A realisation at the weekend

i'm much the same as you

living in Cornwall means many hours driving and lots of fuel to get to a show

i have as much enjoyment if not more having a local club camp with my local VW club lucky a lot of my friend feel the same

 

I think once my bus is back on the road its a 100 miles max for a meet or show etc


I have the yorkshire dales on one side of me and the yorkshire moors on the otherside

Plenty of wild camping spots and cheap basic campsites so doing 500 mile round trips to go to shows makes no sense

 

I usually never go shows as there to far away normally plus with Snowdonia ,the Lake district and the Yorkshire dales all in close proximity its pointless ,just loads of people with better busses :

 

I've not been to any shows for years now even when I did not have the van .
Will go to a few but I much prefer to go camping some were with the family that's why we have a caravan now ( I know work of the devil lol ) and the van is my toy plus I want to travel to Germany and France in it .
Now really into to show cars any more like it been said once you have seen one you have seen them all .

 

I'd love to go to more shows but again, being in Cornwall kinda limits me, especially with Leigh and 3-5 kids as well we have to take a 2nd car :-(

 

I tend to agree with what has been said before, we take three holidays a year in our van, go for days out (with dog, sunshade & barbecue) and we used to do lots of shows.
Our turning point was a few years ago, we were camped up at a spectacular campsite on the east coast for a week & had arranged to meet some friends at bus types on the other side of the country. We had the trip from hell getting there, our friends had broken down on the way & we ended up camped on our own & the state of the crap festival facilities hit us hard enough to change our way of thinking.
Subsequently the club we belonged to has all but disbanded & I tend to wonder what exactly the point is, of spending seventy quid for a weekend in a place with manky bogs & where I'm likely to get my chairs nicked if I leave them outside overnight as opposed to paying thirty odd pounds for a weekend with a heated shower block & no thieving.

Although next year I'm planning to man-up & go to Glastonbury!

 

if that name is real i SALUTE you.....Bernard Fishtrousers indeed! - i have an uncle Bernard although truth be told he doesn't have a fish in his trousers just a snake.

 

Show's are what you make of them. A well chosen show can provide all of what you have specified for a very cheap price. A badly chosen one can give you nothing but an empty wallet.

 

I am the same over the last few years i go to less and less, i do go to one or two of the small shows but don't know if i will next year. I stopped going to vanfest 2 years ago but i might go to busfest for the day to get my bus fix.


Being a Grumpy git i feel the shows are changing to a different type of person, normally in a T4 with big wheels and a stereo playing noise for the rest of the show to hear and people who just want to get drunk for the weekend.


Some of the small outdoor music festivals are good we did lakefest this year that was good.

 

Been to a couple of shows. Not really for me. Seem to pay a lot for access to a bunch of shops and not great facilities and maybe a band. if I want music there's lots of little music festies around. TLB get togethers sounds good and i like the idea of BBQ on the beach and a bit of wild camping somewhere. Or just park up and go sea fishing for me dinner!

 

Me and a few friends were having the same conversation.

For me the vw scene a few years ago was turn up pay £20 for the weekend get trollied and drive back sunday. Now shows are getting bigger demanding more and more money, you suddenly get disapointed quickly. I mean if camperjam was £20 for the weekend no one would have been pee'd that the weather ect was pants.

Going to a small pub and doing the same will probably turn into a splinter off show, As like spring camp ect, it'll grow as people will hear how good it is.

I for one now one of the bus's is on the road can't wait.

I also remember trading at RTTH's up at tansley, It was free with 2 passes. And on Sunday everyone went to the carboot in the next field.

 

I agree, the big shows just don't appeal to us. We don't trade at them and don't really want to attend them. Something like Elemental is a good sized chill out weekend.

 

We've never been to a VW show. We are noobs. Tried to get to BB last year but Percy and his ignition had other ideas. I will get to one or two this year (Percy allowing of course). But as a once frequent Festie goer, i would prefer the smaller more intimate event. TBH I am not interested in the stalls etc. I am more interested in meeting you lot so that i can put a face to a post.

I live in Surrey and although devon and cornwall are lovely, there are some cracking places of the beaten track in SE England. Ignore that there London as Ricky says.

Get away from the cities and big towns and the UK is a beautiful place. I cannot wait to get Percy up to the NW Highlands and Isles. These are my favourite places. As a Jock I am rightly proud of the place.

I still wanna do Bugjam though. Never been. Love to go. Once.

 

shows are good to make new friends and talk to likeminded people ,but variety is the spice of life...

I used to go just to look through the cardboard boxes for maybe a overlooked bay clock... ;D