Practical Motorhome December 2021

It’s been a hectic few weeks here at Practical Motorhome HQ – as well as pulling everything together for our upcoming Van Live! virtual show (p62), we’ve been busy drawing up shortlists for our all-new awards. We’ve run award schemes before, but never to this extent, judging 22 categories, including everything from couples’ ’vans to family motorhomes, cleaning products to awnings. I can’t say it’s been an entirely stress-free experience: when there are so many fantastic products out there, and five judges all with different opinions, reaching a decision on the winners wasn’t easy. But reach a decision we did; you’ll find details of every one of our category victors on p53. We only had space for the winners in this issue, but to see every one of the brilliant shortlisted entries,…

Coordinates 56.9336° N, 7.5363° W Why tour here? Cattle on a beach! A sight that would make most people stare, but a common one on the Isle of Vatersay in the Outer Hebrides, which has been raisng beef cattle since the early 20th century. Years ago, livestock bound for market would have to navigate a treacherous 250m swim across the Sound of Vatersay to Barra. Fortunately, work started on a causeway in 1989, which the cattle have been able to use since 1991. Find out more about this stunning part of the Outer Hebrides on p22. Don’t miss… It’s magnificent here at any time; just make sure your visit coincides with the cattle! practicalmotorhomeuk…

With the new Bond film, No Time To Die, due for UK release as we went to press, the team at simplypaving.com have put together some ‘useful’ research about the travel habits of 007. It reveals that by the time No Time To Die arrives in cinemas, the current James Bond, Daniel Craig, will have covered around 90,000 miles. As for the other Bonds, Roger Moore was the martini-swigging protagonist of the most Bond films (seven in total), but surprisingly, doesn’t travel the furthest (after Craig) on average. The second most travelled spot goes to Pierce Brosnan, who achieved 11,302 miles over his four-film stint. Sean Connery was one of the most prolific Bonds, with six films under his belt, but he comes a mere fourth in total and average miles travelled. Find out more…

If you’re looking to enhance your touring with a bit of detective work, consider taking on a Treasure Trail. These self-guided adventures (suitable for all the family) get you exploring interesting parts of the UK on one of more than 1200 trails, with clues to crack and mysteries to solve along the way. Pictured above is Jane Harvey, one of the company’s full-time Trail Writers, who helps put together the fun spy missions, detective mysteries and treasure hunts. Treasure Trails cost £9.99 each and can be bought at www.treasuretrails.co.uk.…

From the return of the lynx, to a major ecological disaster, to narwhal shrimp communicating in the depths – these are just some of the fascinating images in the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, now enjoying its 57th year. A special selection of Highly Commended photographs has been released ahead of the opening of the exhibition, on 15 October, at the Natural History Museum in London. The competition attracted more than 50,000 entries from photographers in 95 countries, and the winning images, including the prestigious Grand Title award-winners, will be announced on 12 October. Among the newly revealed images is Sergio Marijuán’s young Iberian lynx, framed in the doorway of an abandoned hayloft. This species, once on the brink of extinction, is now slowly rising in numbers, thanks to…

★ star picture Email your pictures and their stories (40 words, plus name, address and contacts) to hotshots@practicalmotorhome.com. The best photo will win these guides: All the Aires Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Go Motorhoming and Campervanning; Seaview Camping Wales; Seaview Camping West Country; Road Trip Europe – The Great War and More; Road Trip Europe – Go Dutch. All are from Vicarious Books, www.vicarious-shop.co.uk, 0131 208 3333.…