Just a small section of the Caravan and Motorhome Club stand.

Chester Fairoaks CAMC site.

The Caravan and Motorhome 2018 Show is on at the moment at Event City in Manchester. I attended the opening day on Thursday and it looked well attended to me. The organisers are probably hoping that 20,000 people will visit and if the people traffic on the Caravan and Motorhome Club stand are anything to go by it would not surprise me if that target is met. The cold weather does not help but offsetting that is the enormous population in and around Liverpool and Manchester which provides the bulk of the visitors.

One delightfully “British” thing happened to me. I dutifully followed the visitor parking signs in my motorhome and in due course arrived at this huge space sandwiched between the Event City exhibition centre and Trafford Park retail outlet. As I got to the front of the queue a man wearing a high viz jacket emblazoned with the parking contractor’s name approached me waving his arms. “You can’t bring that thing in here!” he announced sternly. “But it’s a motorhome show!” I protested. He was having none of it and I couldn’t help but note the difference in attitude in Manchester to that at the Dusseldorf Show. Sometimes I despair!!

Later that day in the early evening I drove along the motorway to Chester in sleet and light snow. The wardens at the CAMC Chester Fairoaks site were still in the office at 7.30pm together with their delightful cat – even the cat provided a much more welcoming experience than had the parking attendant earlier. My AutoSleeper Malvern took its customary eight minutes to set up and in no time at all a glass of wine had been poured, supper was cooking and I was on WiFi via my annual subscription which I can cart from site to site.

All was well with the world.

Christopher Macgowan

@motorhomenews