They say life's a journey and we've certainly been on one as far as caravannning is concerned.

Tempted away from our '05 Troll in 2013 we entered the world of WWB's and bought a new Amberley dealer special based on a Lunar Quasar 464. In fact it was almost identical to an Eriba Troll 540 in layout, with two major exceptions. One was that it was the other way round i.e lounge at front, dinette at rear and the other was the lounge benches weren't long enough to be single beds. However it did have a separate shower cubicle in the washroom, plus a real oven, a microwave and a good size kitchen work surface. In length and width it matched the Troll and it did make me wonder why Hymer had never produced a Troll with 530 lounge and 540 front dinette, utilising the length freed up to extend the washroom and kitchen.

After a couple of seasons with the Amberley we got fed up with negotiating two bearded collies on the floor of such a small van. In truth that had been one motivating factor in moving away from Eribas. So we went larger and swapped into a Bailey Pegasus Rimini. A few weeks after purchase I had reason to speak to the dealership we purchased from and in checking the Lunar over they'd found damp around the awning rail above the door. So maybe we got rid just in time.

The Rimini is an excellent WWB, with two permanent longitudinal single beds amidships, leaving plenty of floorspace for the hairy monsters, though trying to shift one in the dead of night when you need to open the washroom door is something else. But it's big and intimidating to someone suckled on Eribas. It's like dragging a block of flats around. It looms over you and I never felt comfortable towing it.

Just weeks after buying it - disaster. I suddenly noticed that there were short cracks in the bodywork at the bottom corners of two outer front windows. Pics were sent to the dealer who arranged for the van to go back to the Bristol factory and have a whole new front/roof fitted. The opportunity to have the work done arrived in the middle of a 6 week long UK holiday trip and so the dealer agreed to let us have a replacement van. So we rearranged the itinerary so we'd be nearby for swapping. It was uncanny taking all our stuff out and putting it into what turned out to be an almost totally identical Rimini. The only difference was that it had an Omnivent in the roof by the kitchen and ours just had a rooflight. 8 weeks later we swapped back to our van and you wouldn't have known it had had the whole roof and front ripped off and replaced.

It was around this time that I fell out of love with towing and found Ludlow. In fact we found Wheathills, just above Ludlow, on the slopes of Titterstone Clee, overlooking Brown Clee with views over into Wales and towards the Long Mynd. An idyllic spot with a pub at the entrance and a deal where they stored your van and put it on a pitch, all levelled and ready for you when you wanted to use it. A 90 minute drive from home and a lovely place to be.

That was great for a couple of seasons and then in a habitation check my mobile guy found damp in the floor. Happily our local Bailey dealer were OK about looking at it and sorting it under warranty but for that I needed to tow the van back near home. In the euphoria of having a permanently sited van I'd sold the V70 tow wagon and replaced it with a 1.2 litre Yeti. The Yeti's maximum tow limit is 1200kg, it had no towbar and the Rimini weighed about 1500kg. So I found a local hire company who rented me a pick up, with towbar to get the Rimini back to Spinney, Silverdale. Spinney fitted a new exterior locker doorframe, sealed it properly and dried out the surface damp in the ply floor.

When the Rimini was delivered back to us at home we still had no means to tow it and, in truth my enthusiasm for caravanning had waned. So we decided to sell and rely on cottage hire etc for future hols.

Then, a few months later, whilst idling over Autotrader online I came across a blast from the past. Our initial foray into vanning involved the purchase of a brand new Horizons Unlimited Innovation 1 panel van conversion. A Mk6 SWB Ford Transit was the base vehicle, which had four belted seats, a kitchen with just fridge, sink and gas hob plus a proper swivel toilet and a full width 2ft deep rear 'garage' and the kitchen worktop. It was ideal for us, with a custom made Barjo dog crate in the boot we went all over showing our two bearded collies with our baby boy Jack even getting a fifth in class at Crufts in 2007.

What jumped out at me from the Autotrader page was a 2008 Horizons Unlimited Innovation 3. This was identical to our other Innovation, except it was on the Mk 7 Transit in MWB form, so about 18 ins longer. It used the standard Ford metal roof instead of the GRP added roof of the SWB version and the garage was over 3ft deep to use the extra length. In a fit of enthusiasm, fuelled by nostalgia, I just had to have it.

Probably not one of my best decisions. The dealership selling it were a mess. They sacked their workshop foreman the day I collected the van, they didn't realise that it didn't actually have a leisure battery in the place where one should go and on our first trip out the exhaust system broke in two. The van was a money pit and whilst my wallet had brought it into excellent condition I could see that its age was beginning to tell. In addition, whilst it was an excellent van for one person and two beardies, two people and two beardies was a problem. So after two years and £4,000 in repairs we sold her last June and what with Covid and moving house last August we haven't really considered future holidaying options 'til now.

The Yeti has been replaced by a Scala and we're down to one beardie now. As the Scala has a 1200kg towing limit, anything we buy has to meet that and preferably weigh less, as I like to have a margin. There's the odd two berth WWB that qualifies, though the need for at least one single bed of 6ft 4ins length knocks a couple out of contention. The only real opposition to an Eriba is another Thor Industries product, built by Hymer UK in Consett. Their Elddis Xplore 422 has all the WWB attributes, including a separate shower cubicle and oven for around £17k brand new. However Elddis products have a reputation for splitting their front and rear end panels and for the Elddis warranty department making Scrooge look like a spendthrift. And besides we'd like to get back into the brotherhood of Eribaists. So a Triton 420 with its long benches and light weight seems the ideal way to do it, though not at the silly prices that the company previously known as Automotive Leisure are currently asking

back. Go on, you know you want one. Go get an Eriba 😁

Thank you AC, it's always nice to be appreciated by some people

Thanks Andy an interesting journey that gives us all food for thought after Aaron's recent thread. Oh and welcome back..............................!

MikeT

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Hooray you're back in the fold (nearly) we remember you from that lovely windy and wet fest in Wales - the one with the soup and Randa's canopy being defeated.

Denise & Phil

You mean Randa's Granny's plastic shopping bag

It's good to be back (nearly) and really good to see the same old monickers still truckin' on.

Welcome back Andy, it will be good to have you back on board with your usual wit and advice...

back!

Hi SDA,
I still lurk in the background on here 2 years after selling the Puck. Hope you are still going to contribute on the other place, your input was always welcomed by many on there.
Good luck with your search.