The National Motorhome Show Peterborough 27-29 Apr 12

The drought continues and, once again, in very poor weather we headed away for a short journey north to the East of England Showground for the National Motorhome show. Debbie enjoyed a rare day off from work on the Friday so we arrived on site at about lunchtime, finding our pitch with the Motorhome Fun group relatively easily. With all this drought, the ground was already quite soggy and starting to cut up, so we just pointed at the marshal and kept going, feeling the wheels slip and slide as we went. There was no way that we would get started again once we stopped so levelling ramps were out (we did try, but they just sank). Basically, we stopped dead and settled into the mire. Later arrivals left the road and sank immediately, some having to be towed on with tractors that were buzzing around.

After a quick cuppa, we had a bimble around the show, buying a new fire blanket, some LED tyre pressure monitors, a length of drain hose and a couple of bags for the Lafuma recliner chairs. The best buy, however, was a length of plastic pipe that fitted across the shower forming a rail to hang the wet coats on!


The rain continued. We found that the rubber floor mats that we always plant outside the door were useless in that as soon as any weight was put on them then the mud would squish through the holes. We were also running on gas and the gas cylinder ran out just as we were cooking dinner (isn't that always the way).


In the evening we went back up to the show and watched a bit of the Joe Loss orchestra and, just by turning up, halved the average age of the audience, so we retired to the bar, had a pint then squelched back to bed.


On Saturday the rain continued. The millions of pounds worth of motorhome on show were getting very muddy inside. The organisers tried to put straw down, but the situation slowly got worse through the day. We wandered around a bit then retired to the Motorhome Fun tent, where we downed a lot of wine and met some very nice people. It rained all night and the wind picked up, rocking the bus and howling around the vents. Glorious spring weather - not!

On Sunday it still rained. The traders gave up, with many stalls collapsing in the strong winds. We spoke to one trader who said that the pitch had cost him around £1.5k for the weekend and he had taken about £300. Basically, the whole weekend was a write off.


We were booked to stay until Monday, but the area was flooding badly. The drainage ditch, which was empty when we arrived, was now nearly bursting and we thought that we may have to use the new drain pipe as a snorkel. The bus hadn't sunk that much, so I reckon we could have moved under our own steam, but we wouldn't have got far before hitting the Somme-like morass churned up by the persistent rain and tractors. We put the hazard flashers on as a signal that we needed a tow out and, eventually, the tractor turned up and pulled us out.


So - we learnt a few lessons. Don't go to far on grass when it is really soggy. Keep the towing eye free to hand. Don't use the rubber mats in mud and it is a good idea to carry 4 short sticks to hang wellies on upside down outside the van, which, despite the best efforts of the weather, remained warm, dry and clean inside.


The weather must improve soon, surely? As for Peterbog......