A lighter footprint

We will be moving in August and are trying to use this as an opportunity to lighten our environmental footprint. There are two main elements to that:

• Using less resources for what we do
• Having less stuff to move, store and maintain

Today marked a significant step in that process as we have sold our caravan. Today I delivered it to the new owners. Our caravan has been a wonderful home for our holidays for 5 years so we are sorry to see it go. 

We have used it all year round in sun, rain (floods even), wind and snow. We have been to Yorkshire, Derbyshire, the Lake District, Wales, Cornwall (many times), the South East, Norfolk, Greenbelt, Brittany and more.

However, a big twin axle caravan with 6 berths and a fantastic washroom with proper shower does take a lot of towing. Our fuel consumption when pulling it is dire until you convert it to per person. For example last summer going to the Cotswolds and then Greenbelt we managed 140 miles per gallon per person (7 of us and an overall mpg of about 20).

We won't have space to store it at our new home and with sons eager to do their own thing for all/some of their holidays we decided we could switch to something very much smaller. So we have a trailer tent/folding camper that weighs less than 1/3 of the caravan yet is still 5 berth and about 3 1/2 season. I'll probably write more about that later. For the moment I'll just say it is a Dandy Designer, about 5 years old, similar to the one on the right.

So selling the big caravan is not because we are suddenly going to start flying or anything. Instead our Dandy will fit on our new much smaller driveway and it gives us the possibility of changing to a much much smaller car as pretty much anything can tow a 500kg braked trailer (sadly not our Citroen C1 as it can't have a tow bar fitted). Even with our current big Citroen C8 I expect to see an improvement of 10mpg or more when towing. Long journeys will also be less tiring (especially on small roads and at night) and parking en-route will be a lot easier.

We are going to be selling other things or passing them on to where they can best be used. I am even selling three bikes! Please note that we are not (and will not ever) selling our wonderful Trice X2 recumbent tandem. So stop asking :-)

Comments

[Auntie Doris]

My parents have a Dandy and we have had many, many happy holidays in it. It's brilliant and we managed to put it up in about 5 minutes, with the kettle on. This only happened when it was raining mind you!!!

They look odd but they are fantastic!

Ps) Where are you moving to and are you Greenbelting this year?

[Dave]

Auntie Doris,

We had a very old one for a few years when the boys were very young.

The technical elements of the design are fantastic, the marketing and comfort features less so. We will be making a few changes to add extra comfort.

I am waiting for Methodist Conference to confirm the stations before publishing where we are going.

Yes we are going to Greenbelt, already got the tickets.

[Auntie Doris]

Ooo. Would be good to finally meet up at GB this year.

Think my dad has considerably pimped their Dandy. What have you got planned for yours though?

[Dave]

What we have got planned depends on the mood you catch us in :-)

3-way portable fridge needs stands inside and out.

New plumbing, standard whale pump and fitting. Hot water heater and tank. Proper shower in awning.

External gas bbq point for the fridge.

Custom bike carrier (hence my welding course) for our tandem trike and 2 upright bikes.

Table to fit better, be more stable and much lighter.

Lighting improvements, add solar charging.

Goal is

a) to get all camping stuff (excl fridge) in Dandy so no need to open it at home to pack/unpack. Plus not too much to go in car.

b) to be comfortable and clean for 1 week with only tap and toilet emptying facilities

c) To be comfortable and clean indefinitely if also got mains electric (probably essential in winter anyway).