Ramblings of a Full-Time Dethleffer
Some Say that His Eyelids Close Sideways and That His Blood is Green...I Don't Know, But They Call Him 'The Wigg'
Irreverent Ramblings From a Photographer Who Lives In His Dethleffs. (Actually he takes fabulous photos, but he can get quite grumpy from time to time......and he is great fun and very witty!) (The opinions offered here are purely those of the author and not necessarily of the Dethleffs Owners Club)
I am ‘moored’ up on a camp site overlooking Grange over Sands, Don’t bother coming, its dreadful. No hook up, concrete uncleaned showers, very muddy field and a “modest” £12.50 a night, not good. Although, I am next to a guy who turns out to be a rather lonely cockle picker from South Wales, who talks for England, sorry Wales. Have you ever camped next to a cockle picker? Thought not. There is not much I don’t now know about cockle picking.
I am a travelling photographer, who photographs holiday cottages all over the country. I am away in my precious Dethleffs at least 3 nights a week, and in the spring and summer that goes up to 6 to 7 nights, my wife who does all my bookings, and therefore sends me away, has said it’s nearly a perfect marriage, I can’t think why!
For years we had been going to Camping and Caravan shows looking with envy at all the lovely, and pricey motor homes. Back in the spring of 2005, at the Stratford upon Avon (that’s my home town) motor home show, I bit the bullet and ordered one from Campbell's at Kirkham. (Now don’t get me going about them, not the best in my experience on customer service) The van I ordered is a Fiat Dethleffs Globetrotter Advantage. It was the first van we looked in that had decent fabrics on the chairs and did not look like a ‘velour gipsy caravan’, ’or a cockle picker's van’. It has the double bed at the back next to the shower, a good seating and cooking area, and… well everything. My wife is partly disabled and would not be able to climb up over the cab, and this was a van that was just big enough for the two of us, with downstairs sleeping, but not so big as to prevent me getting to all those Rural cottages I have to photograph around the country.
I took delivery of the van in July of 2005, and I am still delighted with it. I have as yet not found a way of improving the interior layout, except maybe a little shelf for a cuppa in bed. The van has had its problems, I have had to have three new wheel bearings fitted to the front drivers side, and next week I get one fitted to the front passengers side, I have tried without success to find out why, Campbell's were useless, so much so I have paid for each one of the bearings, and not had them done on the warranty, on my first inquiry after 8 months, they shoved me off to their local Fiat dealer (aged about 12) who didn’t want to play and said that if I left it with them for a couple of weeks they would look into it, difficult when I use it almost every day, and I live some 100 miles away. A word of advice for the new buyer, buy as close to your home as you can. As you can imagine I am quite a high mileage user so far 70,000, but 4 wheel bearings!!?
The interior of the van has stood up remarkable well to nearly full time usage. I have had a new handle on the wardrobe door, a new tap in the bathroom, and I am waiting for a new shower tray to arrive from Germany, I managed to crack the old one by the door. But other than that everything works well, and doesn’t look too worn. The outside is a bit scratched, mainly on the passenger side, hedges and branches sticking out into the road, on those small Cornish lanes. Don’t those Cornish drivers panic when they come racing round a corner and see you coming, te hee!.
Tell me, why do motor home drivers all wave to each other on the road, and yet when they are parked up next to each other, never speak, (unless they are cockle pickers), they just hide behind their satellite driven plasma TV screens. If you know the reason e-mail me at wiggi@hotmail.com. I have got a satellite hook up in the van so I can get e-mails straight to my laptop. I can also advise you on where not to camp. I do seem to find them. I never book on to sites as I am never sure where I will be. Although I also get to some excellent ones, the best one so far is the site in the Breamish Valley, Northumberland. The site managers are lovely, and they arrange things like moth nights----yea can you believe it A MOTH NIGHT—how cool is that, you spend hours looking for moths in up turned egg boxes, really boring, unless you love moths…… I must get out more! But still a bit of fun, better than discussing the merits of cockle picking!