CAMPING and caravanning has had a boom summer according to figures published by the Camping and Caravanning Club - news which will receive a mixed reception in the Yorkshire Dales.

Touring caravans are a regular cause of long traffic tail-backs in the summer months and cause long delays for hundreds of Dales folk as they go about their daily business.

But for caravan park and campsite owners - many of whom are only now overcoming the setbacks of foot and mouth disease - it has been a blessing, a sentiment also reflected in a bigger turnover in many shops, pubs and restaurants used by caravanners.

According to the club - which says its members spend tens of millions of pounds in the countryside - the use of their sites was up by 6% in August over last year, which was in itself a record.

The club now has more than 400,000 members and there are tens of thousands more unaffiliated caravan owners.