Er! Wild camping

[beejay]

Hi. New member here. We've read a number of posts on the forum, & whilst some do mention out of the way places, the trend seems to be car-parks/lay-by's. We've never "Wild Camped" before, and would probably enjoy it, to paying silly prices on overcrowded sites/CLs. But we weren't considering car parks etc as an attractive alternative, nor a safe one.
Scotland used to be the bee's-knees for camping anywhere, but that has all changed, now that pop/movie stars? have bought up the land, or does the forum know better?
Sorry for the down-beat, but having found this site, we were hoping for some possitive guidance. We hope you guys/gals can put us straight on the realities of wild camping, as we seemed to have had a romantic/rosy view of it. We are hoping to be proved wrong, and have some good advice offered. On our away days/weeks we tend to go north, Cumbria, North Yorkshire, Lakes, & of course Scotland.

Kind Regards

BeeJay

 

[Campervanman]

Beejay Hiya

Wild camping now theres a wide subject, just one thought befor you pitch ya wheels is that where ever you stop it will be someones land private/public ownership. The majoraty of places mentioned on here are overnite stops only. Some are by the coast some in a forest and some are just short of your destination its where you kipp. You then move to the seafront or the side of the lake your there befor the day trippers have arrived you have prime spot its your base for the day. When everyone else is looking for a cafe for a cuppa or a hot meal yours is where you left it (unless you left it unlocked wiv the keys in ) You pay your days parking just like all the other car drivers but at 6pm they all start heading home. if its quiet then your sorted but you should have sorted your over nite out. I have camped on picnic sites in forests on top of mountains by the side of lakes, streams , rivers.
Just a couple of saftey points know where you are, you have a signal on your mobile, park where you can drive straight out, trouble is rare infact non-existant most people just wanna do there own thing leave them alone and they will leave you alone. but leave the area tidy as you found it

t&j

 

[beejay]

Hi T&J. Thanks for your advice. & I see where you're coming from.
But to us, being in a motorhome means being self sufficient, to a point. So on that basis, Wild Camping to us conjured up staying in one place for say a few days or a week even. exploring the area, walking etc. in the wilds of say Scotland. As opposed to getting to a venue before the tourists arrive & not having to leave at night time, but you're still in a car park. We already class ourselves as w/end gypsies, as we get away Fri. pm til Sun pm. but it's only to recognised CLs. This time of year we only allow ourselves a radius of app.
100mls. for these getaways.

Regards

BeeJay

 

[draaiorgel]

Hi BeeJay & TJ,
Our idea of a campervan is that your not tied to one specific place, we generally only stop in the same place one night as a rule.
If we find an exceptional location then maybe 2 nights especially if we are in a quiet area and we're happy with it.

In the past we have camped close to glaciers in the Swiss Alps, wow what a view in the morning when the sun hits it. However that was then, now it's usually somewhere from the borders to anywhere south of.
No this is not a cue for a song!

Once we met a couple high in the alps who had a caravan, they had been out for the day in their car and they were trying to get back to the caravan site, this was about 10 o clock at night it was dark and they still had 20-30 miles to go, but their car was overheating. We were camped up for the night and invited them in for a cuppa and a bite, while they were in I was fixing their car.
I think we sold them on a campervan that night.

If you get a fairly remote location you should manage 3 or 4 nights and yes we should always leave the place cleaner than we found it.

With friendly greetings,
Ian

 

[irenerobbie]

i do as much wild camping as possible and know scotlands more remote places fairly well. being on many occasions a lone female my main concern is getting bogged down or hidden ditches. one of the areas that i find handy are the old pieces of single track road that are often left behind when new roads are created and they can be in cracking locations , i never seem to need to share them.

 

[beejay]

Hi Irenerobbie,

That sounds more like what we expected wild camping to mean.

We toured Scotland quiet a lot (caravan sites) when we had the 'van, but for the past 6yrs, we've had more freedom (obviously) with the M/home, using it to also go to 'bike shows/venues if the weather was to bad to go on the 'bike.
I can feel a trial run coming on for summer, where we'll simply head north, and see where we fancy stopping, keeping in mind the advice offered.

Someone mentioned "Dog" stickers, as a deterent, well we have one in the windscreen, & 2 stuck to the back of the M/home. The dogs we have are beautiful German Shepherds, so it could be a case of "make my day, punk" LoL. We've had Shepherds for nearly 40 yrs, but that's another story.

Stay safe

Beejay

 

[draaiorgel]

Hi Irene,
Talking about old single track roads!
For the life of me I really can't remember where it was except to say it was down south some place.
We were looking for a place for the night and going round a very large roundabout, we noticed an old road lined with tree's on both sides and there was an entrance to it only blocked by a large farm style metal gate, we opened it drove in and closed it again. It was a perfect place to stop the night and well hidden by the tree's. Hey, it's easy!

With friendly greetings,
Ian

 

[draaiorgel]

Hi, forgot to say that location was in the middle of the roundabout.

 

[irenerobbie]

another angle on wild camping. went to see nazareth on fri. night. that is nazareth the rock band not the place that Jesus lived.the van came in handy for overnight accomodation in Glasgow and this is where wild comes in, lots of noise, lots of litter and lots of people having fun.i love solitude and remote places but from time to time a mass of humanity is great. any other city adventures?