Unwelcome motorhomes

Chatting with my son up in Reispol last night and he confirms that the visiting campervans/MHs are thinning out around the region.
He was chatting to some of the local ferrymen and visitors are still trying to get onto Mull ,one guy had arrived at the terminal in a large Amercian RV.
Boaby

There are some who have chosen full timing and presumably have no other place to live. If sites are closed and they are seen as pariahs, what do they do?

Full timers we know only use Sites a couple of times a week to empty and refill.  They are very resourceful and will know places they can still do that.  One in particular has posted that a pub stop they often use are allowing them exclusively to pitch up in the back car park for the next 3 weeks and use the pubs outside toilet and water tap. In return they will act as security for the abandoned pub. 
From what I read on other Forums , Full Timers [on the whole] are adhereing to the non essential travel and will only move on when they need supplies

burlingtonboaby wrote:Chatting with my son up in Reispol last night and he confirms that the visiting campervans/MHs are thinning out around the region.
He was chatting to some of the local ferrymen and visitors are still trying to get onto Mull ,one guy had arrived at the terminal in a large Amercian RV.
Boaby

Still a few motorhomes about, a couple of 5th wheel trailer motorhomes drove past the entrance of the site last night heading west along the coast road, roads get narrow along there.  
Boaby

Feelings are certainly running high in some areas. Two locals at Bala in N Wales, blocked in a Range Rover from Sheffield towing a camping trailer in a narrow country lane yesterday morning.

How do they know it's from Sheffield?

Paulmold wrote:How do they know it's from Sheffield?

The Wales on Line article states they’re from Sheffield. No Idea what the locals knew ?

Peter Brown wrote:

Milvus wrote: Two locals at Bala in N Wales, blocked in a Range Rover.

And which definition of 'an essential journey' were the locals undertaking at the time?

Around Bala? Probably farming,

Our local town blog has published a huge list of the many thousands of jobs going unfilled in the UK at the moment. Some are pickers, packers, planters etc for farmers and growers. Some of these surely must have an isolated spot on their land for full-timers who are willing to work, to park their van.   Not all jobs, by any means, involve physical labour so are suitable for the less active among us. Pretty well all are for the duration so no long term committment necessary for those who hope to travel later in the year.

Just back from walking the dogs. Seems there are more folk out dog walking than there ever are in 'normal' times.

Anyway, thinking about farmers, round here it seems all they've been doing in recent days is slurry spreading. There's been an almost constant to and fro by two orange tanker trailers to the outlying fields. I'm just wondering if it's really necessary? Now I know it's supposed to improve fertility and/or soil quality, but surely that's a long term process? Stopping slurry spreading for a year isn't going to make a dramatic difference  to this summer's yield. 

Could the labour and machinery involved be utilised for more important work so that the farms can get in front of their timetable before possible labour shortages hit later in the season? I'm just wondering if farmers haven't thought this through and are doing business as usual, just because they've been told they're essential. Maybe they need to change their established habits too in these special circumstances.

steamdrivenandy wrote: I'm just wondering if it's really necessary? Now I know it's supposed to improve fertility and/or soil quality, but surely that's a long term process? Stopping slurry spreading for a year isn't going to make a dramatic difference  to this summer's yield. 

Could the labour and machinery involved be utilised for more important work circumstances.

That's exactly what they are doing, spreading to improve the yield this summer.     The slurry is stored in huge storage tanks on the farm, They wouldn't have the capacity to adjourn the spreading for a year.     And as for utilising machinery ..... yeah, I can see the farmer driving round the street with his huge muck spreader, delivering groceries for Tesco.      

Hope, nonetheless, you enjoyed your country walk.

I realised there may be a slurry capacity problem, but I somewhat doubt that spreading it now increases this year's harvest by any marked degree. Surely it's to build up fertility and improve soil structure over the long term, not an immediate hit?

And I wasn't suggesting using the equipment elsewhere, rather using the labour for more productive things on the farm, just in case the labour is lost later in the season. In other words reordering priorities, rather than doing the same thing at the same time, just because that's what they always do. 

Presumably they have to plough the muck in and prepare for sowing. They could save several days by ploughing without the slurry spreading. Then if a driver goes down with the virus they've got the seed in the ground, not in bags in the barn. It's that sort of thinking outside the normal.

Countryfile has an excellent guide to the farming calendar, it explains everything. Now is slurry time, ploughing is much later in the year.

Back on thread Police turned round more campers and caravans on A30 today trying to enter Cornwall,told them to go home, are people really that stupid or just couldn't care less?

Seems if you believe the press ( I seldom do) Gordon Ramsey is exempt from all this as he allegedly arrived in the last couple of days with all his family to isolate in his one of four mansions down here.

I think what we are seeing is possibly the ‘polite’ first world response to a life threatening scenario. It is effectively a form of the movement that we see all over the world when things go wrong. A movement of refugees.
Can any of us honestly say we would not do the same if we deemed it likely to keep us alive, who knows, if it gets really bad it could happen on a bigger scale.
I am curious that no one on any forum or news outlet that I visit has not condemned the behaviour of some rural dwellers. Understandable though their reasons are, Some of the acts of blocking roads are verging on the vigilante mob rule. How come those manning the blocks are out of their homes? Some of the posters seem designed to intimidate. Not really acceptable in a taxpaying democracy.
One wonders what would happen if the out break started in a rural area overwhelming local services. Would the nearest town with facilities be justified in blockading their town to keep the sufferers out.
I think that we see the tip of the fact that civilisation and community are a mere veneer. It would not take much for civil unrest on a major scale.

Davy

TeamRienza wrote:I think what we are seeing is possibly the ‘polite’ first world response to a life threatening scenario. It is effectively a form of the movement that we see all over the world when things go wrong. A movement of refugees.
Can any of us honestly say we would not do the same if we deemed it likely to keep us alive, who knows, if it gets really bad it could happen on a bigger scale.
I am curious that no one on any forum or news outlet that I visit has not condemned the behaviour of some rural dwellers. Understandable though their reasons are, Some of the acts of blocking roads are verging on the vigilante mob rule. How come those manning the blocks are out of their homes? Some of the posters seem designed to intimidate. Not really acceptable in a taxpaying democracy.
One wonders what would happen if the out break started in a rural area overwhelming local services. Would the nearest town with facilities be justified in blockading their town to keep the sufferers out.
I think that we see the tip of the fact that civilisation and community are a mere veneer. It would not take much for civil unrest on a major scale.

Davy

I think you're winding things up.

I've not heard of rural dwellers blocking roads, though with some of the idiots about they might be justified.

The one incident  that I've heard a bit about is probably a farmer or farm worker blockading someone who probably should've stayed at home.  They were 110 miles from home, hardly a local trip.

A biker friend in a remote coastal NZ village of about 100 properties sent me this pic today. This is the only road in/out.
As yet they have NO covid 19 deaths in NZ.
Al.

I'm not normally out walking Tag at lunch time, however I did notice a lots of traffic on the roads, I.e MPV's with children onboard , tipper trucks loaded with sand, concrete mixers, tradesman vans.
Double glazing men fitting doors, brickies laying boundary walls next to the public pathway,   
However the amount of caravans and MHs have disappeared, thought we were in lock down. I'm amazed at the amount of traffic on our roads around here, im reliably informed Scarborough hospital has COVID 19 victims. Maybe the Government needs to breakdown the numbers into Areas and highlight these numbers on there briefings , it seems the message isn't getting through here.

Boaby

This Dept of Health dashboard gives more details of the distribution of cases. Zoom in to reveal more localised numbers. Bridlington not shown in detail, but East Riding area has 31cases, Hull 9.

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/f94c3c90da5b4e9f9a0b19484dd4bb14

Just got back from dog walk. We appear to be overrun with jobbing gardeners,  with three lawn cutting in our road of 27 houses. Let's face it though, most aren't reall gardeners, just lawn mower drivers and shrub pruners.

The main A534 runs through the centre of our village and whilst walking 100yds along it only one vehicle went past, a medium sized wagon. One car did pull out of a drive, but that was it.

PLOUGHLIN wrote:This Dept of Health dashboard gives more details of the distribution of cases. Zoom in to reveal more localised numbers. Bridlington not shown in detail, but East Riding area has 31cases, Hull 9.

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/f94c3c90da5b4e9f9a0b19484dd4bb14

No IC wards here in Bridlington , Scarborough has limited numbers since the AE was closed at nights, we would have to travel to Hull or York.
I just don't think the locals here are taking this virus seriously ( imo)
Boaby

groundhog wrote:Countryfile has an excellent guide to the farming calendar, it explains everything. Now is slurry time, ploughing is much later in the year.

Back on thread Police turned round more campers and caravans on A30 today trying to enter Cornwall,told them to go home, are people really that stupid or just couldn't care less?

Seems if you believe the press ( I seldom do) Gordon Ramsey is exempt from all this as he allegedly arrived in the last couple of days with all his family to isolate in his one of four mansions down here.

It appears he did take the time to sack 500 of his staff before travelling down 

burlingtonboaby wrote:

PLOUGHLIN wrote:This Dept of Health dashboard gives more details of the distribution of cases. Zoom in to reveal more localised numbers. Bridlington not shown in detail, but East Riding area has 31cases, Hull 9.

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/f94c3c90da5b4e9f9a0b19484dd4bb14

No IC wards here in Bridlington , Scarborough has limited numbers since the AE was closed at nights, we would have to travel to Hull or York.
I just don't think the locals here are taking this virus seriously ( imo)
Boaby

Certainly being taken seriously here, don't ever remember the area so quiet. There is a couple of guys working on stripping the slates off the roof of a house opposite to us. They are both wearing face masks. Not sure how that will protect them as they are working about 40/50ft up on a scaffold that has no handrails and wandering about the roof with no safety harness 

Apologies, double post