Wildcamping in Wales are we welcome?

Just for your guidance, this is the current situation in Wales as published by the Welsh government:
Travel and overnight stays
From Monday July 6th, the “Stay local” advice for all residents to Wales is being changed and the amended regulations now allow for unlimited day travel for all purposes across Wales. This also means that people in England can now travel into and across Wales beyond the 5-mile limit.

However, overnight stays away from the place you are living at, are still not allowed. Caravan parks, campsites bunkhouses, hotels and holiday cottages are still closed for recreational and holiday visitors. Wild camping and van camping are still not permitted under the regulations and the police have stated that anyone seen van camping, staying in motorhomes or wild camping will be moved on and potentially fined.

From July 11th it is expected that self-contained holiday accommodation will be reopening, but again campsites, huts, bunkhouses, etc. with shared facilities will not be permitted to reopen. Only motorhomes with fully contained facilities (toilets and showers) and suitable waste storage and disposable arrangements at established sites will be allowed. Wild camping and van camping will still not be permitted and scenes of outdoors users in camper vans will only antagonise locals and create access issues for the future.
 
Austin J2 said:
Hello to you all,

Hope everyone is staying safe and well in these strange times.

We were thinking that we would brave the big wild world at the beginning of August (as it's my husbands and Daughters birthday) and do a spot of wildcamping in our little very old motorhome like we normally do, but I am a little apprehensive about it all due to Covid and the reception we will get. We also had a few bad experiences back last year when we did a tour round Dartmoor. The locals were not very welcoming thankfully we have a friend down there so the last part of the week we parked up in his field. Needless to say we won't be hurrying back.

I realise that due to people's nature there will always be conflict and the fact that they think we are getting something for nothing, and blaming wildcampers for litter etc.etc. It makes me sad to read the posts about the attitudes of people who want to stop wildcamping and I fear that it is getting worse. We have found some absolutely fantastic places to wildcamp over the years and would really like this to continue.

Has anyone been to Wales recently? We have done alot of tours around Wales over the years and have always been welcomed, possibly due to the quirkiness of our old motorhome and no one has ever seen anything like it or I should say very few have, but these are different times and I just wondered if this 'welcome' attitude had changed.

Any thoughts, advice and ideas will be appreciated

Thank you
View attachment 84617
Our beloved bubbles the campervan
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Hi we stop a lot at lligwy beach (Moelfre, )car park has toilets, cafe, (if it has opened yet,) was £10 per night lovely place,
 
tessgwl said:
Hi we stop a lot at lligwy beach (Moelfre, )car park has toilets, cafe, (if it has opened yet,) was £10 per night lovely place,
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The owners have banned overnight stays for the rest of the year and haven't made a decision yet about next year. The cafe and toilets are open with good social distancing measures in place. We were there on day trips last weekend so that is the latest position.
 
mickymost said:
View attachment 84695

I agree with what the newspaper article is trying to complain about but why take a photo of a Motorhome parked up on the side of a Public Road perfectly legal providing the vehicle has Mot Tax and Insurance to make their point.It appears the Motorhome is chancing a stopover due to the wheel ramp/chocks.The article starts off by saying 19 penalty charges notices were issued due to a spate of illegal overnight stays in car parks.It doesnt mention the type of vehicle charged!
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Probably doesn't help when they have a blue bucket near the rear wheel as well. Again it's all about perceptions. I never park where I intend to stay the night. I don't put anything outside, not even chairs (I'll sit on the sidestep iff I want fresh air). I then drive back to my chosen spot at dusk. Next day I'm up with the birds and off. Hopefully only the Badgers know I've been there. This attitude to 'Wilding' comes from my backpacking days.
 
src said:
Just for your guidance, this is the current situation in Wales as published by the Welsh government:
Travel and overnight stays
From Monday July 6th, the “Stay local” advice for all residents to Wales is being changed and the amended regulations now allow for unlimited day travel for all purposes across Wales. This also means that people in England can now travel into and across Wales beyond the 5-mile limit.

However, overnight stays away from the place you are living at, are still not allowed. Caravan parks, campsites bunkhouses, hotels and holiday cottages are still closed for recreational and holiday visitors. Wild camping and van camping are still not permitted under the regulations and the police have stated that anyone seen van camping, staying in motorhomes or wild camping will be moved on and potentially fined.

From July 11th it is expected that self-contained holiday accommodation will be reopening, but again campsites, huts, bunkhouses, etc. with shared facilities will not be permitted to reopen. Only motorhomes with fully contained facilities (toilets and showers) and suitable waste storage and disposable arrangements at established sites will be allowed. Wild camping and van camping will still not be permitted and scenes of outdoors users in camper vans will only antagonise locals and create access issues for the future.
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Thanks for sharing this please could you provide me with a link to where on the Web you found this, it would be a great help.
 
2cv said:
Part of this article says “Wild camping, in a tent or campervan, is banned in Wales without the landowner's permission.”
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But that's the case everywhere in the UK (except in Scotland), in effect if you wild camp on private land in England without the owner's permission you are technically trespassing.
 
Val54 said:
I'm not sure that the info in #41 is up-to-date, the latest Regulation can be found here ....
gov.wales

The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 2) (Wales) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 (revoked) | GOV.WALES

These Regulations amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 2) (Wales) Regulations 2020.
gov.wales gov.wales
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#41 is not up- to date information because campsites can now as of today open up with shared facilities as long as they have measures in place to protect staff and customers etc. I was just curious as to where on the Web it was.

I have found where this was quoted from https://m.facebook.com/Cader-Idris-Outdoor-Gear-Dolgellau-188914371135163/?__tn__=C-R
Which then leads on to the original article on thebmc.co.uk website.

My intention (and my family) was never ever to 'antagonise locals' before or after covid we have been 'wild camping' for a long time and enjoy it, we abide by the rules and never leave a trace. We have even gone as far as picking up other people's rubbish. Unfortunately there are too many people out there doing the oposite and ruining it for everyone else.
 
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I see from BBC news police are cracking down heavily on illegal parking and wild camping in Wales particularly in Snowdonia and Brecons. We are reminded wild camping is illegal without landowners permission. but what of our parking in lay-bus and car parks. Unless something has changed specific to Wales that I am not aware of, I thought parking up in lay-byes is not covered by this and remains legal, and use of car parks depends upon whether legally enforceable car park signage is in place??? How does this relate to all our POIs in normally tolerant Powys (where we were heading next month), I thought we didn’t list POIs if they were not legal?

Just had a couple of weeks wilding round East Cumbria, Upper Tynedale, Teesdale, and Weardale where it was quiet peaceful and absolutely no hassles...around Ribblehead though it was absolutely rammed.
 
At least they are talking about cars in Snowdonia and also said this "The majority [of visitors] were well behaved, however, there were several instances of illegal camping in the national park, which led to a number of fines being issued," said chief executive Tegryn Jones.
 
mariesnowgoose said:
These issues seem to be getting media attention and cropping up across a series of threads at the moment.

https://wildcamping.co.uk/threads/1...ng-in-lake-district.81887/page-2#post-1103391

"NO OVERNIGHT PARKING" signs THE FACTS.....
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Ok. I’ve read that but I suppose I should ask can we rely on entries on our POIS being ‘highway‘ land or non restricted car parks...or would that be too much to expect? And, does a national park include the ‘highways’ within it, or only land out with the highway?
 
barge1914 said:
Ok. I’ve read that but I suppose I should ask can we rely on entries on our POIS being ‘highway‘ land or non restricted car parks...or would that be too much to expect? And, does a national park include the ‘highways’ within it, or only land out with the highway?
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Good points. Don't know the answer though!

I would imagine they can probably amend the the laws to suit since C-19, but if they have it would be worth challenging in case the new law is not in our favour and never gets changed back! :oops:
 
This is getting messy with so many threads on the same or similar topic.
For clarity there is no one rule for where a public highway starts and finishes so it’s virtually impossible to be that accurate in the app. The only way of finding out would be to send the relevant local highway authority a location plan of the POI and ask them to search their land terrier to ascertain whether it is highway land.
As regards the National Parks, the subsoil of most public vehicular highways is technically Crown Land and the maintenance of the surface is passed to the local highway authority or in the case of trunk roads, the Highways Agency. The National Park Authorities have no jurisdiction over vehicular public highways but as in these recent cases roadside verges are often not public highway. In such cases the NPA can use bylaws to control activities which are perceived to potentially damage the character and enjoyment of the NP.
 
barge1914 said:
Ok. I’ve read that but I suppose I should ask can we rely on entries on our POIS being ‘highway‘ land or non restricted car parks...or would that be too much to expect? And, does a national park include the ‘highways’ within it, or only land out with the highway?
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Firstly, yes, it's too much to expect; POI Admin depends on us all to report changes and someone will always be the first there since a change. Will that person then report it?
Also, it is my understanding that Forestry Commission car parks generally have opening times (dawn to dusk) posted, but plenty of these in the POIs.
 
Austin J2 said:
Thanks for sharing this please could you provide me with a link to where on the Web you found this, it would be a great help.
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My apologies to Hallmut for not responding to your request for the source of my quote, its been a busy day! The site was indeed thebmc.co.uk website, as tracked down by Austin J2. I do have some up to date news though, I called in to the carpark near Morrison’s in Brecon yesterday to see if they were permitting overnight stays by motorhomes as had been the case in Powys before the lockdown. I can report that the official signage clearly permits motorhomes to stay overnight for no more than one night in seven.
 
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