[c_lee]

Our first touring caravan was in 1979 and it was a 10 foot, 4 birth Bailey - can't remember the model at the moment.

It had glass windows that suffered from condensation overnight in cold weather - we used to put tissues at the window bottoms to soak it up.

There was no toilet in the caravan ( we used a porta potti 33 in the awning ), no oven or fridge ( we used a cool-box ) and was of the double dinette config with the stretcher type ( two ally poles ) of upper bunk over the rear dinette.

We used to tow it with a 1300cc VW Beetle ( 34 or 43 BHP IIRC ) - the old style Beetle.

Our very first trip was to Cirencester soon followed with a trip to Great Yarmouth which is quite a distance from us.

Before long we changed the caravan to a 1979 2 berth Piper Clubman 1200 which we bought in about 1981 and I changed the car to a 1200cc Renault 12 TL which was more powerful than the Beetle despite being less cc.
These were used for our first French tour in about 1981.

I was a bit apprehensive about changing the Renault 12 for a BIG Volvo 244GL in 1982 but the Volvo was deemed to be an excellent tow-car - I was a bit worried about fuel consumption as I did about 12,000 miles per year at that time - but more continental touring was planned so a good tow car was essential.

Since that first Volvo in 1982 they have been my daily almost permanently ( except only when repairing my auto box on the V70 ).

We had a break from touring caravans from about 1989 to 2011 but in recent years enjoy about 95 days away in the caravan each year.

How things have changed caravan wise since 1979.
And who today would think of towing a tourer with a 1200 cc car.

Those early years French trips have given us a love of France and we are currently thinking of our venture there next year.

Colin