Wild camping in UK/Ireland
-
- Posts: 23
- Joined: 8 Aug 2016, 4:57pm
Wild camping in UK/Ireland
Hi all,
Just wondering something - I did a lot of stealth camping, wildcamping or whatever you want to call it in South America and I'd say I'm quite experienced in it. But out there it tends to be wilderness very friendly small-scale farming communities who are only too happy to grant you permission to camp in their fields. I'm a bit anxious about doing it here as I just imagine people being a lot more suspicious of some bloke with a tent and bicycle. Any experiences or tips?
Just wondering something - I did a lot of stealth camping, wildcamping or whatever you want to call it in South America and I'd say I'm quite experienced in it. But out there it tends to be wilderness very friendly small-scale farming communities who are only too happy to grant you permission to camp in their fields. I'm a bit anxious about doing it here as I just imagine people being a lot more suspicious of some bloke with a tent and bicycle. Any experiences or tips?
Re: Wild camping in UK/Ireland
Always best to seek permission if you can. Lone backpackers or cycle tourists are not very threatening and are generally well received. I'm often surprised and overwhelmed by the generous hospitality of complete strangers. Pubs are often good places for initial enquiries.
Sadly on the rare occasions that I've been refused its often the behaviour of previous campers that is cited as the reason.
Sadly on the rare occasions that I've been refused its often the behaviour of previous campers that is cited as the reason.
Re: Wild camping in UK/Ireland
In Scotland you have the right to wild-camp, with some sensible restrictions. See http://www.outdooraccess-scotland.com/sites/default/files//docs/Scottish_Outdoor_Access_Code_-_Part_2_Access_rights.pdf.
-
- Posts: 23
- Joined: 8 Aug 2016, 4:57pm
Re: Wild camping in UK/Ireland
Thanks Norman - that's good to know. I guess things are never as bad as you imagine them to be.
Re: Wild camping in UK/Ireland
Pitch late, leave early. Wild camping in the UK is easiest from Autumn to Spring.
- Farawayvisions
- Posts: 229
- Joined: 7 Feb 2014, 12:42pm
- Contact:
Re: Wild camping in UK/Ireland
Hi there Longhaultrucking, the advice given by the earlier respondents is true, and because you're already a dab hand at this in far flung places, you might find my little guide for wildcamping in UK and Ireland helpful. http://www.farawayvisions.com/wild-camping-beginners-guide/
Re: Wild camping in UK/Ireland
A lady in my cycling club who does a lot of wild-camping in England advises to be careful of what may happen on farmland at night. It may seem like a useful trick to go through a field gate and conceal yourself behind a dry-stone wall or a hedge, and indeed she has often done that. But she has discovered that farmers may:
- Drive around their fields in the dark in tractors or quadbikes, sometimes without lights, not expecting to find tents in their fields
- Make stock movements at night, so the empty field you put your tent up in can be full of cows when you awake
And you really don't want to camp in a field full of cows. They can trample your tent, even with you in it. People have been seriously injured like that. I have a couple of times had to contend with a herd of cows coming through where I was wild camping, in places where I had no reason to suspect it, and this is really the most worrying thing that has happened to me. My wife once had to deal with a thief cutting into her tent with a knife while she was in it, which would have been even more worrying.
- Drive around their fields in the dark in tractors or quadbikes, sometimes without lights, not expecting to find tents in their fields
- Make stock movements at night, so the empty field you put your tent up in can be full of cows when you awake
And you really don't want to camp in a field full of cows. They can trample your tent, even with you in it. People have been seriously injured like that. I have a couple of times had to contend with a herd of cows coming through where I was wild camping, in places where I had no reason to suspect it, and this is really the most worrying thing that has happened to me. My wife once had to deal with a thief cutting into her tent with a knife while she was in it, which would have been even more worrying.
Re: Wild camping in UK/Ireland
In the hills just go for it. Low profile helps. In rural lowland areas ask.
Pub often are helpful especially when you say that you want to eat and sleep in the same place and they do bar food.
Pub often are helpful especially when you say that you want to eat and sleep in the same place and they do bar food.
Re: Wild camping in UK/Ireland
iviehoff wrote:A lady in my cycling club who does a lot of wild-camping in England advises to be careful of what may happen on farmland at night. It may seem like a useful trick to go through a field gate and conceal yourself behind a dry-stone wall or a hedge, and indeed she has often done that. But she has discovered that farmers may:
- Drive around their fields in the dark in tractors or quadbikes, sometimes without lights, not expecting to find tents in their fields
- Make stock movements at night, so the empty field you put your tent up in can be full of cows when you awake
And you really don't want to camp in a field full of cows. They can trample your tent, even with you in it. People have been seriously injured like that. I have a couple of times had to contend with a herd of cows coming through where I was wild camping, in places where I had no reason to suspect it, and this is really the most worrying thing that has happened to me.
That's happened to me a few times too, though I find cows tend to keep away from the tent. I wonder if farmers do it deliberately.
-
- Posts: 2645
- Joined: 2 Jul 2007, 9:47pm
- Contact:
Re: Wild camping in UK/Ireland
khain wrote:iviehoff wrote:And you really don't want to camp in a field full of cows. They can trample your tent, even with you in it. People have been seriously injured like that. I have a couple of times had to contend with a herd of cows coming through where I was wild camping, in places where I had no reason to suspect it, and this is really the most worrying thing that has happened to me.
That's happened to me a few times too, though I find cows tend to keep away from the tent. I wonder if farmers do it deliberately.
Woke up with a bull standing on the corner of the tent about four inches from my head a few years ago in Harris.
Got up pretty quick and out of tent to encourage it to move on.
Re: Wild camping in UK/Ireland
lucky you it looks as if it was about to drop some stuff
Re: Wild camping in UK/Ireland
Holy crap if he does a drop you really want to have the highest waterproof rating from that tent!
Yes, that sounds scary to me, and that is one of the reasons I never trespass gates into a closed field.
If I have to, I prefer to find a quiet road and look for woodland that has a patch of flat and decently clear soil. The more distant is form the road or the path, the better it is.
Of course, one needs to put on some Mtb overshoes to not end in drenched feet.
Yes, that sounds scary to me, and that is one of the reasons I never trespass gates into a closed field.
If I have to, I prefer to find a quiet road and look for woodland that has a patch of flat and decently clear soil. The more distant is form the road or the path, the better it is.
Of course, one needs to put on some Mtb overshoes to not end in drenched feet.
It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best,
since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.
Thus you remember them as they actually are...
since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.
Thus you remember them as they actually are...
Re: Wild camping in UK/Ireland
Blimey, that bull is enormous!
I once had to get out of bed in the middle of the night to scare off a rutting stag in Glen Etive, that was wandering round the tent making an awful racket.
My efforts at using the flash of my camera to scare it off were unsuccessful but at least I got this (admittedly crap) photo.
I once had to get out of bed in the middle of the night to scare off a rutting stag in Glen Etive, that was wandering round the tent making an awful racket.
My efforts at using the flash of my camera to scare it off were unsuccessful but at least I got this (admittedly crap) photo.
Re: Wild camping in UK/Ireland
Rather an interesting pic, and post in that the forum robot censor clearly allows crap, but not micturate (never knew that last word existed until the robocensor changed a pretty innocent usage of mine.
Sweep
Re: Wild camping in UK/Ireland
khain wrote:Blimey, that bull is enormous!
I once had to get out of bed in the middle of the night to scare off a rutting stag in Glen Etive, that was wandering round the tent making an awful racket.
My efforts at using the flash of my camera to scare it off were unsuccessful but at least I got this (admittedly crap) photo.
looks more like a werewolf, u had a lucky escape