As bad as trying to buy tickets online

Dear me. You hear a lot about how difficult it is to buy tickets for events online - the touts get in first, and resell their haul at greatly inflated prices. And then, to compound that, the poor event-goer might quite possibly not be able to use their super-expensive tickets, because nearer the time the event organisers place a ban on accepting resold tickets. I'm rather glad I never get into all that. But I do book my caravan holidays online, using the excellent Caravan and Motorhome Club website. That is, if I can get my booking in early enough.

For caravanning and motorhoming has in recent years become very popular indeed, noticeably more than ten years ago. It must be that a whole generation has discovered the joys of Staycationing. Not just retired old fogies - there are a lot of thirty-somethings with young families too. Which is, in its way, a jolly good thing, as it ensures the ongoing development of the Club network (which will need heavy investment in electric charge points for vehicles, for instance). But it does mean that, for most Club sites around the country, it is no longer possible to turn up on the day, on a whim, and expect to get a pitch. You have to book ahead.

Sometimes well ahead. I've been planning and booking my North West Tour for May and June. Remember, it's only the start of February. But I've had to forego an important part of my Tour because I simply can't get in where I want on the Spring Bank Holiday weekend that precedes the actual holiday on 25th May. I wanted to pitch near Liverpool. There were Club sites at Southport, on the Wirral, and just north of Chester. Any of these would, geographically speaking, do nicely. I did however reject Southport when I saw on Google Earth that the pitches were rather too close to the pleasure park on the seafront - there would be a lot of background noise. Exciting for the kiddies, no doubt, but I prefer peace and quiet. That left the Wirral site at Thurstaston or the Chester site. But no dice. These sites were already - in early February! - fully booked for the Bank Holiday weekend.

That was awkward. There'd be commercial alternatives, of course; and farms; but from experience I knew I'd best stick to proper Club sites.

So I booked the very attractive site at Chirk, on the Welsh border south of Wrexham, which I last visited in 2015. It was a sensible choice if wanting a site between west-central Wales and the Lake District. But it wasn't ideal for a day trip to the Pool. Oh well. I'd explore Ruthin and Denbigh and the surrounding hills instead. That would be very nice. But in fact this hitch with booking the site I really wanted stole a jewel from my North West Tour crown.

So my Tour is already compromised.

There is a minor compensation - Chirk is not near any major cities, and I may not face much traffic either getting there, nor on departure. But it's fingers crossed that the northbound M6 motorway is free-flowing as it passes through built-up Lancashire, although I'd be using it anyway. But once that particular gauntlet has been run, I'll have the prolonged pleasure of a very scenic approach to my Lake District site just south of Coniston, with the Old Man to the west, and the Lake to the east. (I'm very much looking forward to staying in this south-western part of the Lake District for the first time)

If you book a long trip, you are almost bound to run into these pesky Bank Holiday Weekends, when people congregate at sites to meet their friends and let their kids run riot. In the past, I've found that an inland site, distant from any beach, is going to be much quieter. Chirk meets that description; but then so did Chester. I'll just have to remember that next time I go north-west, I need to book even earlier.

Some people, I know, book up to a year ahead. It could be that, because of this, certain Club sites are fully-booked all the time on the major holiday dates. Thankfully they aren't the sites I'd routinely consider going to. But there wasn't a lot of choice in Cheshire and Lancashire. I can see why I haven't visited the North West all that much!