RVing in the snowy UK

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Tom

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Many parts of the UK have reported rare snowfall. We see very short clips on traffic chaos in one or two major cities on our TV news. In addition to reading some stuff on the internet, I've received a number of reports and photos from friends and relatives living in the UK. For the most part, the country is unprepared to deal with these conditions.

I was just curious how many folks are RVing in the UK in this weather, and how they're coping with the roads and the low temperatures. I'm aware that there are a number of gypsies fulltimers, but I'd have thought that most part time RVers would stay off the roads.
 
Tom said:
Many parts of the UK have reported rare snowfall. We see very short clips on traffic chaos in one or two major cities on our TV news. In addition to reading some stuff on the internet, I've received a number of reports and photos from friends and relatives living in the UK. For the most part, the country is unprepared to deal with these conditions.

I was just curious how many folks are RVing in the UK in this weather, and how they're coping with the roads and the low temperatures. I'm aware that there are a number of gypsies fulltimers, but I'd have thought that most part time RVers would stay off the roads.

Most of us tend to stay off the roads in adverse conditions, as I'm sure most of you guys would try to.
It doesn't help, of course, that our inept, tight fisted governement has yet again been caught out by the totally unexpected weather conditions that most of the weather forcasters and most of the general public here seemed to know was on it's way!
Thankfully, most modern European rigs, be it caravans (trailers) motorhomes etc are very well insulated and will cope with the sort of conditions we get. Of course, for those Brits lucky enough to be in an American built rig (and I'm hopefully soon to be back amongst those ranks ;D), they'll have no problems at all with the weather as your temperatures can dip FAR lower than ours ever do.
Our biggest problem, well, certainly mine as a fulltimer, is campgrounds that advertise themselves as open all year but do nothing about insulating the water/waste supplies or knowingly stay open in foul weather when the grass is like a quagmire! That's something that REALLY winds me up! On UK based forums, we get lots of posts from campsite owners complaining about motorhomes and RV's chewing up the grass and whilst I fully agree that we ALL have a duty of care to look after the campground and not cause damage, there seems to be a distinct lack of understanding or care given back to us by SOME greedy camground owners who seem to think it's alright to charge caravanners and motorhomers quite a lot of money for very poor facilities! :mad:
 
Most of us tend to stay off the roads in adverse conditions, as I'm sure most of you guys would try to.

We've been in our RV in snow a couple of times, but not really by choice. It happened to be on both ends of the same 3-month trip. We awoke to unexpected overnight snow in New Mexico on our outbound journey, and it had frozen on top of that. We stayed put for a couple of days until it warmed up, not wanting to slide along the freeway. On the return trip, we followed the snow plows into our Son's neighbourhood in northern Kentucky. They did a good job of keeping the roads clear, and our son had shovelled the snow from his driveway so we could have a campsite.

We were watching clips on BBC America of buses and lorries slamming into cars in the UK. When I lived in the UK, the only defence the local council had for snow and ice was to send out a couple of lorries full of gritty sand mixed with salt. Some poor chap in the back of each lorry had to disperse the mixture with a shovel. I recall the chassis and sills on cars rusting badly and failing the annual MOT.

... those Brits lucky enough to be in an American built rig ... they'll have no problems at all with the weather as your temperatures can dip FAR lower than ours ever do.

Just because temperatures in some parts of the US can fall much lower than parts of the UK, I wouldn't generalize. We live in a part of California where it rarely gets below freezing. It's snowed here a couple of times in the last 25 years, but not enough to leave even a dusting on the ground. Our daughter lives just 2.5 hours away, at 3,500 feet in the Sierra foothills, and gets several feet of snow.

I also wouldn't assume that all US-made RVs are built to withstand lower temperatures. In fact, some have a dismal performance when it comes to insulation.
 

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Our biggest problem, well, certainly mine as a fulltimer...

That must present you with some interesting challenges.

... is campgrounds that advertise themselves as open all year but do nothing about insulating the water/waste supplies or knowingly stay open in foul weather...

We have our share of those, although most I've been in either close for cold seasons, or will tell campers not to leave their water hoses connected overnight.

....when the grass is like a quagmire!

Therein might be one difference. Many, but certainly not all, commercial/private campgrounds here will have solid ground beneath the rig. It could be concrete, gravel, or plain dirt. We've been in only a few that had you park on grass. OTOH we've camped at county fairgrounds that were hosting a large rally of hundreds or thousands of RVs; There was no choice but to park on grass.

Others here will have different experiences &/or a different perspective. This is a huge country, with widely varying climates and a very wide spectrum of what passes for a campsite.
 
From the drums of the valleys ... the Welsh rugby team's return from beating Scotland at Murrayfield was delayed because their plane couldn't take off due to snow. I suspect it was the work of some England supporters who don't want their team humiliated at the hands of the boys in red again  ;D
 
It is the damp winters we have that is the problem, not the cold.  Imagine having a rainy season for four months whilst the temperatures hover just above freezing.

I have a friend from Switzerland who will not come to GB in the winter as he finds it too uncomfortable due to the damp.

Spring in Britain is interesting, as you can get sleet, snow, rain, hail, thunder storms and glorious sunshine all within 20 minutes.  Whilst in Portugal once, I was in a car hire place, and happened to mention to a young Portuguese lady, how lucky she was to live in a country with such a nice climate.  I will never forget the look of horror she gave me, as she jokingly asked if i was mad.  She then went onto tell me that it is unbearable when you can not escape very hot weather, and that she had once gone to Britain in the spring to experience the spring weather, which we call April showers.
 
[quote author=motorvating]It is the damp winters we have that is the problem, not the cold.  Imagine having a rainy season for four months whilst the temperatures hover just above freezing.[/quote]

My prior message was posted in February when much of the UK was seeing unusual snow conditions. Understand the damp winters; We lived 32 years in not-so sunny South Wales, and used to joke that it rained 366 days a year. Summertime we'd stand on Aberafan Beach, looking across Swansea Bay and, if we could see the Mumbles, we knew it was going to rain; If we couldn't see the Mumbles, we knew it was already raining.

My Dutch neighbour jokes that it rains 9 days a week in his home country.
 
for the few times ive been to Wales i have been lucky as it only rained about 1-2 days tops, but then again it was a holiday
:)
 
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