Camper vans in the North of Scotland

[stinkwheel]

Things are starting to get rediculous. It's like some sort of zombie apocalypse. with the North Coast 500 as the epicentre of the infection.

I was up North at the weekend and even on the Ardnamurchan peninsula, the roads were swarming with rental camper vans being piloted by people who had no idea how to drive them. I've never seen so many of them out and about.

Being stuck behind one for mile after mile of single track road with passing places is bad enough. However on two occasions there was a "Mexican stand off" between our group of bikes and an oncoming camper van.

Having had to get off the bike to explain to them that a luggaged up sports tourer weighs 300kg and has no reverse gear, they then displayed that they were incapable fo reversing the thing 10metres in a straight line to get to a wider bit of the road so we could pass. A straight line mind, not uphill or round a corner or anything.

I think it's past time the rental companies started taking some responsability for the competancy of the people they let drive these things or at least for providing some training on how single track roads work. I'm going to start complaining on the rental companies reviews if I experience much more of this.

Either that or there need to be some high profile prosecutions for inconsiderate driving. Especially for the not pulling in to let vehicles pass thing. Being unable to reverse is just plain run-of-the-mill incompetant. Driving at 25-30mph and not pulling across to allow following trasffic to clear for 10, 15 or even 20 miles is plain criminal (legally as well as morally).
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[kgm]

I've found the same recently. The refusal to pull in to allow overtakes gives me genuine rage. There's proposals to introduce a toll for larger vehicles but I'm not convinced it'll make.much difference as it'll be difficult to enforce and people will just factor that into the cost of their trip. A lot of them are foreign drivers and it's not exactly a cheap trip to begin with.

I'll be raging if they decide the solution is to widen the roads.

[stinkwheel]

Guys in our bike club have pretty much decided to upload any dashcam footage of "white elephants" being driven in an inconsiderate matter then link them to the social media feeds of the rental companies.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[True Blue]

I done the NC500 the other week there and was saying the same thing. Never seen so many VWs.

I got in a standoff just the 2 times, but mainly found that they thought that I would just be able to squeeze by them on the single track; rather than pulling in for me. I just made sure to make myself big, by staying in the centre of the road. They generally took the hint.
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Past >>>> Honda NSR 125 >>>> Suzuki GSXR 600 K1 >>>> Suzuki GSXR 600 K4 >>>>Kawasaki Z1000 DAF >>>>Suzuki RMZ 250 >>>> Current >>>> KTM Superduke R 1290 >>>>

[Omega]

I've just got back from a 3 week tour of Scotland in the car. I was prepared for the midges and the weather but no one warned me about the campervans!

Pretty much every parking spot was littered with them and they're a nightmare to overtake. Couldn't stop in a lot of laybys to appreciate the view and take a quick picture because they had been turned into campsites.

I didn't drive all the way north but Skye was particularly bad.

[linuxyeti]

Well, I drive my campervan/motorhome, granted haven't been to the north of Scotland in it yet, but, I don't really recognise any of the issues you mention, just finished touring around Devon, Cornwall and the Forest of Dean in ours. It easily keeps to the nsl, and, most of my hold ups were being stuck behind other cars, trucks or farm vehicles. As for overtaking them, for the most part, the aren't appreciably wider than a car, and, not much longer than an estate, so, I can't see what the issue there is. I've overtaken plenty before in both the car and on the bike. I've even been up to the Ponderosa in the camper, and, again, didn't seem to cause much if any issue with any of the bikes around.

I don't want to make it political, however, 'staycations' are becoming increasingly common, since the whole brexit saga kicked off, not blaming brexit directly, it may be a coincidence, but there does appear to be some correlation. My biggest problem with the increase in staycations, is pitch prices are going up as well
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Beware what photos you upload, or link to on here, especially if you have family members on them

[kgm]

[True Blue]

[linuxyeti]

[kgm]

[kgm]