In this blog read about our second caravan trip to Fields End Water and our adventures in reversing the caravan onto the pitch. Learn from our mistakes and find out if we were able to finally make a decent cup of tea.
This trip was booked last minute, from Monday to Friday, based on a glowing recommendation from Derek (Del) whom we had met at Henlow Bridge Lakes. He had been a loyal guest at Fields End Water for several years and couldn't speak highly enough of it.
Because of various commitments at home, I made the journey to collect the caravan from storage and traveled alone to Fields End Water, with Lisa joining me later in the day. Being only our second trip with the Bailey Unicorn Vigo caravan, I was a bit nervous before setting off, but everything turned out fine.
When I arrived at Fields End Water, the reception staff greeted me with warm smiles and eagerly guided me to our pitch. We had opted for a convenient and easily accessible hardstanding fully serviced pitch in the Main Park, and finding it was a breeze. They also let me know it would be okay for Lisa to leave her car when she arrived in the on-site car park, as she was arriving later.
Feeling a bit adventurous, I decided to take on the challenge of reversing the caravan onto our pitch all by myself. I'm not entirely sure what possessed me to attempt this feat, but I figured it was better to face my fears head-on and build my confidence sooner rather than later. So, without a second thought, I dove right in.
Now, instead of making it easier for myself by following the advice of our experienced friends and caravanners to line up straight on, I decided to line up at a perfect 90-degree angle to the pitch. Because who needs simplicity when you can have a thrilling challenge, right?
Well, let's just say that my attempt at reversing the caravan onto our pitch didn't exactly go as planned. Picture this: I start turning (in the wrong direction, mind you) to get the caravan onto the pitch, and before I know it, my car is at a wonky angle compared to the caravan. But hey, I'm not one to give up easily. So, I straighten up and give it another go, only to be met with yet another round of failure. So, it seems like I'll need a bit more practice before I can nail this reversing business.
At this point, I couldn't help but feel a bit self-conscious, imagining that everyone around me must be observing my every move and silently judging my lack of skill and experience. In order to save face and make things easier for myself, I made the practical decision to unhitch the caravan and rely on the trusty motor mover instead. Of course, in reality, no one was actually paying attention, but as any seasoned caravanner will tell you, it often feels like all eyes are on you in these moments.
Once I unhitched the caravan and took control with my trusty remote, I effortlessly maneuvered it to the perfect spot. After reading up on reversing with a caravan, I can't wait to try it again. The pitches at Fields End Water are so spacious that it's a breeze to line up the car, caravan, and awning side by side using the motor mover. It couldn't have been easier!
Considering that this is just our second trip with the caravan, we were delighted to find that the pitch we stayed on at Fields End Water was fully serviced. This meant that we had access to electrical hook up, running water connection, and a designated grey waste disposal per pitch. It made our stay even more convenient and enjoyable.
However, it did mean that we had to purchase some additional equipment since our water supply pipe was only 10m in length. Unfortunately, we also didn't have any extra grey waste pipe to connect to the grey waste disposal on our pitch. But hey, that's a challenge for another day!
We're quickly learning that each trip presents us with new obstacles, but we've found that it's much easier and less stressful to tackle them one step at a time.
However, it provided us with the perfect opportunity to test out our Aquaroll water barrel and water valve kit with a running water supply for the first time. I must say, it worked like a charm! Although, I do have a word of caution for you.
If your grey waste pipe is not long enough to connect to a grey waste point on your pitch and you continue to use your 38L Wastemaster, it will very quickly fill up and overflow when you have a continuous water supply. So, it's something to keep in mind and be careful about.
We encountered another hurdle during our trip - mobile Wi-Fi in the caravan. Up until now, we had been relying on our phone hotspot, which was sufficient for our devices but didn't quite meet the needs of our Smart TV. Thankfully, a fellow seasonal camper offered us a helpful suggestion: trying out a mobile 4G router. These routers are known to perform better as they focus solely on providing a stable internet connection.
So we did and I can report the difference was noticeable. I was able to work on my laptop as quickly as if I was connected at home. The smart TV also allowed us to watch all of our on-demand, Netflix, Prime Video Channels without a glitch. Here's a separate article we wrote on 4G Mobile Wifi.
We also had a valuable learning experience with our roll-out canopy during this trip. It was already attached to the caravan when we bought it, so we decided to put it to good use even when it started raining heavily.
However, looking back, we made a few mistakes that we can learn from:
These mistakes served as a valuable lesson for us, emphasising the significance of careful setup. As you can imagine, the consequences left us quite wet, as the canopy filled with water which dropped on us. We will definitely approach our next trip with more caution and attention to detail.
Despite our best efforts, we haven't been able to resolve the issue of making a decent cup of tea, since our last trip. We thought we had a solution by purchasing a 1000W kettle, but even with minimal power usage, it still caused a power outage at the supply on the pitch..
Perhaps we'll solve this on our next trip!