Saturday hurry up.

If everything goes to plan I will be dragging a Dandy Designer up the M6 on Saturday morning to it's first stop near Carlisle. So if you spot a already hard worked little Citroen Nemo van with a Dandy on the back give us a wave.
I was thinking of selling tickets to Dandy's first erection (oooh errrrr missus) but I think any one for miles around will hear the hilarity in any case. We will only have the one night to practice and sort where everything is going then onwards to Gateshead to plan a "real" outing. It will be major culture shock after caravanning for 40 years...a new era dawns and we are finally back on the road albeit without the big car and the big caravan.
I just know some of you are going to ask what Dandy is to be named......well ..... we are going to name him after the first place we stop with him ....... a small site just outside Carlise ..... called "Dandy Dinmont"

Oh the irony of it all, apparently it is also a breed of Scottish Terrier as well (spelt Dandie) but that is irrelevant really.
This week is going to go sooooooooo slooooooowely.

So what did you buy? Is the add still on eBay or elsewhere?

It was from Ian in Wigan, I think the add is still there, but can't post a link yet. Not the one of the unbelievably lucky bargains that some seem to get and I never do...but a fair price and a fair deal and I can sleep at nights  

Which one? I can only see a 2005 Designer marked as sold or has he not updated the site yet? Give us the page no and how many down. (please)
Ian is not as cheap as a private sale but all should be hassle free. That can be worth a lot if you don't want to spend your time fixing defects. Having said that Dandy ownership is interactive and I would recommend carrying a toolkit that must include a pop riveter and 4.8mm rivets. Thought Mike did a piece on toolkits just spent 20 minutes looking and not found it. Always the universal Duck Tape and WD40. If it moves and it shouldn't then use Duck Tape if it doesn't move and it should WD40.
Is Carlise a favourite site or booked? I can think of two good sites on the way back to Gateshead. One is even within a mile of the A685 at Ravenstonedale. Both are back to basics sites though.

Second page of "for sale" 5th down...not updated yet.
Believe me I have had my share of duct tape and WD40 repairs, not to mention cable tie, bungie and extra awning pole repairs in my time, even on on a brand new caravan. I shall have to invest in a rivet gun though and was going to ask what size rivets to carry so you pre-empted that question. I even carry a rechargeable drill, mainly for screwing down the awning but it has earned it's keep many times for other jobs.
I had a delivery at Dandy Dinmont last year and thought "I must remember this for when we get out and about again, and I actually did, surprising even myself in the process. I would be interested to know which sites you mention though.....but we do tend to go for EHU and toilet blocks (OH has Chrohns so sanitary arrangements are crucial) ...........and I'll be in BIG trouble for mentioning it.

 On your purchase.
Hope your outing goes well. As well as names we do like pictures too, so don't forget the camera.

.............I go nowhere with out my camera .....and thanks for the welcome.
It's not really a trip...more an introduction ...

Congratulations on your Dandy and good luck with your trip out at the weekend.

Even more than names and photographs we love modifications.

You have to let us in on the secret of the wooden box at the side of the door  

 I don't think it is much of a secret, I think it is where a previous owner has put the telly and used it for storing ...it might have to go meez thinks. There is a 12v socket next to it....my 50" plasma will never fit in there
Trouble is the carpet went in after the box ........ !!!!!

Must be this one [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Looks very good condition and you have a stable door. Every dog owner in the land will be envious. That's something I really miss about the caravan.

What's the box by the door?

This one? [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Did you negotiate an awning with that? As I understand Ian has some used ones.
Camp sites: Conder Farm in Dent you will find numerous references by me to this site. It is just outside Dent which is a lovely village with two lovely pubs. The toilets are "rustic" but clean and of an adequate number. EHU is available but you will probably have to park on the LHS of the entry to the main field. If wanting to sort out anything Mick is the person to speak to, his wife Wendy is less firmly attached to the ground. If I were entering and leaving the village I'd enter by the road from Sedbergh and leave by way of the road to Dent Railway Station. The roads are a bit tight though if you don't do country roads. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  High Laning Camping and caravaning is just accross the village and looks more inviting but has overcrowded toilets if it's a busy weekend. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] The second site I can recomend is up at Ravenstonedale. We have never actually stayed here. She will allow trailer tents but caravans(one of my mates is a tin tenter) would only be allowed in the driest weather. It never worked out but we have visited the site at least twice. Small camping numbers a EHU can be arranged on limited pitches. Pubs are a good walking distance.One of the major attractions apart from being directly on your route home is the proprietor. She is a sweetie. God only knows how they got their one negative review on attitude?  http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/reviews.asp?page=2&revid=8897



With multiple links one not linking again!

Vandriver wrote:....my 50" plasma will never fit in there

Reminded me of this ...  

navver wrote: Looks very good condition and you have a stable door. Every dog owner in the land will be envious.

........... or cat owners! . We travel with 3 cats ... it sounds like an ordeal I know ... but it's not really .... they are "house" cats, so don't roam the sites. They were used to the caravan, but I don't see the Dandy should be any different, at the end of the day I think there is more actual space for them.

It is in pretty good condition, there were a few little issues but Ian is going to sort everything and we did a deal with an awning so everything should be hunky dory.

Hope all goes well and you have a good time. Used to live near the Dandy Dinmont site and drive past it every day! Now live just south of Carlisle. On our 2nd Dandy now.... still got to sell on the first one though, so still got two! Enjoy. Hope to get over to the North East again... maybe next year, lovely areas on the coast around Seahouses etc.

Well, the weekend didn't quite go according to plan (no surprises there then). When we packed everything to go with we made allowances for the fact we would have the awning to spread out in to while we were getting our act together. It is , after all, quite a culture shock after the caravan, however the main unit went up like dream and in no time at all......but.......when it came to putting the awning up.....argh....three poles missing (the uprights) so we couldn't put it up at all. So we were living out the van because there was no where to put anything. Then, about six  o'clock the heavens opened and stayed open until ten on Sunday morning. Three months rainfall over night. when we stepped out the dandy there was 4 inches of water to wade through and we had sunk into the ground an inch and half. Happily we were bone dry in the Dandy but bare foot trips to the toilet block were the only answer as Wellies weren't  high on our list of priorities. Thank goodness we got the telly rigged up before the deluge. The one consolation was, if we had the awning up it would have had a river flowing through it by the morning. The site owners bungalow was flooded, the fire brigade were at the entrance to the site pumping water off the road, the local ASDA was a maze of buckets to navigate round.
In the end we decided we had come out of it fairly well. The couple in the Pennine Fiesta next to us hadn't faired to well, it had leaked like a colander and everything from bedding to fittings was soaked through and the "river" had diverted through their awning too.
11ish it stopped raining so we took the opportunity to pack up, again with out too much trouble and we got it all packed before the rain started again.
It wasn't the relaxing weekend I had in mind but it was certainly an adventure and a memorable start to Dandying. We couldn't hep feeling smug about the pennine, they were a lovely couple and we did what we could to help. The guy in the 22ft Hobby caravan was almost disappointed that we were bone dry and unscathed.
This probably belongs in another thread but I thought I would mention it....my little Nemo averages about 60 MPG ....that's over the 235000 mile it's done (yes, 235000)
with the the Dandy on the back it did 55 MPG......admittedly that's at legal towing speeds but hey that is great news for this cash strapped camper.

Of course being called Nemo the van was faultless in the water. Is the Dandy to be christened the Nautilus?
From the description of the ASDA you didn't use any of the sites I suggested. A site review of where you did stay?
Ian is posting the poles on to you?

I have a delivery in Salford today so I'm popping in to get the poles on the way down, otherwise he was going to post them. The site really was called Dandy Dinmont [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] we chose it because it was perfectly flat and wasn't too big (we needed to make it easy for ourselves first time out). We shall return though, a cracking little site. Caravan area and separate Tent area (we were in the caravan bit) Perfectly level and under normal circumstances well drained (the first time in 50 years had it ever been swamped)there are hard standings as well. It is immaculate, the toilets and showers are spotless and there is lashings of hot water and dish washing stations at the toilet blocks. Most pitches have EHU. Although we didn't get chance to visit the surrounding area (ASDA Doesn't count as a tourist destination in my book) it is handy for a lot of trips out to interesting places. It is literally only 5 mins of the M6 (don't worry you can't hear it or see it). There were no kids there, I assume because there was little in the way of things to do for kids on the site (yeah). Well worth a visit. It cost us £17 for the night (2 adults and a "trailer tent" with EHU, not the cheapest but worth it for the quality.
The owners went round every one in the morning after the deluge to make sure they were alright even though they were flooded out themselves. They also were letting the couple in the colander (penine) stay as long as they needed to dry out at no extra cost.

Sorry to hear about the tribulations, but pleased to hear the dandy performed well. They are a remarkable bit of kit aren't they and not that much of a come down from a caravan. Just short of things like fridge, oven, toilet etc. But when you consider how much cheaper they are, how long they last and how cheap and easy tow and store etc, they are a good option.

You just need to think carefully about what you do take and what not to take.

Well that's certainly an eventful first trip Vandriver. I suppose the way to think about is that if you've come through that unscathed you will cope with just about anything else that's thrown your way in future. Well done!

navver wrote:Just short of things like fridge, oven, toilet etc.

Ahem ... not necessarily

Sorry to hear your first trip was memorable for perhaps the wrong reasons.  
But the thing about Dandys is every trip is memorable for one reason or another.
Hopefully your next trip will be better.