Well, it had to be done. We went to the Caravan Show, more properly the Motorhome and Caravan Show at the NEC. I must say, I do enjoy this sort of thing. Motorbike show, boat show, poultry show, country and shooting show, and recently the baking show, we normally do two or three a year.
We arrived in good time before the doors opened, and decided to do the gadgets and accessories first. To be honest, this section of the show was a wee bit of a disappointment. At most shows there are really good bargains to be had. Not really so here. I’d checked out some of the prices of things that we wanted, but show prices were if anything higher than the normal on-line ones. For example, we’re in the market for an awning. Plenty on show, but nothing screamed out, “Buy me!”
We bought some novelty folding trays that convert from a tray to a table mat. They’re the sort of things that caravanners OUGHT to have, we thought. Cute and dinky. But not really essential.
We marvelled over the iconic American Airstream caravans. Prices start at around £50k, so they’re a wee bit out of our league.
They also make a baby teardrop caravan, called a T@B. We could probably run to one of those! Although small, they’re surprisingly roomy inside. No proper loo or washroom, of course.
At the other end of the scale there are big beasts like this one, reminiscent of those that we encountered on our mid-west motorcycle trips.
Naturally we had to look at the caravans, if only to find something to aspire to. There are, literally, hundreds of different models from the UK manufacturers alone. Different sizes, different layouts, different levels of trim. This is a typical mid-range one:
The trouble is, you rapidly find yourself debating the merits of minutiae such as bed positioning. Which is better?
or
Eh? Go on, tell me!
And it’s at that point that we realised that we’d had enough. We’d had great value from the show, we’d chatted to some very interesting and helpful people over coffees, but now our feet hurt and it was time to call it a day!
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