Honeymoons Shouldn't Be Like This

The journey which was to lead to Sheldon begins

It’s almost 40 years since our BIG day.

We got married in the same year as Prince Charles and Lady Diana - 1981. Weddings have various parts to them - the ceremony, the reception and of course, the honeymoon. Now, for Prince Charles and Lady Diana, this would be a 14-day luxurious cruise around the Mediterranean in what was then the Royal Yacht, Britannia.

Ours was somewhat different!

We had a 14-day tour of South Wales in what was our new Bonaire trailer tent.

For some time, my parents, Margaret and I had been considering purchasing something to enable us to get away for holidays regularly and inexpensively. The Bonaire, seemed to fit the bill. It was 4 berth trailer tent, with a fridge, a kitchen and electric (both12-volt and mains). It was within our joint budget, relatively light to tow and so just before our big day, the decision to purchase was made. The car had a tow bar fitted and we made plans for our first ‘tour’, which was to be our honeymoon.

Our wedding took place in Margaret’s hometown, Troon in Southern Cornwall, with the reception in nearby Camborne. So the plan was for our first night, to stay not too far away in Bude, North Cornwall. This proved to be a poor decision. The site we chose, was on a slope and being new to camping/caravanning we were not nuanced in the procedures for levelling the trailer tent and ensuring we were well secured on the pitch. Our pitch turned out to be on a steep slope. The Bonaire was therefore situated rather precariously on the said slope This meant that we were scared to move (let alone enjoy our honeymoon as evidently you're supposed to do)! lol

I’m pleased to report though, that after these initial problems, the honeymoon improved and we had a great time exploring the Brecon Beacons and St David’s areas.

Our Honeymoon Hotel - the Bonaire

And that was how our camping/caravanning journey began.

We didn’t own the Bonaire for long. It was well kitted out, but we, (my mum actually), didn’t like the pull out tent-like areas (which were the beds). Therefore, probably just a year after its purchase, we changed it for a folding caravan. Again, this was relatively lightweight, well kitted out, 4 berths, and also of a stronger build. Several holidays were taken in this caravan and it served us well.

One particular holiday was a tour with my parents and two brothers up to the north of Scotland. This was a fantastic holiday, of which we have many memories. But, one of these, remains firmly embedded in my memory.

At that time the car was used as a 12-volt power supply for the lighting, water pumps, etc. To enable this to happen, you had a lead from the caravan which plugged into the car electrics. One day, we needed some supplies, so Margaret and I said we would go to get them. We got in the car and set off. After, travelling just a few feet there was an enormous bang, which due to music being played loudly in the car, we hardly heard. On our return from the shop, we were greeted by my very unhappy father, who told me in no uncertain terms that we’d forgotten to disconnect the car to caravan electric lead!

Thankfully, no serious damage was done, but the memory stays with me!

The only photos I can find in which the folding caravan featured - I can still get in the jeans and t-shirt!

This caravan was used for another family honeymoon - one of my brother's. Which was to lead to another incident.

As the caravan was being borrowed by my brother and his wife and they had no experience with it, I agreed to site it for them. This was near where we were living at that time, in the Lake District. We met them at the site with the caravan and I began to put the caravan up before showing them how things worked. I pulled up the roof and the sides and then went to put the furniture in place, which when travelling filled the floor space. Once on-site, the furniture had to be put in its occupied position which meant fixing the cabinets to the walls. One of these was the wardrobe. I‘m sorry to say (as my brother frequently reminds me), that I didn’t secure this safely and it fell to the floor, breaking its mirror - not something my brother wanted on his honeymoon. However, I’m pleased to say that this doesn’t seem to have had any detrimental effects on them, as they thankfully remain happily married 30 odd years later!

The start of our camping/caravanning life had been eventful. By now several years had passed and we were still sharing ownership of our caravan. The time was now right to look to purchase our own caravan. So started a pattern of regular caravan replacement for what seemed (at the time), necessary reasons. Reflecting on this now though, a lot of money was spent, (much of it probably sadly wasted), as the changes/upgrades didn’t make much difference to us and were probably unnecessary. But, it’s easy to see this many years on, with the benefit of hindsight.

Our Compass Omega (central top photo and right-hand side), whilst on holiday with my parents and brother.

The bottom photo shows a very young Dominic in front of our Sprite

Anyway, back to the story.

The first of the caravans we bought ourselves was a Compass Omega. This was a 2 berth caravan and it served us well. Soon after purchasing this though we started a family and the 2 berths became a little small for 3 of us. So we looked around and we replaced this with a 4 berth, Sprite Musketeer. This caravan gave us many happy holidays, mainly in Cornwall. The photo above shows our son, sat happily outside the Sprite.

Despite giving us numerous enjoyable holidays, it was a basic caravan, with things like seating and beds not being particularly comfortable. Eventually, we upgraded again and returned to Compass, but this time purchasing a van from their Rallye model range. This was very comfortable and met our needs well. By now, we had become a family of 4, with the birth of our daughter. Her introduction to caravanning was rapid. She went with us, in the caravan, as a 4-week old baby down to Cornwall to meet her Cornish family. At the time, it was a difficult decision to take such a young child away in the caravan (from the Lakes to Cornwall). But it all thankfully worked out well.

By now we had had many holidays in the UK and we yearned for some adventures further afield. But we were a little cautious about driving on the continent, worried about all the things we had to do - ferries, insurance, speed limits in kilometres and not MPH, language and the many other things which looked like enormous obstacles to be tackled before we set off and whilst we were away. But we took the decision to do it. So, the following summer, with a great deal of help from the then, Caravan Club Foreign Travel Service we took the plunge. We still had our Compass Rallye and we chose to go to St Cast, on the Brittany coastline, in France. We had a great and uneventful holiday. Everything went according to plan and despite some minor hiccups, we loved it. So, our appetite was whetted for foreign travel. It was the start of many continental holidays.

But that, my friends, is another story, which will be told on a different day. Suffice to say, that our introduction to caravanning had been a very happy one. One which had given us many treasured memories and albums full of happy photographs, recounting the places we’ve been and show how our family grew.

Happy days!!

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