Have you ever explored Scotland with an RV?

[Chuck]

In issue 341 of RV Travel, I write about traveling by RV in Scotland. Have you ever traveled there with an RV? Or do you live in Scotland and have a comment? The issue of RV Travel where I wrote about Scotland is at http://www.rvtravel.com/publish/newsletter/issue341.shtml
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[pete beale]

We toured Scotland in our 43-foot Holiday Rambler Navigator 400 because people told me I couldn't do it. So I did. Yes, it was a nightmare, not because of the RV (though I was silly to do it--ha ha), but because it rained constantly for 2 weeks! I would recommend a visit though in a 20 to 30 foot. Also the Lake District in the NW England is nice as well. You should rent in England then drive up.

[bert184]

Living in Australia now, but whenever I have the chance, I go back to the old country (Holland) and rent a campervan. Touring there is unbelievable. If you have followed the Tour de France, you can see thousands of campervans on the road and beside the route. It is the only way to see the world.

Here in OZ we still go round and have done the Great Australia Trek. It's a very popular venue.

Happy touring.

Bert

[curly]

I am so glad to see you had made that trip to Scotland you were actually only 6 miles from MY home town Kirriemuir, when you were at Glamis. I like many married a marine and came to the states we love going in our 5th wheel over here. Now back to subject we camped In tents boy that was something and scotland had come a long way since but we had many eventful trips to the north - John o Groats, lands end, and oban, to name a few there was one trip in particular it rained heavy during the night and the ground got so soggy our tent started slipping down the slope all 6 or 8 of us, cant remember exactly who were all there but we ended up in the old bedford van my father borrowed about 2 -3 in the morning to sleep. we laugh at this event now but back then it was soooo COLD WET AND MISERABLE but yeah the country is beautiful if anyone gets the chance please go there is so much history over there wi all the castles and that. you may contact me if you need or would like information

carol

[twlig]

I have to say up front that we have never caravaned or camped in Scotland.
But we lived there in the mid-60s when my husband was stationed with the Navy. The people are extremely friendly. The land is beautiful and quaint, with the row houses all having fireplaces. (We had to have a coal fire going if we wanted hot water for anything as there are coils running behind the fireplaces for heating water.) We rented appliances; a small fridge and really small clothes washer. Milk was delivered to our door. The area where we lived was near Edzell and Montrose, on the east side.
We traveled as much as possible and it would be a dream-come-true to be able to return there and camp as we go.
We enjoyed reading your posting and I'm a bit jealous

[Chuck]

I received this email related to my essay about traveling by RV in Scotland. I thought others might find it interesting.

Hi Chuck
Glad to see that you actually made it to Scotland this year and have enjoyed your time touring in that spectacular part of the UK.

We read with great interest your article in the rv travel (issue 341) and specifically noted that on your travels in Scotland that you only came across three recognised brands of American RV and did not actually encounter any of the bus style RV'S often seen in the US.

Interestingly there are quite a number of American RV's in the UK, but surprisingly this is not always apparent, that is unless one goes to say one of the specialist events such as American International ( see www.americana-international.co.uk ), or one of the numerous Motorhome and RV shows where American RV's, both 'A' Class and 'C' Class are very much in evidence along with quite a number of Fifth Wheelers.

At this years Americana for example there must have been around 150 or more American RV's present, including for example Monaco Diplomats and Knights etc, Holiday Rambler Vacationers and Neptune's, Damon Ultrasports, Safari Cheetahs, Safari Treks, an American Eagle, Winnebago various models, Forest River, Gulf Stream, numerous models from Fleetwood, Coachmen etc etc.

For your information there are a number of specialist RV dealers in the UK and if you have the time you may like to look at the Websites at the bottom of this e-mail where you can actually see the range of vehicles offered for sale in this country, as they range from entry level models, up to and including Country Coaches costing anything from about £200,000 to £300,000!!!!

Unfortunately to comply with current UK legislation, RVs etc are restricted in width to 2.55 metres (around 100.3 inches) and a length of 12 metres (around 39.4ft) and this of course also relates to our much narrower road system in the UK compared to the US.

Also currently, it is not legally permitted to drive an RV weighing over 7.5 tons in the UK using a standard driving licence that has been issued to drive a conventional car, so a Heavy Goods Vehicle Licence is needed, which means taking another test, also if the driver did not pass his/her test before January 1997 they are restricted to driving vehicles under 3.5 tons, so they also have to take another test if they even wish to drive a vehicle over this weight.

Of course all RV'ers in the UK are very conscious of the high cost of fuel and this has become a serious consideration for most owners and as in the US, so we are probably travelling a little less, removing all the unwanted or not frequently used items from our vehicles to save weight, that hopefully will improve the fuel usage etc.

A few UK RV dealer sites are as follows:
1) www.itchyfeet.biz
2) www.dudleysrv.com
3) www.griffin-american-motorhomes.co.uk
4) www.goldrv.co.uk
5) www.usrv.co.uk
6) www.ridgesetrv.co.uk

Thanks again for continuing produce the very informative and most useful rv travel newsletter, that we avidly read each and every week and also encourage as many RV owners in the UK that we encounter to do the same.

Kindest regards: David and Linda Goodsell
Authors of the RV Travel Books
'Our American Dream' and 'On The Road Again In The USA'
www.ouramericandreambooks.com
_________________
Get the latest RV news headlines on Twitter.
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Sign up for the RV Travel.com weekly newsletter, now in its eighth year:
http://rvtravel.com/RVnewsletter.shtml

Chuck Woodbury is the editor of RVtravel.com