Wild versus Free

thers an old saying size dont matter its what you can do with it that realy counts;):D but then again if your gona have one you might as well have A BIG ONE

Always buy the best that you can AFFORD. Any other way is, Pound(£) foolish, penny wise.
 
Interesting thread. I've just been looking for a campsite anywhere on the Norfolk coast to give my newly acquired camper it's first proper run. Nearly all fully booked, found one with spaces but they charge for all three nights of the bank holiday when I can only get away for two plus a surcharge to take my dog. That means over £110 to park on an unserviced pitch for two nights - except I can't go there anyway because I'm single! "No single occupancy" - what trouble do they expect from a divorced middle aged professional looking for somewhere to park up with a nice view, take the dog for a walk and read a book until bedtime without using any of their "facilities"?

I bought a camper, precisely because I don't know that much in advance when I can scoot off for a break and was tired of looking for holiday cottages in the right place, that allow dogs and are free at short notice. Not, because I object to paying for things. Glad I found this site! (Web, not camping..)
 
Interesting thread. I've just been looking for a campsite anywhere on the Norfolk coast to give my newly acquired camper it's first proper run. Nearly all fully booked, found one with spaces but they charge for all three nights of the bank holiday when I can only get away for two plus a surcharge to take my dog. That means over £110 to park on an unserviced pitch for two nights - except I can't go there anyway because I'm single! "No single occupancy" - what trouble do they expect from a divorced middle aged professional looking for somewhere to park up with a nice view, take the dog for a walk and read a book until bedtime without using any of their "facilities"?

I bought a camper, precisely because I don't know that much in advance when I can scoot off for a break and was tired of looking for holiday cottages in the right place, that allow dogs and are free at short notice. Not, because I object to paying for things. Glad I found this site! (Web, not camping..)

Welcome to the site :)

In case you haven't yet picked up on it, there's a database of wildcamping spots in England, Wales and Scotland that's available to full members ...

I look after this database, and the download is for use with Google Earth, and includes POI files for various makes of satnav. There are currently just under 2,500 places listed, and that's going to increase to almost 3,000 in the next few weeks.

This download might well help solve your dilemma - there are a fair few spots around Norfolk, including the coast.

A good £15's worth I reckon:)

Regards

Chris
 
Welcome to the site :)

In case you haven't yet picked up on it, there's a database of wildcamping spots in England, Wales and Scotland that's available to full members ...

Heh, had already joined and loaded it to my TomTom by the time I saw your reply! Cheers, almost spoilt for choice now ;)
 
Wild Camping

I have been searching for suitable wild camping spots on other web sites and came across a long thread which turned into a debate about wild camping - well more of a rant really! Contributors were moaning about motorhome owners who spend thousands of pounds on their outfits and are then too mean to pay for camp site fees.

I think they are missing the point completely. To me, wild camping is not about saving a few pounds - I am perfectly happy to pay up for my overnight stay - it is about the freedom of going and staying where you want, when you want, often spontaneously - no forward planning - in fact exactly what encouraged me to buy a motor home in the first place. There were suggestions that we should all use CS/CLs instead. I am a member of the Caravan Club, but have rarely used CLs as I find that especially during peak season, there are no spaces available when you get there, and you are encouraged to book ahead - so much for freedom and spontenaity!

Do others think like me - that wild camping is about freedom rather than free camping?

Hi Tony. I am new to this and it's just me and the dog. I want to park in the middle of nowhere and let my dog roam without troubling anyone else. I do not want to be parked next to some boring old fart or a family with noisy kids on a camp site. I enjoy the solitude and freedom of parking away from the main areas. I would be prepared to pay for my stops that is not an issue. Until the forestry Commision or the like get their act together, I will park for free. It's a strange mentallity in this country that we have hundreds of square miles of empty land owned by us - the taxpayer - yet we are not supposed to use it.

Paul
 
I use campsites very occasionally - usually because I just want to stop moving for a while, put the awning out, get the BBQ out and generally laze about, oh and a decent shower. I don't mind paying for that - with camping cheque out of season, maximum £15 pn. I never use the other facilities apart from water and waste.

The rest of the time I wild. I prefer to avoid the paying aires unless there is a particular attraction, say Pisa or something. I take the view that free aires are placed where the town openly welcomes MHs - I go there, do my shopping in the local shops (avoiding the national chains). Too many of the paying aires rely on tokens which, somehow, are almost never available when I arrive - there is another thread covering this particular debate in some depth. I mainly avoid campsites because I don't think that €25 is very good value for water, waste and pitch...and because they can be noisy busy places.

But I don't ignore the savings by going while. Last time I was out for 90 days. If we say £15 per night, that is £1,350 which I couldn't have afforded while also maintaining a house. It is also money I would rather give to local traders for things I want or need, rather than giving it to town council (the aire, I assume, is meant to attract business for traders) or paying over the odds for addons that I neither want nor need.

Diverse lot, aren't we?


Polly
 
Wild camping

We are novice motorhomers and so far have only stayed on sites. We would love to park and camp but so far have not done this. We are unsure about the law regarding this so would appreciate any info.
 
The post quoted above states the basic position. There are a couple of other considerations - driving onto private land for more than a set distance (which temporarily escapes me) is an offence, but one which only carries a nominal fine with no penalty points, and only if for purposes other than parking. Back into someone's driveway to turn round, an offence. Park in it, then it's simply trespass, no offence committed.

Another consideration is Drunk in Charge. There are more complete threads on here regarding that, but basically if you're in charge of a vehicle in a public place and are over the limit, you can be prosecuted. Public place, broadly speaking, is somewhere that the general public have access to, on payment of a fee or otherwise. Such as, a car park. You have a statutory defence if you weren't going to actually drive until under the limit again, but the onus would be on you to prove that you would have been sober by the time you drove off. That can involve you obtaining a toxicology report costing hundreds of pounds. If you win, you can claim the cost back from central court funds, but personally, I'd avoid the whole thing by not drinking in the first place.

Short answer, just be sensible. Parking somewhere overnight is not against the law, ergo sleeping in a parked vehicle isn't either.
 
if you're in charge of a vehicle in a public place and are over the limit, you can be prosecuted. Public place, broadly speaking, is somewhere that the general public have access to, on payment of a fee or otherwise. Such as, a car park.

Or a Campsite!

Its like Gas attacks. They have never happened. The coppers will not do you for drink in charge if wild camping. End of.
 
Could in theory include a campsite, but far less likely - depends upon what proportion of the public have access to it. End of the day, as long as you're parked somewhere you're unlikely to be moved on from, issue never arises.
 
Park in it, then it's simply trespass, no offence committed...

if you're in charge of a vehicle in a public place and are over the limit, you can be prosecuted. Public place, broadly speaking, is somewhere that the general public have access to,

So on the basis that parking on private land is not illegal, the drink issue applies pretty much anywhere, then. In theory.

(There is a story I can tell of someone parking on my land.)



Polly
 
So on the basis that parking on private land is not illegal, the drink issue applies pretty much anywhere, then. In theory.

(There is a story I can tell of someone parking on my land.)



Polly

Road traffic law, is a minefield - and illegal means different things, depending upon whether you're talking civil or criminal actions. If you want to pm me I'd happily give an opinion, but it really isn't safe to generalise!
 
All law is a minefield. You don't see poor lawyers.

They draft the law and we pay them interpret it and to look for loopholes.

It is a great gig.

Long story short, I had someone park in my carpark (I had a village shop) while he disappeared for the weekend. I had no signs put up. The police couldn't help, obviously, because it was private land, although they did go through series of 'helpful' advice as to why I shouldn't simply push it off my land. A friend of mine had previously described a similar problem concerning his parents' farm.

The car park was 100% accessible to the public.

basically if you're in charge of a vehicle in a public place and are over the limit, you can be prosecuted

That was the basis on which I commented that it might apply pretty much anywhere.



Polly
 
So on the basis that parking on private land is not illegal, the drink issue applies pretty much anywhere, then. In theory.

(There is a story I can tell of someone parking on my land.)



Polly

Parking on my land certainly is illegal. By who's law? BY MY LAW. I own the land. or rather I and a group of people do:mad2:O.K. We couldn't do much about it by law without going through the courts to get the offender removed. But we also could not garantee the safety of the parked vehicle whilst it is on the land and we have a notice to that effect. :mad: I once backed the slurry spreader up to the parked vehicle and turned it on. They couldn't get the window closed fast enough. LOL. Letting young bullocks loose in the same field also has an effect, There are ways and means of moving them which is faster and cheaper than the courts.
Saying all this I do help to run a camp site on this land for Charity and other organised groups. and we have never turned away someone who wanted to park for the night when they have asked first, and not just taken it foir granted that they can park just where they want when they want.
 
In response to Polly - you simply describe a vehicle being left in your car park. That could never be anything but trespass, hence why the police weren't interested. A vehicle in your car park occupied by someone who was rat-arsed, would be a different matter. Oh and lawyers don't make laws, you're getting us mixed up with politicians. Your average lawyer thinks the law is even more of an arse than you do.
 
you're getting us mixed up with politicians

Actually, no, I am not. Politicians may decide what laws they want to try to put on the statute books, but they are not the one who sit at their computer and metaphorically put pen to paper. They pay lawyers to do that.

The machinery by which law is created is highly complex, involving a great deal more than implementing the wishes of politicians. I am not sure a discussion about it falls within the remit of this forum, but I am up for it, if you are. My background is trust law, with overlap into associated areas such as property and tax, although that is a good few years ago, now. Through observation, I have also closely followed the creation of new law all the way from convincing government of the need to seeing it on the statute books. I am by no means an expert, far from it, but I am reasonably well informed and always ready to learn more.
 
wildcamping

Tony, I could not agree with you more.
There is nothing that compares with happening across a beautiful spot and thinking - that'l do for me!

this is our first full year wilding and the joy of finding a site with fantastic views and secluded and usually alone iswonderfull:heart:
 
who is this edforth??

:sleep-027:who is this shedforth ? is he a spy just trying to get us lot on sites . i have lived my van for nearly 20 years summer in uk winter where its warm .i very rarely us sites and have never had any problems . aslong as u are discreet and polite and leav where u have parked clean and tidy . i supose he is or was acivil servant (maybe not so civil)
stan:sleep-027::shag::sleep-027:
daer donkey doo doo iwould think u might have problems with the boys in blue !
 
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