Wild camping in the UK

[nirakaro]

Easy enough in Scotland, or Yorkshire, but the nearer you get to Charing Cross, the iffier it gets. I’ve tented in a field near Oxford, and an orchard near Canterbury. Wimped out at Kings Langley. What’s the nearest anyone’s wild-camped to central London?

[Graham O]

St. Pauls.

[Vorpal]

St. Pauls.

[djoptix]

St. Pauls.

Hardly wild camping - you all went home to go to the loo, use Facebook, catch up on the news on your massive capitalist-funded plasma tellies etc...

[Tasker]

St. Pauls.

Hardly wild camping - you all went home to go to the loo, use Facebook, catch up on the news on your massive capitalist-funded plasma tellies etc...

I think the smiley face that accompanied the post denoted it was meant to be nothing more than the witty remark that it was (not to be taken seriously)

[djoptix]

Haha! I wasn't taking it seriously either - I don't really think the OP was one of the campers... maybe I should have put a winking face!

Anyway - back on topic?!

[PJ520]

Wild camping. I'm agin it. I was brought to this view when we came into a town in Wyoming that forbade camping anywhere in town. We begged the Volunteer Fire Department (the go to people in any US small town) to let us camp. They gave in saying "... as long as you don't go <inappropriate term removed>ing where kids are likely to play". When wild camping what do you do for toilets? I know whereof I speak I'm 66 and done my share of wild crapping but these days I try to avoid it as much as possible.

[nirakaro]

Wild camping, aka stealth camping: no one should know you’re there (security), and when you’ve left, no one should know you’ve been there (environmental sensitivity). I wouldn’t want to camp next to a children’s playground, and in a field my contribution to its fertility is as nothing compared with that of sheep, cows, foxes, badgers, and other quadrupeds who don’t know how to behave…

[Ron]

Wild camping, aka stealth camping: no one should know you’re there (security), and when you’ve left, no one should know you’ve been there (environmental sensitivity).

Wild camping is not aka stealth camping (AFAIK). Unless camping in an area or country where off-site camping is illegal, there is no requirement to avoid being seen when wild camping and no need to hide the fact that you have camped. You have described stealth camping which is usually employed where wild camping is illegal, hence the requirement for stealth as detection could lead to prosecution.
Wild camping is illegal in The Netherlands,may be illegal in England, but is permitted in parts of Scandinavia and Scotland.

Edited "permitted areas" following correction from HPFlashman 6/11

[Barrenfluffit]

er plastic trowel?

[Vorpal]

Wild camping. I'm agin it. I was brought to this view when we came into a town in Wyoming that forbade camping anywhere in town. We begged the Volunteer Fire Department (the go to people in any US small town) to let us camp. They gave in saying "... as long as you don't go <inappropriate term removed>ing where kids are likely to play". When wild camping what do you do for toilets? I know whereof I speak I'm 66 and done my share of wild crapping but these days I try to avoid it as much as possible.

Many towns and cities in the USA have local laws against camping in public places. Camping is permitted, however, in many state and national parks. Campers are expected to remove litter, bury human waste, and restore any fire pits (if permitted).

[PJ520]

Camping is permitted, however, in many state and national parks.

Err yes, that's what I'd been doing for 2000 miles. But that's hardly "wild camping" I take wild camping to be what is known over here as "stealth camping" i.e. surreptitiously camping in places that are not designated campsites and consequently free. Places such as road verges, a handy field or wood etc. The problem with this is most of these places actually belong to somebody, often a local authority. That somebody may have had a history of layabouts camping and getting drunk, making making noise, tossing beer bottles about etc. as well as insanitary practices. I can understand them getting upset and not caring that you are the cleanest most ecologically correct camper on the planet. Sad but there's always somebody screws up a good thing for the rest of us.

FWIW in the US I have found people to be remarkably generous regarding camping if you take the trouble to ask. I camped one night in Missouri on the lawn in front of a county courthouse. (Imagine doing that in the UK!) To use the toilets we had to go into the courthouse past the jail cells. The thing to be careful about with courthouse lawns is that sprinklers may come on early in the morning. If you've put your tent over a sprinkler head this can ruin your whole day.

[Vorpal]

Camping is permitted, however, in many state and national parks.

Err yes, that's what I'd been doing for 2000 miles. But that's hardly "wild camping" I take wild camping to be what is known over here as "stealth camping" i.e. surreptitiously camping in places that are not designated campsites and consequently free.

You may camp, with permission, in almost any place in the USA. And yes, people are often quite generous about it. However, camping without permission is trespassing, and that is a criminal offence in the US. So surreptitious wild camping can get one arrested.

However, when I mentioned state and national parks, I wasn't thinking of designated camping spaces. While some certainly have camping areas, and you have to pay a fee for a pitch, others do not, or also allow a sort of wild camping. I have camped many times for free in public parks in the USA. They usually indicate that it is okay to do so by stating in visitor information that 'wilderness camping' or 'trailside camping' is permitted. They may put restrictions on it by saying that wilderness camping is not permitted within 1 mile of a road or campground, or something similar. That is intended to keep the 'free' campers from using water, showers, loos, etc. placed near the fee-paying sites. Also, some states offer property tax relief to landowners in exchange for state management of resources (usually forest). This often includes public recreational use of the land for outdoor sports such as camping, hunting & hiking. Wild camping is okay in such places. A leave-it-as-you-found-it rule applies.

[HPFlashman]

Wild camping is illegal in The Netherlands,may be illegal in England, but is permitted in Scandinavia and Scotland.

Norway and Sweden allows wild camping under whats called the "all manna rett" or "all mans right". For Norways part, this means no more than two nights in the same spot (not likely to be enforced), not closer to buildings than 150 meters and not on worked soil, I do believe the Swedes have very similar regulations, but I`m somewhat hazy on the details.

Denmark does not have this right, if they haven't changed their laws in the last couple of years.

[Ivor Tingting]

Anyone done it in Parlaiment Square? Camping that is, apart from the late great Brian Hawe.