Post by Don Ricardo on Sept 18, 2016 23:25:07 GMT 10
Hi all,
Those of you who have known me on the forum through the years will have noticed that I have been uncharacteristically quiet - oh, alright, totally silent - for quite a few weeks. (Thanks to those of you that contacted me just to make sure that Dona Ricardo and I were OK.)
The reason for the silence was that Dona Ricardo and I were spending seven weeks traveling in Scotland, partly connecting with our respective roots and partly just enjoying the sights. We had a great time, and now we're back...despite the strong temptation to just get back on the plane and keep on going after we arrived home!
I was hoping that I would come home with lots of photos of Scottish vintage caravans. We did see lots and lots of motorhomes. And we did see lots and lots and lots of caravans, even some in really quite remote places. But most of them were versions of the modern European 'white boxes' which are now being imported into Australia - many of them towed by cars so minuscule that we Australian caravanners wouldn't even use them to tow our wheelie bins to the front gate!
Driving through Nairn on the East coast of Scotland, I got very excited when we saw some signs saying 'Caravan Exhibition'. "Caravan Exhibition??", thought I. "How very exciting! Maybe there'll be some vintage vans?"
No such luck! It was just a display of relocateables at a caravan park: buy one, the signs said, and you can make squillions renting it out during the high season. Not quite what we were looking for, but we did note that a number of them were built by Willerby, a venerable British manufacturer of caravans in the vintage era.
However, we did also see a few interesting caravans of the vintage variety. The oldest we saw was a Gypsy caravan at Cawdor Castle, near Inverness.
There was no indication of how old this van may have been, but apparently in its later years it has been used as a play house by the children of the castle.
The oldest caravan we saw, actually on the road, was this caravan photographed at Balmaha on the shores of Loch Lomond - not that the van was very old at all, in fact.
Given the tow vehicle was left hand drive, I assume that the caravan was touring from "the continent", which would also explain the door on our offside.
And of course, there was the Airstream being used as a snack van at the Falkirk Wheel, near Stirling.
The most interesting of the vintage caravans we saw was a four wheeled, showman's caravan built in 1955, which was on display in the Riverside Museum in Glasgow. The museum itself is an absolutely fabulous transport museum, well worth the visit. But here's the caravan:
The inside was 'typical British caravan' with polished veneer furnishings - and the obligatory gas fire:
Note the reel-to-reel tape deck:
As you may have noticed the caravan has a slide out/expanda section which contains the lounge:
And just for Cobber - the draw bar and rather simple coupling:
As we traveled, Dona Ricardo and I were interested to compare the Scottish caravan parks with our own. Many times we saw caravans that were just set up and camped in lay-bys and rest spots on the side of busy roads. Their version of free camping I guess.
Most of the caravan parks we saw were devoid of trees. This one on the Isle of Skye was typical:
We also saw quite a few caravan parks which were just a strip of bitumen beside a wharf or jetty. This one was in the Shetland Islands, located in the North Sea, 280 kms north of the Scottish mainland.
And another:
Finally, we rather liked these garden ornaments in the garden of a house located on the island of East Burra, part of the Shetland Islands:
Nice to see someone recognising that every home needs a vintage caravan - or two!
Don Ricardo
Those of you who have known me on the forum through the years will have noticed that I have been uncharacteristically quiet - oh, alright, totally silent - for quite a few weeks. (Thanks to those of you that contacted me just to make sure that Dona Ricardo and I were OK.)
The reason for the silence was that Dona Ricardo and I were spending seven weeks traveling in Scotland, partly connecting with our respective roots and partly just enjoying the sights. We had a great time, and now we're back...despite the strong temptation to just get back on the plane and keep on going after we arrived home!
I was hoping that I would come home with lots of photos of Scottish vintage caravans. We did see lots and lots of motorhomes. And we did see lots and lots and lots of caravans, even some in really quite remote places. But most of them were versions of the modern European 'white boxes' which are now being imported into Australia - many of them towed by cars so minuscule that we Australian caravanners wouldn't even use them to tow our wheelie bins to the front gate!
Driving through Nairn on the East coast of Scotland, I got very excited when we saw some signs saying 'Caravan Exhibition'. "Caravan Exhibition??", thought I. "How very exciting! Maybe there'll be some vintage vans?"
No such luck! It was just a display of relocateables at a caravan park: buy one, the signs said, and you can make squillions renting it out during the high season. Not quite what we were looking for, but we did note that a number of them were built by Willerby, a venerable British manufacturer of caravans in the vintage era.
However, we did also see a few interesting caravans of the vintage variety. The oldest we saw was a Gypsy caravan at Cawdor Castle, near Inverness.
There was no indication of how old this van may have been, but apparently in its later years it has been used as a play house by the children of the castle.
The oldest caravan we saw, actually on the road, was this caravan photographed at Balmaha on the shores of Loch Lomond - not that the van was very old at all, in fact.
Given the tow vehicle was left hand drive, I assume that the caravan was touring from "the continent", which would also explain the door on our offside.
And of course, there was the Airstream being used as a snack van at the Falkirk Wheel, near Stirling.
The most interesting of the vintage caravans we saw was a four wheeled, showman's caravan built in 1955, which was on display in the Riverside Museum in Glasgow. The museum itself is an absolutely fabulous transport museum, well worth the visit. But here's the caravan:
The inside was 'typical British caravan' with polished veneer furnishings - and the obligatory gas fire:
Note the reel-to-reel tape deck:
As you may have noticed the caravan has a slide out/expanda section which contains the lounge:
And just for Cobber - the draw bar and rather simple coupling:
As we traveled, Dona Ricardo and I were interested to compare the Scottish caravan parks with our own. Many times we saw caravans that were just set up and camped in lay-bys and rest spots on the side of busy roads. Their version of free camping I guess.
Most of the caravan parks we saw were devoid of trees. This one on the Isle of Skye was typical:
We also saw quite a few caravan parks which were just a strip of bitumen beside a wharf or jetty. This one was in the Shetland Islands, located in the North Sea, 280 kms north of the Scottish mainland.
And another:
Finally, we rather liked these garden ornaments in the garden of a house located on the island of East Burra, part of the Shetland Islands:
Nice to see someone recognising that every home needs a vintage caravan - or two!
Don Ricardo
... That would be special 
