Wild camping ban Scotland (4 Viewers)

[VXman]

Chew on this one no place is wild camping after all we All own this land unfortunately some parasites have taken it upon themselves to tell us all They own this island and the earth we walk on

Don't try camping in my garden

 

[Northernraider]

East Lothian is traditionally very anti motorhome!!! Installing height barriers at most popular places for overnighting, they cannot understand why the rubbish and bad behaviour is still happening, without motorhomes to blame. It is a place to avoid. If you want to visit the east of Scotland head further north to the east neuk of Fife, where they cater for motorhomers

Sadly now at a cost .. you could park all around the Fife coast overnight before free
Then campra stuck their nose in and now the greedy council wants £10-15 per night for an otherwise empty carpark with no facilities. I'd park on the street outside out of principle.

 

[JamesT@Dundee]

Probably the first of many areas implementing a ban. Victims of their own success promoting the NC500.
Phil

East Lothian isn't on the NC500. So I doubt that is the reason.

 

[JamesT@Dundee]

Do you have a link to the story?

I think this is it...

Coastal car parks to open earlier to allow photographers to capture the dawn

WILDLIFE photographers have persuaded East Lothian Council to allow parking in its coastal car parks earlier in the morning so they can capture the…

www.eastlothiancourier.com

Not specifically MH or CVs - but all vehicles unless using specific park up areas.

 

[L' Hobo]

I think this is it...

Coastal car parks to open earlier to allow photographers to capture the dawn

WILDLIFE photographers have persuaded East Lothian Council to allow parking in its coastal car parks earlier in the morning so they can capture the…

www.eastlothiancourier.com

Not specifically MH or CVs - but all vehicles unless using specific park up areas.

I think it says, all overnight parking banned EXCEPT specific motorhome parking areas!

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[Barriesimpson]

Although the law states (at least here in Spain) that so long as the vehicle fits into the parking space with no overhangs, motorhomes can park up and stay overnight (but there is a caveat - you cannot camp i.e. no tables, chairs or awnings out), I find that I would rather choose a space where the local residents will not object because I see no benefit for our collective in annoying others who are not of our incline. In the long run, if we are civil, others will be civil to us.

 

[Minxy]

I think it says, all overnight parking banned EXCEPT specific motorhome parking areas!

Agreed - only MHs in the designated spaces can stop overnight.

 

[mohobot]

I have just returned from Skye & stepped a foot on the very south of NC500, I counted 70 motorhomes in 24 miles just on that small stretch. In a friends car I met 2 French 8.5 meter motorhomes in convoy on the road to Plockton, bad enough in a car let alone 2 x mohos, my friend had to drive off the road to pass them. Who knows where they parked up if/when they got there. Saw several examples of moho pavement parking overnight & many mohos sticking out into the road whilst parking. I dread to think what things are like in August high season. The infrastructure is totally overloaded & many locals are totally peed off. The amount of hire mohos is also totally out of control, sometimes staffed in my experience by drivers who may never have driven one before, never driven on wet muddy single track potholed roads, worse still may never have driven on the left hand side before
Many laybys are full of toilet roll & number 2's, evidence of cassette emptying. Many car parks are jammed with mohos. The local press to the above was full of anti moho stories, including a local killed in a head on with a "foreign" driver. I got a story of a moho stuck on a single track road whilst I was in Plockton, blocking it, so we had to go a different route back. Basically people are taking far too large & long mohos on roads that are not suitable for them, illegally parking them & also wilding in them, then blocking up the infrastructure, when it goes south.
All that maybe why many locals are not happy with the current anarchic situation!
However the garages are doing well when it does go south & the food outlets etc are full!!

 

[mohobot]

Don't try camping in my garden

I was camping in someones garden last night , its on camper contact!

 

[L' Hobo]

I have just returned from Skye & stepped a foot on the very south of NC500, I counted 70 motorhomes in 24 miles just on that small stretch. In a friends car I met 2 French 8.5 meter motorhomes in convoy on the road to Plockton, bad enough in a car let alone 2 x mohos, my friend had to drive off the road to pass them. Who knows where they parked up if/when they got there. Saw several examples of moho pavement parking overnight & many mohos sticking out into the road whilst parking. I dread to think what things are like in August high season. The infrastructure is totally overloaded & many locals are totally peed off. The amount of hire mohos is also totally out of control, sometimes staffed in my experience by drivers who may never have driven one before, never driven on wet muddy single track potholed roads, worse still may never have driven on the left hand side before
Many laybys are full of toilet roll & number 2's, evidence of cassette emptying. Many car parks are jammed with mohos. The local press to the above was full of anti moho stories, including a local killed in a head on with a "foreign" driver. I got a story of a moho stuck on a single track road whilst I was in Plockton, blocking it, so we had to go a different route back. Basically people are taking far too large & long mohos on roads that are not suitable for them, illegally parking them & also wilding in them, then blocking up the infrastructure, when it goes south.
All that maybe why many locals are not happy with the current anarchic situation!
However the garages are doing well when it does go south & the food outlets etc are full!!

30yrs ago, I spent 3 months touring the North of Scotland from my friends place in North Sutherland.
I was driving my 1989 VW T25 Westfalia California.
It was the idyllic vehicles for the job, small enough to allow another vehicle into MOST of the passing places ( including a 3day stopover at Smoo's Cave when I saw no-one!) and high enough to see oncoming traffic to stop and allow the local worker to proceed without hindrance.
I now have a 6metre vehicle and the Highlands have become much busier.

I would hate to go back and spoil my wonderful memories.

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[Ian_H]

I would hate to go back and spoil my wonderful memories.

Unfortunately that is exactly what happened on our visit to Skye last July (even before the English school holidays had started)

 

[mohobot]

I have just returned from Skye & stepped a foot on the very south of NC500, I counted 70 motorhomes in 24 miles just on that small stretch. In a friends car I met 2 French 8.5 meter motorhomes in convoy on the road to Plockton, bad enough in a car let alone 2 x mohos, my friend had to drive off the road to pass them. Who knows where they parked up if/when they got there. Saw several examples of moho pavement parking overnight & many mohos sticking out into the road whilst parking. I dread to think what things are like in August high season. The infrastructure is totally overloaded & many locals are totally peed off. The amount of hire mohos is also totally out of control, sometimes staffed in my experience by drivers who may never have driven one before, never driven on wet muddy single track potholed roads, worse still may never have driven on the left hand side before
Many laybys are full of toilet roll & number 2's, evidence of cassette emptying. Many car parks are jammed with mohos. The local press to the above was full of anti moho stories, including a local killed in a head on with a "foreign" driver. I got a story of a moho stuck on a single track road whilst I was in Plockton, blocking it, so we had to go a different route back. Basically people are taking far too large & long mohos on roads that are not suitable for them, illegally parking them & also wilding in them, then blocking up the infrastructure, when it goes south.
All that maybe why many locals are not happy with the current anarchic situation!
However the garages are doing well when it does go south & the food outlets etc are full!!

Local also told me the few public toilets available in the Highlands are often blocked with cassette waste, I cant personally verify that claim. But we are in blame moho owners for everything psyop territory, before the new laws etc are applied!

 

[CAB96]

Local also told me the few public toilets available in the Highlands are often blocked with cassette waste, I cant personally verify that claim. But we are in blame moho owners for everything psyop territory, before the new laws etc are applied!

They are not new laws, just some parking restrictions.

 

[mohobot]

There are new laws

There is to be a public consultation underway soon, which may lead to mew laws, in the future, as I understand it.

 

[Minxy]

There are new laws

'May' doesn't mean there are laws in place now.

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[Brains]

Said this before, but got shot down.

'Stealth Camping' is what we do in a motorhome.
Urban camping, sleeping in a vehicle on the roadside or a carpark.

'Wild Camping' is done by walkers.
By definition the location is not a place a conventional vehicle can get within 100m

On any Walking, Cycling, Climbing or Canoeing forum, you would be laughed at if you called sleeping a motorhome as 'Wild camping'
We at MotorhomeFun should stop using the wrong term.

Scotland has no intention of stopping Wild Camping.
However Stealth Camping is an issue in some areas and will be progressively clamped down upon.

 

[Jim]

On any Walking, Cycling, Climbing or Canoeing forum, you would be laughed at if you called sleeping a motorhome as 'Wild camping'

We at MotorhomeFun should stop using the wrong term

Why, we've used it for 30 years at least. To keep your canoeing friends from laughing at us, what do you suggest we rename Campsites to?

 

[Minxy]

Said this before, but got shot down.

'Stealth Camping' is what we do in a motorhome.
Urban camping, sleeping in a vehicle on the roadside or a carpark.

Nothing stealthy about parking up a big white (other colours are available) box, 'off site' camping is more appropriate.

'Wild Camping' is done by walkers.
By definition there is nowhere a conventional vehicle can get within 100m

On any Walking, Cycling, Climbing or Canoeing forum, you would be laughed at if you called sleeping a motorhome as 'Wild camping'

Which is why we're on a motorhome forum!

We at MotorhomeFun should stop using the wrong term.

It depends on the context surely, on a MH forum we know the meaning as it relates to MHs so is quite acceptable.

Scotland has no intention of stopping Wild Camping.

Good.

However Stealth Camping is an issue in some areas and will be progressively clamped down upon.

If it's causing genuine issues then it definitely needs sorting out but that means applying the penalty to all who do it, not just MHers, eg day trippers crapping in the bushes, having BBQs and leaving a mess etc.

 

[Gellyneck]

Unfortunately that is exactly what happened on our visit to Skye last July (even before the English school holidays had started)

Remember though the Scottish school holidays start at end June through to early August.
Allegedly, we are still allowed to tour our own country but awaiting confirmation!

 

[Ian_H]

Remember though the Scottish school holidays start at end June through to early August.
Allegedly, we are still allowed to tour our own country but awaiting confirmation!

Well aware of that! Can't imagine how much worse it must be once the English schools are off too- although there wasn't space for many more 'wild' campers!

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[Brains]

Why, we've used it for 30 years at least. To keep your canoeing friends from laughing at us, what do you suggest we rename Campsites to?

Well, now you mention it, possibly.

A Campsite that does not permit traditional camping in tents perhaps should be be renamed caravan parks or something similar.
Seems mad to me that some sites have 'No Tent Camping' signs on the gate, yet call themselves 'Camp Sites'.

 

[Jim]

Seems mad to me that some sites have 'No Tent Camping' signs on the gate, yet call themselves 'Camp Sites'.

Yep, how they laughed on the cycle forums. Meanwhile, we'll call it camping on campsites and wild camping off them. And who cares that a canoeist laughs.

 

[bigtwin]

We at MotorhomeFun should stop using the wrong term.

Why, we've used it for 30 years at least.

Indeed, but the more significant point is that our use pre-dates its adoption in the Scottish Outdoor Access Code (part of the Right to Roam legislation). Consequently, any challenge to its use should be redirected elsewhere.

Ian

 

[mohobot]

If it's causing genuine issues then it definitely needs sorting out but that means applying the penalty to all who do it, not just MHers, eg day trippers crapping in the bushes, having BBQs and leaving a mess etc.

Day trippers dont park their 8.5 meter MH's on the pavement overnight in towns & villages

 

[Gellyneck]

Well aware of that! Can't imagine how much worse it must be once the English schools are off too- although there wasn't space for many more 'wild' campers!

I think a lot of the visitors are French / Italian as well both of whom "shut" for the month of August!

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[cyberyacht]

Perhaps we should paint our vans olive drab and invest in some camouflage nets.