I MUST reply to Malcolm Bury (Citizen Letters, April 17) regarding touring caravans.

We have been caravanning for many happy years and I can't recall a single time when we have been held up in a traffic jam or been 'in convoy' with other caravans.

We bought our caravan for £3,000 four summers ago and it has earned every penny. With regular maintenance, it will last at least as long again.

We caravan all-year round. We always have a week in the caravan between Christmas and New Year, the perfect antedote to the Christmas rush and we are rarely alone on site.

We go off on alternate weekends in the summer and once a month take a longer, more restful break.

Towing does increase petrol consumption, but with careful planning, loading and keeping to 55mph we tow at 25mpg in a two-litre car.

With experience, we now load our car, not the caravan, for safety in about 30 minutes. As for the washing of bedding, surely even Mr Bury must do this even if he stays at home!

Mr Bury has obviously not heard of Caravan Club certified locations! Sites, usually on farms, which only take five caravans and provide minimum facilities, usually water, toilet and electricity.

This costs an average of £4.50 per night, often with one night free if you are staying for a week. A nine-day holiday, including retun journey and sight-seeing trips, costs an average of £115.

By my reckoning we could have at least 10 of these nine-day breaks for the cost of an 'all inclusive' foreign holiday. We do take a break abroad every couple of years, but wouldn't give up our caravan for the world.

I hope I haven't persuaded Mr Bury into trying caravanning. I would hate to be sited next to such a bigot.

Dorothy McTague

Kelvin Street, Darwen

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