1 year in - motorhome owner

Tomorrow we will have been motorhome owners for one year. I grew up camping, posh camping with Eurocamp all over Europe through to backpack wildcamping on Dartmoor.

When our children were really little (18 months and 4) we had the opportunity of a 6 week holiday and couldn't face that long on air beds. We therefore bought a small folding camper (big trailer tent) and had several amazing holidays including 2, 6 week holidays around Europe.

As the children grew, with a boy and a girl, soon the two double bed setup no longer worked.

We had toyed with a campervan for years and, with the realisation of our eldest becoming a teenager, we realised we were quickly running out of years left of family holidays so either needed to put it on the back burner or get on with it. We quickly realised a campervan was too small, so started looking at motorhomes. Living in Devon we were keen not to go too big, but equally didn't want to have to set up beds each day. We soon found a CI Carioca 656 that was as good a match to our requirements as possible.

We already had our main holidays booked for the rest of last year so we just used it for several weekends away. With hindsight probably the best way to get used to the van.  This year we wanted to tick off some  biggies of our touring wish list.

At Easter we did the Cairngorms, NC500 and Skye. So fortunate with the weather (one hour of drizzle in 2 weeks) and it was fabulous. Absolutely convinced us that a motorhome was a better fit for us than a caravan. We love the flexibility it offers and enjoyed moving on most days and making good use of our bikes.

This last weekend we attended our first ever club event, the National at Ragley. Very different to anything we'd usually do, but we had a great time. 

Every weekend in June is booked up with westcountry motorhome mini adventures. We're then off to Europe in July and August with a plan of Bruges - Romantic Road - Lake Constance - Europa Park - Amsterdam. Can't wait.

If you can, don't put of the decision any longer. Go for it.