Guest post – Wild camping in the UK
Written by Karen BryanMark Garbers of Love Camping gives us some guidelines about wild camping in the UK.
“There’s nothing quite like wild camping for the true “back to nature” experience. When done properly it’s a very environmentally friendly way to see some truly wonderfully hidden areas of the UK countryside. However, as with anything, there are always a few guidelines to be followed, even in this most unstructured type of holiday:-
Leave the site in the same (or better) condition as you found it
This is the golden rule of wild camping. Pay special care to areas where you may have had a campfire and most certainly don’t leave any rubbish or litter lying around on your departure. Bury your toilet doings and don’t bury tampons or sanitary towels- animals can smell the pheromones and are sure to dig them up.
Don’t get in the way
Even though a lot of open land may not appear to be used when you pitch camp, the odds are good that dog walkers and ramblers will come upon your site at some stage during your stay (most likely early in the morning, always say hello and be friendly!). As such, don’t camp on towpaths or bridleways or anywhere else where you could block access.
Be careful when camping on farmland
A large amount of ‘open’ land in the UK actually belongs to farmers. While they may not appear to be working the land at present, it does belong to them and there’s nothing more sure to annoy a farmer first thing in the morning than finding he can’t graze his cattle in a field because you’re camping in it! A general rule of thumb is that if you need to climb over fences to get to a campsite, you’re likely to be camping on private land and need to be extra sure that you’re not going to cause a nuisance.
Be prepared to move
There are times when you will get item number 2 wrong… in those cases, be prepared to be polite and be happy to move if asked. The key here is to be polite. Most situations can be defused by a simple apology and then going on your merry way.
Where possible, arrive late and leave early
This will ensure that you cause minimum disturbance, especially if you’re on agricultural land.
Respect the peace and quiet
Don’t make huge amounts of noise or disturbance. You are guests of the land and should respect your surroundings accordingly.”
I’m not sure about this website (lovecamping), every time I perform a postcode search, I get redirected to http://www.thesportshq.com/camping.aspx. YUCK!
Great advice! The same applies in Australia (anywhere really, I guess), where ‘bush’ camping as it’s called here is increasingly popular. Very few farmers let campers pitch their tents on their land, although there are some enterprising ones who are starting to do so. Camping in national parks in identified areas is the closest thing to bush camping, but people will camp anywhere if they can get away with it. There’s nothing quite like it – especially in the vast Australian outback.
PH – Thanks for pointing up the problem with the post code search, I tried to search for my home postcode and received a fatal error. It’s a pity because it is a good idea to be able to search for camp sites in a specific location.
Lara – I imagine that bush camping in the Australian outback would appeal to some travellers but I think I’m too soft for that.
[...] Guest post – Wild camping in the UK « Europe a la Carte Blog [...]
I’ve been wild camping in remote areas on foot and providing it is remote enough have had no trouble with farmers. We once thought it was not remote enough and spent a freezing night shivering in our sleeping bags without the tent on a mountain in Wales. Next morning on meeting the farmer he laughed and said he wouldnt have minded. Always ask, but if there’s no one to ask just camp!
Cycle camping is more difficult necessarily being near a road, but I have rarely been refused permission in country areas. In more popular holiday areas it is not so easy. So many people have tried to have a cheap holiday with a van and a frame tent for a fortnight that farmers are reluctant to help!
Ron, thanks for your comment. Sleeping without a tent on a mountain in Wales sounds awful. I’m afraid I’m not very hardy.
[...] but it’s a place to stay and a roof over your head, albeit a canvas one. Europe a la Carte also has a post about wild camping in the [...]
More on cycle camping. Met a guy called David in the village. He had his bike well loaded and was having a roll up and reading the paper.
What a character! With limited means he was cycling from Norwich to London rough camping all the way. He’d done the coast of Britain by the same means and considerable distance in Scotland. His gear made my ramshacle stuff look posh although he had a nice alloy frame bike. Just two holdalls bungee strapped on the carriers. He never camped in the open but always in woods and even had a fire. He cooked by gas and set his tent alight once through a faulty seal on a gaz container.
So rough camping can be done on a bike. Good luck David.
Ron – thanks for telling us about
David, he sounds really fit and hardy and cycle wild camping is certainly the ultimate in budget travel.
[...] but I’m afraid that it’s is too far outside my comfort zone. You can read tips about wild camping in the UK in a guest post on the Europe a la Carte [...]
I live in North Wales and ourselves and our neighbours have a lot of problems with “wild campers” who often light fires,damage trees and fences,leave rubbish and sometimes cause trouble by roaming around at night. A few years ago we didn’t often see “wild campers” and those we did see were usually no trouble but in the last four or five years we have seen a big increase in numbers and a general decline in their atitude so we now ask anyone camping on our land to leave,some go without a fuss but others argue they have “a right” to camp in the countryside,on two occasions we have had to use a degree of force to remove campers from our land,and one of our neighbours who asked campers to leave his field received threats and verbal abuse so returned with his sons,myself and my brother and we then asked the campers to leave(they took the hint and left). The valley where I live is not remote and the campers usually have cars and pitch within yards of the single track public road,there are several legal campsites within a few miles. What I am saying is if you are looking to camp in the countryside either ask permission first or pay to go on a campsite,do not assume you can camp wherever you want.
Mark – it doesn’t sound as though the wild campers near you are following Mark Gartber’s guidelines as they are causing damage and not willing to move when requested.
As long as it’s done respectfully (I agree it would be horrible for people to leave trash and damage the surrounding nature), wild camping seems like total bliss…
Just wrote an introductory post about it on my slow travel blog ‘slowmoves’
http://slowmovesblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/wild-camping-hotspots.html
anouk – thanks for the link to your post about wild camping