Innehållsförteckning för February 2024 från Practical Motorhome

Strictly Hamza! New President at the C&CC The Camping and Caravanning Club has appointed wildlife cameraman, author and broadcaster Hamza Yassin (pictured right) as its new President. Hamza, who won Strictly Come Dancing in 2022, takes over from TV presenter and author Julia Bradbury, following her 10 years’ service in the post. A regular tent camper who also owns a campervan, Hamza said: “I’m really delighted to have been appointed President of The Camping and Caravanning Club and to follow in the footsteps of so many accomplished individuals. We share the same passion for inspiring people to actively enjoy – and help look after – the natural world. Camping puts us right on the doorstep of the countryside and gives us a unique gateway to exploring our incredible outdoor spaces.”…

WIN ME! WORTH £514.80! We’ve teamed up with tool and machinery specialists Machine Mart to offer Practical Motorhome readers the chance to win this fantastic Clarke IG2200A 2.2kW Inverter Generator! Perfect for providing a ready source of electrical power when you’re out and about, this Euro 5 compliant unit is a lightweight, low-noise generator which encompasses pure sine wave technology. The unit is easy to use, compact and powerful, and comes in a neat ergonomic carry case. The four-stroke engine is energy efficient and the generator will run for seven hours at three-quarter load. With a maximum output of 2.2kW and a continuous output of 2.0kW, it’s a great bit of kit to bring with you on motorhome trips, providing a reliable supply of easily accessible power while you’re on…

Duration Part of a 28-day Mediterranean tour When March-April 2023 Why? Seeking winter sun in iconic scenery Etna puffed. A column of smoke drifted slowly skywards above her panda coat of lava-field and snow. It had been a year since she last erupted, but her core dominated the landscape of Sicily’s east. At least the sun shone, offering shirt-sleeve temperatures. Three weeks earlier, it had been a white-out when I left the UK. Blizzard conditions smothered the windscreen of the campervan, but winter sun – in southern Europe – was on the horizon. Ever-changing scenery offered all the reasons to undertake a winter trip. Provence provided a blue backcloth to the cypress trees and pines that gave a roadside escort towards the Mediterranean. It wasn’t summer, but instead of UK…

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Sea water was one of the catalysts in the creation of the Romahome. Back in the 1970s, maverick yacht (and occasional kit-car) designer Barry Stimson developed a demountable motorcaravan body for the recently imported 345cc Honda TN7 micro pick-up truck. He sold the design to specialist GRP marine moulders Island Plastics. Production commenced with a monocoque GRP version to fit the much improved Honda Acty pick-up. The body and cabinetwork were in yacht-grade GRP, which was tough, high-gloss and leak resistant, and which also looked fabulous. With amazing synchronicity, the Japanese scaled back production of micro-trucks at around the same time that Island Plastics MD Brian Bailey consulted current owners and found that few ever demounted the body. Thus, replacement Romahome underpinnings for a ‘permanently attached’ body were sought, resulting…

Keeping baddies at bay These days, there are many security products available for protecting your motorhome, and some are more effective than others. First, let’s consider who we’re trying to protect our property from. Thieves in general do not care one little bit about doing damage to your vehicle. All they care about is getting in, nicking your belongings (or your motorhome) and getting out as quickly as possible. If that means breaking a window or destroying a door lock, so be it. But there are some very simple things that you can do to minimise the chances of your pride and joy becoming a target for the criminals. Consider where you’re parking Think carefully about where you park your ’van, especially if you plan to stay overnight. Take a…

Problems start outside… …and soon spread inside…

Gergeti, Georgia What3words ///carb.outsmarted.reimpose Why tour here? Just a few miles south of the Russian border, near the town of Stepantsminda, North-east Georgia, stands the 14th-century Gergeti Trinity Church (Holy Trinity Church). Visitors to the area tend to be trekkers or mountaineers, seeking to scale the Caucasus mountains, which loom above. While this is an undeniably beautiful example of a medieval church, it is the dramatic setting of the building, with its high elevation and nearby Mount Kazbek, that makes for such an impressive sight. Don’t miss… Trekking from Stepantsminda is a wonderful way to explore and enjoy this scenic region. Alternatively, there’s a good road to the church, as seen here. You can read more about Marcus Leach and family’s epic adventures in Georgia on p44. practicalmotorhomeuk…

SUDOKU To solve the puzzle, each row, column and 3x3 box must contain the numbers 1 to 9. No single digit can appear twice in any one row, column or 3x3 box WORDWISE You have 15 minutes to find as many words as possible using the letters in the grid. Each word must contain four or more letters, one of which must be the central square. No proper nouns, plurals or foreign words are allowed. There is one nine-letter word in the grid, for which the clue is: Aggrieved 8 = average More than 16 = well done NOTES HALF & HALF Which currency takes its name from a word meaning ‘ridge’? Cross out a letter in each square to get a grid filled with words. The uncrossed-out letters in…

Ice and easy Seasonal ice rinks pop up all over the country in winter. Here’s our pick of some of the best, with other things to do if you’re not a skater! ■ Royal Pavilion Ice Rink To 7 January 2024 Set in the bright lights of Brighton’s Royal Pavilion, this most romantic of ice rinks has a snack bar serving, among other treats, mulled wine and hot chocolate. Tickets are £11. W royalpavilionicerink.co.uk Stay at… Brighton Caravan and Motorhome Club Campsite Wcaravanclub.co.uk ■ Cardiff’s Winter Wonderland To 2 January 2024 This seasonal extravaganza offers visitors an ice rink and a walk in the grounds of Cardiff Castle, with family entertainment and festive food and drink. For the grown-ups, this includes an ice bar, at City Hall Lawn. Adult skating…

Aesop once said, “Adventure is worthwhile.” Words we have wholeheartedly agreed with for many years, and been reminded of on a regular basis as we have continued our journey through Georgia, a country that has been like no other that we’ve visited thus far during our travels on The Big European Odyssey. While the previous weeks since arriving from Turkey had given us a real taste of the way of life and culture in Georgia, they could never have prepared us for the spellbinding beauty of what was to come, as we began our journey into the northern reaches of the country. It’s here, close to the Russian border, that we encountered the Greater Caucasus mountain range, the main focus of our travels for the coming weeks. I first discovered…

Updated Crafter adds electric brake Volkswagen has updated its second generation Crafter, giving the vehicle an electric brake for the first time, thus making it easier to swivel the cab seats in a motorhome. Some 354,000 of the new second generation vehicle had already been sold by the end of last year, with a significant number forming the base vehicles for a wide range of models, including VW’s own Grand California. The updated vans, which will first go on sale in Europe in April next year, will feature a new cockpit landscape, including a new standard 10.3-inch or 12.9-inch infotainment display, with a graphic interface that was originally unveiled in the ID. Buzz. The gear lever will remain in the central console with manual transmission vehicles, while in automatic models,…

In September, I had the privilege of taking Adria’s new Active Duo campervan out for a test run for 10 days. The trip turned into a mixture of work, parental duties and pleasure. But to begin, let’s take a look at the basics. The Active is Adria’s first-ever campervan, and it is based on a Renault Trafic, rather than the more usual VW Transporter. Now the Renault Trafic might not have quite the same kudos as a Transporter campervan, but it drives in an equally good way. I was particularly impressed with its turning circle. During my journey, I took it right down onto the docks at Wivenhoe, near Colchester. I had been hoping to find a suitable location there for a possible magazine cover shoot. Unfortunately, I discovered that,…

Ever thought about joining one of the motorhome owners’ clubs? Maybe you should – excellent advice, reduced rates, a busy social calendar and the chance to meet likeminded people make them a great choice. Here we pick out some of the clubs for the best-known motorhome brands, to find out what they can offer their members. ADRIA OWNERS CLUB UK Adria Owners Club UK was established back in 2006, with the intention of bringing together owners of Adria and Sun Living leisure vehicles, to share their passion for the brand and have fun gathering at group events and rallies held both across the UK and at venues overseas. Club membership is open to all current owners of Adria motorhomes, Twins, campers and caravans, and Sun Living leisure vehicles. Advice and…

Getting the most out of your holiday is really important and it pays to be able to carry kit that can get you out of a fix and enhance the time spent in your leisure vehicle. With ever-increasing pressures on payload, however, you do need to select what to carry with care. Filling the storage areas with items that you will never need or use is a waste of money and space. That’s where we come in, to help you sift through the numerous products out there and focus on the key kit you need. So what would we pack? SOCKET SET Before you skip straight to the next section, muttering “that’s what motorhome dealers are for”, it’s worth bearing in mind that when things go awry, you might not…

It’s always an exciting moment when a new test vehicle arrives in the Practical Motorhome car park. But the latest was one of the most anticipated for some time: we’ve taken delivery of a brand-new Bailey Adamo 75-4I for an extended period, in which we’ll be able to give this four-berth motorhome from the Bristolian manufacturer a thorough assessment. Continental style Its arrival has been anticipated because this line-up is the most adventurous Bailey has ever produced – the Adamo is a five-model range of Ford-Transit-based coachbuilts that promise to take you far and wide in comfort. The latter is important to us, so we’ve gone for the 75-4I, the sole island-bed model in the line-up. The 75-4I pairs that with a cross-width washroom and facing sofas up front. Above…

HERITAGE Since the early 1970s, UK-registered ‘Japanese’ motorcaravans have been ‘dual heritage’; that is, British conversions of Japanese base vehicles. Firms such as Elddis (Nipper), Autohomes (Bambi) and most successfully of all, Island Plastics (Romahome), favoured coachbuilts on micro-trucks. Builders of larger coachbuilts used the forward-control Toyota Hiace, such as the 1973 Newlander 2 pictured here. COMFORT WITH SAFETY This is the mission statement of VanTech, based near Tokyo. All stages of its design and build prioritise comfort and safety, with many inspections at each stage of production. Most of the brand’s output uses forward-control Toyota Camroad underpinnings. Pictured above is a model from the Leaves range (as in plural of leaf, rather than departing). Four-wheel drive is a popular option. TOUGH NUT Claiming to be the largest Japanese supplier…

Bargain prices at Marquis ex-display sale Marquis Leisure, with 13 branches around the country, has announced special prices on selected ex-display ’vans from all the brands it represents – Benimar, Mobilvetta, Auto-Sleepers – as well as special-edition Majestic models from Elddis. Examples include an Auto-Sleeper Air Ford Transit Custom-based campervan for £65,995, representing £8000 off the price of an all-new model. There’s a similar saving on an Elddis Majestic 155, down to £69,995 from £77,995. Bigger still is the £11,000 cut to an A-class Mobilvetta K-Yacht Tekno Line 80, down to £99,995. And there’s a Benimar Benivan 120 with £4000 off, priced at £69,995. There are also great savings to be made on other selected pre-owned stock. In total, the group is offering 75 vehicles with savings in the £1000…

Water ingress is something all ’van owners fear. Aesthetically sound leisure vehicles can be consumed by damp and mould without anyone knowing. But there’s no need to despair, for salvation is at hand! Of course, 100% body integrity is the Holy Grail for coachbuilt makers, but despite their best endeavours over decades of building leisure vehicles, the problem hasn’t been eradicated. These days, the evolution of some impressive new materials and clever construction methods has helped to improve things quite dramatically, although driving a big box along our pothole-riddled roads can still reveal nasty flaws in a motorhome’s build, even in this age of aviation-quality adhesives and sealants. WHAT’S THE CAUSE? There are many ways water can find its way through the panels of a coachbuilt and into its internal…

For the 2023 season, ’vans fitted with Alde heating have had the new 3030 boiler and control panel installed. This incorporates quite a few changes, so this is a good time to take a closer look at the system. The first thing you’ll notice about the control panel is the more up-to-date display, with temperature adjustment settings on the Home screen. This has apparently been done in response to requests from customers. The main display screen (where you can see the status of various things) is now on the next screen, displayed after pressing the Menu button once. On the bright side As with the previous-generation 3020 system, there are various brightness settings, which can be useful at night, because the Home screen itself is very bright, even if you…

About the guide We’ve organised our listings by layout, which is generally the most crucial aspect for buyers. Simply locate the floorplan you like in the guide; then, on the left of it, you’ll find details of every UK model with that layout, of which we had confirmed details as we went to press. All information was correct at the time of going to print. how to buy… Choosing a layout Before you get close to buying your dream ’van, you need to have a good think about how you are likely to use the vehicle: is it just for touring, or for day-to-day use as well? If the latter, you might need a shorter vehicle with more travel seats in the back. And you need to think about who…