POIs to avoid

Pudsey Bear

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18 years of 100% enjoyable "Wild Camping" came to an end last night.

We stayed over to the west coast of Cumbria yesterday as we realised that we always drove past it on the way to Scotland.

A lot of the bikers for Triple S came from the area so we decided to give it a look and is really very nice we went here for the night at about 2.30 and it was lovely with plenty to see with ships and fishing boats going out on the rising tide, we even went for a walk up to the cliffs, we'll Liz did it was too much for me after a while.

Then it started to get darker and there was a beautiful sunset, then the yobs arrived about 8pm loads of them, loud thumping music horns going off, shouting etc, then they thought it would be fun to surround the van and make as much noise as possible unfortunately we were the only van there so we were their only target, it got to 10.30 and I would either have to get out or move, after seeing how many they were and more arriving all the time discretion being the better part of valour we got the van ready to move, opened the blinds and moved off.

Don't stay here.
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I'd already put another place in the sat nav before setting off about ten minutes away, when we got there I could see already that this was another meeting place for the local youth, lots of hot hatches doing the same mindless things, it looked like we might have been followed to this other place.
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So we drive off no signal so could look on the WC app for a while but we did eventually find a place off the beaten track at around midnight.

Not sure if this thread will be allowed to stay up but we have had similar places even up in Scotland with similar but lesser trouble and with social media being so prolific with youngsters we may have become a target for the more mindless ones.

So watch out how and where you park so you can easily drive off in case of trouble, we always have for peace of mind.
 
18 years of 100% enjoyable "Wild Camping" came to an end last night.

We stayed over to the west coast of Cumbria yesterday as we realised that we always drove past it on the way to Scotland.

A lot of the bikers for Triple S came from the area so we decided to give it a look and is really very nice we went here for the night at about 2.30 and it was lovely with plenty to see with ships and fishing boats going out on the rising tide, we even went for a walk up to the cliffs, we'll Liz did it was too much for me after a while.

Then it started to get darker and there was a beautiful sunset, then the yobs arrived about 8pm loads of them, loud thumping music horns going off, shouting etc, then they thought it would be fun to surround the van and make as much noise as possible unfortunately we were the only van there so we were their only target, it got to 10.30 and I would either have to get out or move, after seeing how many they were and more arriving all the time discretion being the better part of valour we got the van ready to move, opened the blinds and moved off.

Don't stay here.
View attachment 135119



I'd already put another place in the sat nav before setting off about ten minutes away, when we got there I could see already that this was another meeting place for the local youth, lots of hot hatches doing the same mindless things, it looked like we might have been followed to this other place.
View attachment 135120

So we drive off no signal so could look on the WC app for a while but we did eventually find a place off the beaten track at around midnight.

Not sure if this thread will be allowed to stay up but we have had similar places even up in Scotland with similar but lesser trouble and with social media being so prolific with youngsters we may have become a target for the more mindless ones.

So watch out how and where you park so you can easily drive off in case of trouble, we always have for peace of mind.
Don't let that put you off . You , obviously, won't go back there but think of all the places you have stopped without any bother .
Get back on the saddle , so to speak
 
Scary Puds, you did the best thing by moving off, you can never predict the way these things can go.

.
 
Don't let that put you off . You , obviously, won't go back there but think of all the places you have stopped without any bother .
Get back on the saddle , so to speak
We have no intention of not Wilding, if/when that happens we'll sell the van.

The only purpose of this thread is to post places you might not want to stop overnight or it will just disintegrate to a discussion and be useless.
 
Sorry to hear that Kev. You're a lot more experienced at wilding in the UK than me but I always had a golden rule. Never wild anywhere near a built up area and particularly never on a large tarmac car park thats likely to be a magnet to boy racers and nutters from said town.

Of course this diminishes the possibilities but a small rural patch of uneven ground or any smaller space hidden from view would be my preference. As said though, you're an old hand at this so just remember all the peaceful nights you found elsewhere. Still not a pleasant experience and probably scary. Utter pond life. Enjoy today, onwards and upwards! 😁
 
Sorry to hear this Kev, hope you are both ok now.

But this only serves to highlight that these places have many issues, but apparently we alone require to be dealt with. Part of the problem is the very lack of suitable places due to the stupidity and narrow minded attitudes of some towards us.
I have no doubt that if those carparks had been filled with poorly behaved motorhome owners it would have resulted in media coverage followed by inappropriate measures.
I have witnessed some terrible behaviour whilst wc. I have seen some selfish behaviour from some within our community, but by far the worse behaviour I have witnessed had nothing to do with us.

Keep wc Kev, enjoy the rest of your trip. (y)
 
We had the same thing happen at Hawick, phoned the Police because it started getting dangerous as they took great delight in driving past us at breakneck speed to the point were the motorhome actually moved / rocked with the bow wave created by their cars.

No sign of any Police and at 01.00 we couldn`t take anymore so moved on, have never been back and never will !
 
Worst thing that happened to us was the mad axe murderer in the Black Forest in Germany. On a large stellplatz with about a dozen vans on it (so not full). 2am some drugged up nutter appears and starts trying people's doors and shouting aggressively in some some foreign language (not German). I tried the mad axe murderer defence of pulling the duvet over my face which bizarrely didn't work. I considered sending Michelle out to deal with him but if he turned out not to be an axe murderer we would have been in a world of bother if he ended up beaten to death with a size five hiking boot.

In the end I called the Rozzers who turned up what seemed like hours later by which time he had buggered off. I made the mistake of parking the bike behind the van and the front end next to a tree so couldn't drive away. 😁
 
At Old Tebay Services in the HGV, Coaches and Caravan Parking; except that we'll over 80% of the spaces are taken by cars ... Lack of literacy among white gammons? Or just a sense of entitlement to prevent the spaces being used by larger vehicles? Old Tebay have no staff on patrol, cannot phone the site because of automated phone system, so we'll add it to the list of places to avoid

Steve
 
At Old Tebay Services in the HGV, Coaches and Caravan Parking; except that we'll over 80% of the spaces are taken by cars ... Lack of literacy among white gammons? Or just a sense of entitlement to prevent the spaces being used by larger vehicles? Old Tebay have no staff on patrol, cannot phone the site because of automated phone system, so we'll add it to the list of places to avoid

Steve

Yeah but great sausage and bacon rolls Steve.
 
W
We had the same thing happen at Hawick, phoned the Police because it started getting dangerous as they took great delight in driving past us at breakneck speed to the point were the motorhome actually moved / rocked with the bow wave created by their cars.

No sign of any Police and at 01.00 we couldn`t take anymore so moved on, have never been back and never will !
That’s a shame Graham, because the local council have done really well providing these excellent facilities. The problem is if it was at the weekend the police can be busy at that time of night. Possibly the council should install cctv, if they have done not done so already.
 
I've next to never had an issue ...though I deliberately avoid ANYWHERE near people ...

Nearest we got was parked up in a small car park at side of Llyn Brianne ...

Got parked up early evening when couple of hot hatch cars parked up ...
Thought to self "ohhh here we go"

One of drivers got out and set a drone up ...
Passengers (only) were having a "herbal smoke"

Soon as sunset finished (we all watched) they packed up and headed off home after wishing us a peaceful night ...

Never bloody offered to pass to the left ...no manners these young kids lol ;-)

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Never had any issues but Interestingly met a couple this weekend who are new to motor homing and their biggest concern is exactly what Pudsey experienced.
 
I have found rural car parks to be the worst for undesirables. A small car park is often ok except for loud music. I prefer a quiet road in a residential area, no view but usually quiet and safe.
 
W

That’s a shame Graham, because the local council have done really well providing these excellent facilities. The problem is if it was at the weekend the police can be busy at that time of night. Possibly the council should install cctv, if they have done not done so already.

Hi Bill, it was back in the very early days when there was bays marked along the riverside edge of the car park but were very sloping and they had the original " Welcome Hosts ", an elderly gentleman and two middle aged women who were very polite and helpful.

The first night was good apart from the slope even though i was right at the top of Milenco Quattros it was still quite bad.

We left the next morning and carried on north for our Scottish jaunt, a few weeks later we decided to call in again on our way home because Shirley wanted to go into the large fabric shop opposite the car park which was not open the first time but this time we parked in the main area which was level as it was virtually empty.

As soon as it got dark the boy racers arrived and whilst they were a bit noisy it wasn`t too bad because they stayed down the far end near the park, then it got silly when some clown decided to see how close he could get to us at what i would estimate was 30-40 MPH, after that they got faster and faster to the point the bloody motorhome rocked and swayed as they drove past.

I rang the Police but no one arrived
 
Hi Bill, it was back in the very early days when there was bays marked along the riverside edge of the car park but were very sloping and they had the original " Welcome Hosts ", an elderly gentleman and two middle aged women who were very polite and helpful.

The first night was good apart from the slope even though i was right at the top of Milenco Quattros it was still quite bad.

We left the next morning and carried on north for our Scottish jaunt, a few weeks later we decided to call in again on our way home because Shirley wanted to go into the large fabric shop opposite the car park which was not open the first time but this time we parked in the main area which was level as it was virtually empty.

As soon as it got dark the boy racers arrived and whilst they were a bit noisy it wasn`t too bad because they stayed down the far end near the park, then it got silly when some clown decided to see how close he could get to us at what i would estimate was 30-40 MPH, after that they got faster and faster to the point the bloody motorhome rocked and swayed as they drove past.

I rang the Police but no one arrived
We have been there twice Graham but in the middle of the week, and were for fortunate enough to have had three quiet nights. We parked close to the elsan point at the other end. It’s a real shame what happened to you and Shirley. Shame the police did not show up. If this happens to us I will contact the local council. Driving about like that in a carpark has serious safety implications for everyone.
 
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