Cruising The Broads................by Road!

[Cal]

Our last night in Norfolk and we are staying at a beautiful little CL site in Middleton near King's Lynn called Westfield House. 

Beautiful spot ideally located close to the A47.

Only just over an hours drive home from here tomorrow. 

[Cal]

Back home again now after a traffic free journey back from King's Lynn. 

Total Miles 426

Average MPG 28.2mpg

We were concerned we wouldn't enjoy this trip as much as we did by water. But we needn't have worried. It has been a great holiday. Much less stressful than by boat and we didn't need to be weather watching the whole time to pick a weather window to come home again.

We have visited our favourite places and managed to find parking for the van easily at them all.

The roads although narrow in places were fine for travelling with the van, much better than we expected. 

We look forward to going back at some point in hopefully the not too distant future. 

[Lulu]

I’m curious as to costs of running a motorhome annually including fuel and pitch fees compared to owning a boat.  I’m quite keen on the idea but Graham isnt.   

[Cal]

12 minutes ago, Lulu said:

I’m curious as to costs of running a motorhome annually including fuel and pitch fees compared to owning a boat.  I’m quite keen on the idea but Graham isnt.   

We keep the van on the drive at home which helps to keep costs down. 

We also got rid of my car so the insurance and VED we saved from getting rid of the car essentially just switched over to that. Insurance and breakdown cover is £305 this year and VED was £285. 

Obviously needs an MOT every year. Our local garage charges us £35 for that. We do an oil and filter change every year, every other year a full service and every 5 years it needs a cam belt. Had cam belt full service and MOT in April and it came in at £900.

Fuel costs depend how many miles you do I suppose much the same as a boat. We get anywhere from 20mpg to 30mpg from it depending on the types of roads we are on. Not refilled it yet but we reckon this weeks trip will have cost around £90 in diesel.

Pitch fees vary wildly. We do a mixture of free park ups, pub stopovers, small 5 pitch sites and larger campsites. Pubs normally let you stay for free if you are eating and drinking in the pub. Small sites are usually in the £20-25 a night range. Larger sites anywhere from £25-£60 a night. Some bespoke sites with hot tubs etc. are over £100 a night.

The most we have paid is £40 a night. There is so much choice you can make it as cheap or as expensive as you like. 

This trip we have had two free stopovers, a pub stop, two small sites at £20 and £25 per night, a larger site at £26 a night and a more commercial site at £40 per night.

We find it far cheaper each year than having the boat. We are finding it a fantastic way of getting out and about and exploring new places.

The dog loves it because he gets to explore new places but has the familiarity of the van to eat and sleep in.

[Lulu]

Thank you. It maybe for us in the future.  I’m really keen to explore other areas of the UK, especially Scotland.  The issue we both have is the thought of dealing with cassette toilets 🤢and problems finding parking spaces for a motor home when on day trips off the camp site.  Ive seen little cars being towed behind motorhomes which seems the ideal.    I know a caravan is completely out of the question for Graham. 

[Cal]

8 minutes ago, Lulu said:

Thank you. It maybe for us in the future.  I’m really keen to explore other areas of the UK, especially Scotland.  The issue we both have is the thought of dealing with cassette toilets 🤢and problems finding parking spaces for a motor home when on day trips off the camp site.  Ive seen little cars being towed behind motorhomes which seems the ideal.    I know a caravan is completely out of the question for Graham. 

The toilet really isn't as bad as it initially seems. The toilet chemicals (we use the green environmentally friendly one) just turns everything into a green liquid that doesn't smell and pours away easily. 

We carry a spare cassette in a dry bag to increase our off site "range" We tend to use a site every 3-4 days to deal with the tanks. 

We don't stay put on a campsite for long. That's the whole point of having a motorhome for us. We move on every couple of days normally. Three is an extended stay so equally we don't bother with awnings or other associated clutter with long stays.

We have never struggled to find somewhere to park the van wherever we have wanted to visit. Ours is short at 6m but there is always somewhere to park. If we are pitched for a couple of days we don't move it. We walk or use public transport. 

We really don't see the point of towing a car. You may as well get a caravan in that case!

[Lulu]

I guess the towing of a car depends on the size of the motorhome on whether its worth it or not. Ive been watching the Bob Earnshaw vlogs. They have been on the Isle of Wight which looks, so far in this series, to be difficult to get to places other than in a small car.   I think if we get serious about a change from water to wheels that we need to hire one and not just launch into this! 

[Cal]

19 minutes ago, Lulu said:

I guess the towing of a car depends on the size of the motorhome on whether its worth it or not. Ive been watching the Bob Earnshaw vlogs. They have been on the Isle of Wight which looks, so far in this series, to be difficult to get to places other than in a small car.   I think if we get serious about a change from water to wheels that we need to hire one and not just launch into this! 

We had a week on the Isle of Wight last summer and really enjoyed it. 

We didn't have a problem with the roads. Found some fantastic free stopovers on there as well, right on the beach. 

I think you need to be careful and take the vlogs/blogs with a pinch of salt. They have to dramatise everything to keep their viewers interested. In reality its nothing like what they portray!

Hiring is a good idea. It certainly isn't for everyone. Finding the right layout of van that's works is also another minefield. There are so many to choose from.

I think we have fallen lucky that what we have chosen really does suit how we live with it. But again it wouldn't be to everyone's taste.

As for the tow car. Of you need that, I don't think a motorhome is the right choice. Also bear in mind that on an A Frame you can not reverse it. It will apply the brakes. You need to unhook it to reverse which on a narrow country lane makes life far more difficult than it needs to be.

We find keeping it simple keeps it less stressful. 

The van is incredibly self sufficient. No need to complicate matters.

[annv]

Hi Lulu When we had a Motorhome they are much same as a boat in many ways when you moor/park up you are stuck there unless buses taxi's or walking. The big difference is in the cost of the home mooring and if parked at home no cost. the other difference is boats hold there price as against Motorhomes which deprecate. John

[Cal]

14 minutes ago, annv said:

Hi Lulu When we had a Motorhome they are much same as a boat in many ways when you moor/park up you are stuck there unless buses taxi's or walking. The big difference is in the cost of the home mooring and if parked at home no cost. the other difference is boats hold there price as against Motorhomes which deprecate. John

Our motorhome is now worth about £15k more than we paid for it 2.5 years ago.

Motorhome prices have gone through the roof the last couple of years.

We paid more for it at 2 years old than it was new. It's now worth far more than it was new.

The reasons, supply and demand. There are waiting lists for new ones with an 18 month lead in time for the manufacturers to receive new cabs. This has increased the price of used vans.

We had initially said we would be happy if the van was worth £10k less than we paid for it after 5 years. At the moment that looks incredibly pessimistic. But as the last few years has taught us, anything can and will happen!

At the minute unless you buy and sell in quick succession you would be incredibly unlucky to lose money on a motorhome. 

Even old scrappers are worth daft money!

The dealer we bought ours from has twice rung with an offer to buy it back cash. One offer £10k more than we paid, the second £12k more than we paid. They have buyers waiting, just no vans to sell to them.

[Cal]

Will just add that the value is to us irrelevant. We plan to have this van long term. It isn't a cash cow or investment, it is our enjoyment and holidays.

[SwanR]

We were the same when we bought our static caravan. That did lose value and you have to consider it as money you can afford to spend not an investment. 

[Cal]

34 minutes ago, SwanR said:

We were the same when we bought our static caravan. That did lose value and you have to consider it as money you can afford to spend not an investment. 

Absolutely. 

We "lost" money on the boat.But when you look back at the years of enjoyment, happy memories and firm friends we made, did we really?

Absolutely not. It was worth every penny.

[Turnoar]

I know I’ve jested in the past about speed camera van conversions but seeing Cals figures and the lead in time I can understand why folk would choose to go down the diy route and not just for the fun of free overnight stays in lay-bys and slowing traffic down!

[floydraser]

Toilets: You only need to deal with the smelly stuff if you use sites without their own facilities. Join the Camping and Caravan Club and/or the Caravan and Motorhome Club and most of their sites have nice, clean facilities. Then just use your own for No.1s and emergencies. Or use an independant site with facilities.

Hiring is the best advice for beginners. Towing with an A frame is for the experienced only, and I think it's now illegal in Europe.

Campsite guides and websites usually give details of local transport links - nearest bus stops etc. A lot of retired people with caravans or motorhomes like sites to have a bus stop near the entrance; this has new emphasis for us this year as we both have new bus passes!