6 month.
Thanks Sabconsulting for the info, we did some more research and the price of the carvans are double (113 pounds a day) for the time we will be traveling as compared to what is advertised now and the smaller RVs come with 6 speed manual trannies. I can rent a car for around 13 pounds a day.
We will be checking out the lake district and will probably spend most of our time in Scotland.

Hi,

We live in the UK. Obviously we've never rented here - just use our TC. But I can give you some advice. PM me if you like.

I suggest renting a motorhome. You could stay in guest houses / B&Bs but they will be expensive in that season and will need booking well in advance - on the other hand a small car will be quicker / easier to tour around than an RV. You won't get a truck camper here or anything with 4x4. Many of the roads in the more beautiful parts of the country can be narrow. So I would avoid the larger motorhomes. If you really want to get into the tighter spots then consider a class B van, but the bathroom will be very small and you'll have to make up the bed every night.

Note that school ends around 22nd July so everywhere will get very busy after that. Look for less family friendly locations to visit after that date to avoid congestion. You may still be able to just tour around and look for campground "campsite" signs and the more primative ones may be able to squeeze you in even if officially fully booked.

Lake District is a must, but go before the school holidays. Plus more difficult in a class C than a class B. Note rental companies won't know what "class B or C" means. RVs will all have cassette toilets and separate grey tank. Voltage here is 240v.

There are some resources for finding campsites (campgrounds) but in summer you can just drive up and find loads of them.

Expect all RVs to be manual transmission - so expect to be trying to change gear using the window winder for a while. Be very careful exiting a motorway - at the junctions it is too easy to turn suddenly onto the side of the road you are used to driving rather than the left.

Steve.

We rented a car in Scotland. Before we left the US we got a letter from our credit card company saying we had coverage by using the card. It saved us a lot of money on the rental. I think they would have made us take the coverage if we didn't have the letter.

Did ten days in Ireland this past August. I too thought about renting an RV. After researching, decided to rent a car and stay at B&B's. Was the best decision I could have ever made. I would also suggest that you pay the extra and rent a car with an automatic transmission. It is a tough transition driving over there with the steering wheel on the right side of the car and driving on the left side of the road Without trying to shift with your left hand.