Midnight wakeup on North Hill, Minehead Somerset

LogFish

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Hi folks!

This weekend my partner and I took the van out to blow out the cobwebs - we've been away for 9 months and we wanted to test the van out before going for a proper trip. All was going well, after a great day out we drove up North Hill in Minehead to a carpark I'd stayed at in 2014. It was so nice that time, I wanted to show Kate the spot so she could enjoy it too. All was fine and well, until 12am when ... well I wrote a blog about it which is better worded!

Around 12 we were awoken by voices outside the van, of indeterminable distance. Young men, loud shouts, then blood curdling screams. Lots of laughter in between – clearly idiots being idiots. We weren’t sure they were hassling us or not – so kept quiet. However, one then shouted ‘RAPE!’ in a threatening way, another said ‘Let’s set them on fire’ and then there was a huge crash and shout as someone jumped into the door of the van. I’m a flight sort of guy when threatened – I learnt Kate’s more a fighter, instantly shouting ‘Oh piss off you stupid idiots!’ or something to that effect. And we heard no more. Quickly dressing and peeking through the curtains, we saw headlights of a car come on and continue up the hill – I guess to have their beers/meth up at the viewpoints. We figured they’d be going home eventually and would love to terrorise us again on the return, and we were both flooded with adrenaline – we decided to leave.

Dotty doesn’t do quick starts, so it was an awkward moment sitting there with the choke on, trying to find the headlights again – but after a nice stall we managed to get down the hill and in to a wee layby by the A38 I’d seen on our way in to town. Not fun! I couldn’t sleep after that, worried that they’d find our new spot and do it again there – I was constantly peeking outside, seeing if there were any threats. Not a great start to our new trip, sociopathic *******s! What makes people think that’s fun?​

This has probably been mentioned a hundred times, but - how do you deal with this sort of thing, mentally? You can't catch someone in a more fragile and defenceless state - it's really knocked my confidence. Day 1 of our second big tour! It was a Saturday beside a city, on hindsight I can avoid those sites on those days. What do people do to avoid this sort of thing happening? Really appreciative for any advice anyone has on staying safe and hassle-free in the UK while we're touring in future. Grrr!!
 
Sorry to hear about your trouble must have been Very unsettling for you. I can't really offer any advice other than you did the right thing by moving on.
Once you have have wilded a few times without hassle you will feel more relaxed about it. Good luck.
 
there are things in life that are just elemental- like car accidents, contracting cancer,being shat on by a seagull,being attacked by a nutter,cutting your finger when chopping veg
none of them are personal-none of them may happen ever again,but who knows ? one things for sure-you're still around,undamaged, shrug it off and move on,don't let stuff like this define you
 
Sorry to hear of your bad experience, bragging kids find these cowardly acts rewarding in some way. They of course need to prove something to their mates. The only solace I could offer is that it rarely happens and you have been very unlucky, but it's bound to knock you back a bit.

We were going to stay there last year but SWMBO insisted we went in the CCC site just down the road. But not because of the problems you had there.
 
We've been lucky so far.....

....but we know it's only a matter of time sadly.

I think I would do the same as you, bark at them loudly, and move on asap.

Keep chin up, there's lots of really lovely people out there.

Chloe xx
 
I spend most of my life 'wilding' the occasional bad nights are far far outweighed by the good ones!
 
It's a shame this has happened to you and you did the right thing moving on, but like you said you both were too wound up to sleep and until you've got over it in time it will worry you. Hope you reported it to the police (useless I know) who could at least keep it on record.
Being solo I'm not as in control, I have a red mist button that pops quickly when I'm put in a very threatening situation, reason and normal everyday logic do go out of the window especially in a situation that you were in. I don't believe I have an "anger management problem" as it never happens until I'm put in a situation where I'm fearful of my own safety, I believe it's a survival trait and I would use any weapon I had to hand (don't need to carry any as a 1ft razor sharp kitchen chopping knife from the drawer would do. I'd much prefer to answer charges by the authorities than to be laid out as a victim.
Others on here would say "it's over the top" but I don't think it is, bad people do bad things because good people are civilized and very restrained like a declawed cat.
These thugs are cowards, I've had dealings under other circumstances with people like that and they don't have backbones, the problem is that if they get away with it how long before they decide to put a petrol can in the car on their midnight jollies and burn a motorhome (just for a laugh)?
But I genuinely hope you can get over this and carry on w/c ing, it's fantastic.
All the best.
 
A very crap situation for you I am sure.
We have been lucky so far too, and I do not suffer fools lightly, but to date have only had to approach a tent that was pitched next to us (on a campsite) to ask them at 2am in the morning to keep the noise down, only to go out again 15mins later and 'offer' them 'outside'. :mad2: Other campsite users complained to the office in the morning and the group of yoofs were kicked off the site.

In your situation, I am prepared to go out and have 'words' but would ask my wife to video the proceedings from the safety of the vehicle, as evidence.
Obviously care would have to be taken as to what action the 'words' consist of, so that I could justify what happens. We would move on afterwards too.
 
Thanks folks - a problem shared, a good nights sleep and some time has lessened the impact some! We're just going to leave the van more 'instant escape ready' when wilding, which is a good idea anyway - and I'm sure I'll mellow in time again.

CAL - unfortunately I'm built like a stick - not a great threat! And I worry that, if I were to go try and defend myself, I'd just get my arse kicked and give them a 'reason' to take things further. Who knows what these idiots might do, when you can't see their reasoning there's no predicting their actions! Kate's much scarier than I am so she can bark at people while I get us moving in future - but hopefully these plans will not need to be acted on!

This forum is great - just knowing there's the community that deals with the same sort of rubbish that we can talk to is a comfort.
 
Even if you were a cage fighter it is best not to get involved, there will inevitably be more of them & probably live local with more mates to call on if they wanted. If you are unsure about a place keep on moving & try to avoid built up & run down areas is a maxim I use.
They probably just wanted a laugh at your expense & meant no physical harm, unfortunately, they are too brain dead to care that their actions adversely affects the victim. They are just feral scum.
 
I like Beemer's idea of videoing any discussions that take place in such a situation.

Years ago I used to spend a lot of time on a friend's narrowboat. Travelling through Milton Keynes was often a problem with kids on bridges throwing stones etc. If we saw kids on any bridge someone shouted "kids on the bridge" and the person on the tiller picked up a camera & pointed it at them. This put them off.

However, if videoing any sort of confrontation on a phone these days I'd probably should something along the lines of "This one's for the cops not my mates!" if it got hairy.
 
That's a good idea - didn't think to get the video going, the audio would have been good to capture!
 
safety plan

don't dwell on this case. But you now have a plan, and acted it
is best to move on?
We Make good choices most of the time !

If your a dog walker try Steart by hinkly point. POLICE WITH GUNS, now that's safe!
 
You did the right thing moving on to another spot,I had to do the same recently when a guy approached my MH and pulled down a ski mask over his face,I wasn't too bothered as he couldn't see the crowbar at my feet,but I wasn't prepared to stay the night knowing I'd not get any proper shut eye. It's the first time my dog has really gone off at someone,as soon as the mask came down the dog just went ballistic,but as he's still a pup I knew he wasn't going to be too much of a deterrent and I wouldn't want him getting involved and getting hurt as it would just blow his confidence.
 
band driver said:
don't dwell on this case. But you now have a plan, and acted it
is best to move on?
We Make good choices most of the time !

If your a dog walker try Steart by hinkly point. POLICE WITH GUNS, now that's safe!
Click to expand...

Yes it's great there.

Regarding confronting the toe-rags, it may be what they want, in a similar situtaion but not wilding, my wife has told me to hang back and she would deal with it, not that she is a physically menacing in any way at 8 stone, but her thought is they may like someone who, a male who will confront them and have a go so they can get stuck in, whilst a feebile lady is not what they are expecting and leave them feeling stupid.
(Just one train of thought, obviously I'm in the Cab with the AK47 as back up :hammer:)
 
I was a part time youth worker in Aldershot for eight years and as well as running a youth club I did a lot 'detached' work, working with young people on the streets and in the parks. I worked with a lot of young people from difficult home backgrounds and in this situation many see their mates as the place where they have an identity and where they belong. The problem is that if one of them has a stupid idea the rest follow, they egg each other on and things escalate - but many of them scare themselves by what they are doing. Some of the work that I did was around anti-social behaviour and I found that if I and my colleagues approached them and had a conversation, not shouting at them, 99% of the time we ended up having a reasonable chat and they could see the error of their ways, e.g. how would you feel if a group of young people behaved in this way towards your nan, sister, etc. I have done this a couple of times, when not in a youth worker role, with success - although I have never had to do this when wildcamping, and I wonder what would I do. If there was plenty of light (I don't like working in the dark!) I think I would calmly ask them what's going on - there is no point in ranting and raving as it is likely you will be met with more of the same, they won't be expecting a calm approach!

It's a tough decision as there have been news reports of people having a go and getting injured or killed but I think if more of us challenged anti-social behaviour - in a calm way, it's easier to do this when you are not alone - perhaps it would make a difference. Or am I being naive??

As always when wildcamping it is advisable to have a backup plan, but remember the vast majority of the people in the world mean you no harm even when kicking off in front of their mates in an attempt to show they are hard.
 
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