Motorcaravanning fever has swept my entire family to such an extent that this particular road trip began without me or my wife, Lizzie. My parents had come down from Bolton to help renovate our eBay-bought 1985 VW LT31. Mum was drawing on her four decades of professional experience as a seamstress to re-do the soft furnishings while dad reached for his toolbox and paintbrush to help me smarten up the cupboards and lay new flooring.
We'd had problems with the battery but now these had been sorted (see March issue, p96) mum and dad were not going to let the trifling matter of Lizzie and I being busy at work stop them from taking the VW out on the open road. Our six-year-old twin daughters, Natalie and Ella, were on school holiday reasoned my folks, and anyway the 'van needed a trial run, didn't it? So, off they went to the Cotswolds and Wales, en route to a later rendezvous with us, up north.
We received only positive reports from them on the first leg of the holiday: the 'van was "purring like a kitten", the leisure battery was "fine", the campsites "lovely", and Dylan Thomas' birthplace was "fascinating". For our part, work was dull, and we were counting down the days until it was our turn to try the 'van.
Eventually picking up the 'van and kids in Bolton, we took the M62 to crest the Pennines - no easy task for a 20-year-old 'van - and arrived at Leeds to meet up with more of our family: Lizzie's sister Cathy, her husband and two young children in their 1980s VW campervan, which we had unintentionally inspired her to buy. There was also Lizzie's other sister, Sarah, newly arrived from Chicago, with her husband and two teenagers. So, there we were, two VW 'vans and a hire car, all piled up with three sisters, three husbands, six offspring (from 18 months to 13 years old) and a six-man tent. Oh, and after concerted badgering, Lizzie's four half-sisters (aged 16, 14, 12 and ten). Motorcaravanning fever is contagious!
Our destination was the Yorkshire Dales, and the 'van coped easily, even as the roads forsook the straight for the narrow.
Threaplands House Farm (tel 01756 730248) was to be our first night's destination. Prettily situated between Skipton and Grassington, at Bolton Abbey, the site slopes gently towards a brook, over which hangs a wooden swing (popular with our little ones). The owners were friendly, and the washroom facilities were clean and well-organised (although hardly extensive considering the size of the site). And, the site's 'take-one leave-one' bookshelf was a nicer surprise than the sudden influx of Morris dancers jingling their way across the field.
As the sun dipped, the fridge provided chilled wine for the ladies and cool beers for the men, and while the kids played cards around the table in our VW, the adults developed an increasing appreciation of the beauty of the illuminated quarry a mile or so away.
The next day, Cathy's family headed back to Leeds and Sarah's family had a taste of rural Yorkshire at the Kilnsey Show, Sarah's husband David being somewhat shocked at the brutal nature of the fell-running contest he had unwisely signed up to.
Meanwhile, our nuclear family, plus two 13-year-olds, made a head start towards our next destination: Robin Hood's Bay, on the scenic coast at the north-eastern tip of Yorkshire.

The full report can be found in the May 2008 issue of Practical Motorhome.