Passions: 'It started in childhood and I’m still on my caravanning journey'

The Moffat family caravan, ready for fresh adventures. Picture: Pamela Moffat

There’s something wonderfully nostalgic about caravans, likely related to memories of family holidays during childhood.

Through rose-tinted specs I recall holidays to static caravans in Scarborough, Blackpool and, more locally, Pease Bay with family and friends.

My parents bought a static caravan in North Berwick when I was a teenager. We spent many fun-filled weekends there. The cold toilet block is just a distant memory but the image of my younger brother bringing back armfulls of daffodils picked from the roadside on Mother's Day remains fresh.

My brother was the first to buy a tourer, a little Sprite that my husband, daughter, dog and I borrowed for a night 'to see if we liked it'. We towed it just a couple of miles from home in Edinburgh to Drumhor caravan site in Musselburgh and fell in love. In no time we were relaxing outdoors with a view to the bridges in the Forth.

All we knew about touring at that time was that there's a weight of car to caravan ratio that needs to be carefully adhered to, everything else we've learnt on our journey – and it's been epic.

In 2008, we bought our own mobile home Big Bertha. We found her online and picked her up from a farmer's field in Fife, we hitched her up and towed her back to town. The only scary memories are of trying to squeeze her into our narrow driveway, and when we spotted metal wires poking from the tyres on our first trip – how she'd made it over the old road bridge without one bursting was a miracle. We went on to spend many happy weekends in her warm embrace.

As our daughter grew and Bertha's frame became spongy with damp we 'upgraded' to a (trade-in) Lunar Chateau, a veritable castle in comparison with two double beds, a toilet and even a motor mover so she can be manouvered into the driveway by remote control.

During lockdown we safely staycationed in our fortress on wheels, saw more of Scotland than ever before.

For anyone embarking on their adventure in a caravan, camper or motorhome I'd recommend using a notebook to record trip dates, sites, pitch number and anything interesting that happened – places you’ve visited, people you’ve met, good eateries etc. It’s lovely to look back on over the winter when planning where to go next and before you know it there will be decades of good times to look back on.

Pamela Moffat is a designer at the Scotsman;Instagram @dogs_in_caravans