wild camping

[beltsandbraces]

totally new to motor homing and looking forward to some exciting adventures. we plan on using her at least twice a month just for 1 night weekends and don't really want to be tied to going to campsites and have seen people mention "wild camping" now I know our new home is fully self sufficient and this way of doing it really interests me but the wife is a little hesitant. so apart from the obvious, large signs saying NO overnight camping what are the rules and regulations say around the new forest area. And suppose you have found somewhere for the night popped a bottle of Tesco finest red and someone tells you to move on, i am sure drinking and moving a 27ft motor home don't go together.

 

[Khizzie]

No, no, no...

The nanny did that.

JJ

Ha ha ! spoilt brat then ..lol

 

[gus-lopez]

Cool motorhomers off-site park to avoid hoards of rowdy folk and all the rules and regulations of sites/aires/camping places.

Stress fuelled, every rule and regulation obeying, tarmac loving, EHU needy, soap watching, hair dryer using motorhomers (who love filling in forms and booking weeks in advance) use campsites...

... only because they haven't "seen the light" yet.

JJ

+1

 

[Anthea M]

Every time we have a question about sites versus wild camping it always ends in petty sniping.
thank goodness we all enjoy Motorhoming in different ways and we shouldn't feel the need to undermine someone else's enjoyment of the place they choose to stay.
We have wild camped, used aires, CLs ,small and large campsites and found them all enjoyable at the time we stayed.
#justsaying

 

[Khizzie]

+1

Oh Dear another deluded motorhomer ..lol.

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[Khizzie]

Every time we have a question about sites versus wild camping it always ends in petty sniping.
thank goodness we all enjoy Motorhoming in different ways and we shouldn't feel the need to undermine someone else's enjoyment of the place they choose to stay.
We have wild camped, used aires, CLs ,small and large campsites and found them all enjoyable at the time we stayed.
#justsaying

Totally agree with you @Anthea M. But I do get so fed up with it being intimated that motorhomers that use campsites are not quite right in the head ...many of us have to use the facilities that are supplied at sites due to health reasons. So I take umbrage at being tarred as stupid. Roy. Rant over ..

 

[Kool Kroozer]

Your not stupid Kkizzie, just silly <<<<<see smiley face <<<< Joking, but folk who luv wild camping seem to get tarred with the same brush as free loaders, and its people who use sites seem to think we all should, there is a story and 2 sides to it !

 

[jumartoo]

We'll be starting a trip away next week. We'll be mainly wild parking, either at the events we're going to or on the road travelling. We may use a campsite if there are any open in the remote(ish) areas we'll be visiting. One thing we'll not be doing is freeloading with the hoards on beaches or in other peoples back gardens, even for a night. What causes all the problems is mainly long stay, large numbers of motorhomers abusing an area. Unfortunately the one nighter wanting to park in these areas is tarred with the same brush. Authorities are starting to clamp down and it's spoiling things for us all.

 

[ABZSteve]

Our forum seems to be split into two camps (s'cuse the pun). Those who like to wild camp & those who see it as "freeloading". I believe that its only freeloading if your doing it just to avoid paying a site owner a fee.
I personally feel that the freedom to pull over (within reason) at a scenic spot & enjoy the experience is the cornerstone of motorhoming. I'm reasonably lucky in that I live in Scotland & that wild camping isn't frowned upon in a lot of area's. Now that said, there are many area's that I wouldn't wild camp in. There are a lot of area's in England & to a lesser extent Wales where the same applies. If you only ever intend staying on registered camp sites you might as well dare I say it, have a caravan? There's a question of how safe you feel when wild camping for example, how safe would you feel if you set up camp in the aforementioned New Forest, have a few glasses of wine only to be woken up by cars arriving for a so called "dogging session"? Just packing up & moving on isn't acceptable or wise if you've had a drink.
There are plenty of accounts on these very pages of forum members being disturbed by dogging.

I'd be curious to know how other forum members feel about wilding?

Maybe he is a dogger

 

[ABZSteve]

Every time we have a question about sites versus wild camping it always ends in petty sniping.
thank goodness we all enjoy Motorhoming in different ways and we shouldn't feel the need to undermine someone else's enjoyment of the place they choose to stay.
We have wild camped, used aires, CLs ,small and large campsites and found them all enjoyable at the time we stayed.
#justsaying

Beat me to it

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[Khizzie]

Your not stupid Kkizzie, just silly <<<<<see smiley face <<<< Joking, but folk who luv wild camping seem to get tarred with the same brush as free loaders, and its people who use sites seem to think we all should, there is a story and 2 sides to it !

I use sites because I need to ..so your comment ' just silly" even with a smiley face is out of order. .but I have no issues with wild camping at all and If I was fit enough no doubt I would take the opportunity , but not because its free but because it would be somewhere nice ...the problem with people that wildcamp always and never use a site is that they are continually telling us the site users that we are wrong. You very seldom seeing many posts saying that wildcampers are silly and should only use sites ..so lets just take @Anthea M advice and respect each others views ..Roy

 

[Kool Kroozer]

Think you need to lighten up a little, what i said was a joke i even stated that i was joking - with or without a smiley face, so out of order i think not, thats what the smilies are there for, to lighten banter as such - or perhaps you just silly afterall !

 

[Kool Kroozer]

Well im just packing up the van an off to south wales to do some freeloading - hope you all have a good weekend

 

[Jim]

Ladies and Gentlemen Please...make your points without the bickering and point scoring. Reading and reffing this thread makes feel like the dinner lady in the school playground, I'll be smacking your legs with a ruler and sending you indoors if you carry on.

Calling people who like to Wildcamp Freeloaders, just proves that the name-caller has never properly experienced wild camping. Calling those who prefer campsites as "Know it alls" is not nice either. Be nice..

 

[big map]

Ladies and Gentlemen Please...make your points without the bickering and point scoring. Reading and reffing this thread makes feel like the dinner lady in the school playground, I'll be smacking your legs with a ruler and sending you indoors if you carry on.

Calling people who like to Wildcamp Freeloaders, just proves that the name-caller has never properly experienced wild camping. Calling those who prefer campsites as "Know it alls" is not nice either. Be nice..

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[Jim]

Our dinner lady was particularly vicious with her ruler. It was one of the reasons I was glad to get into long trousers

 

[Khizzie]

Think you need to lighten up a little, what i said was a joke i even stated that i was joking - with or without a smiley face, so out of order i think not, thats what the smilies are there for, to lighten banter as such - or perhaps you just silly afterall !

And maybe youre just a selfish self opinionated freeloader . ..said me with a smiley . Lol

 

[PhilandMena]

Cool motorhomers off-site park to avoid hoards of rowdy folk and all the rules and regulations of sites/aires/camping places.

Stress fuelled, every rule and regulation obeying, tarmac loving, EHU needy, soap watching, hair dryer using motorhomers (who love filling in forms and booking weeks in advance) use campsites...

... only because they haven't "seen the light" yet.

JJ

JJ has it nailed! It's a motorhome Oh Please!, you don't have to be in a campsite to enjoy the benefits of being in one. Too much snobbery, jealously and righteousness from members who refuse to think outside the box IMO.

 

[Khizzie]

JJ has it nailed! It's a motorhome Oh Please!, you don't have to be in a campsite to enjoy the benefits of being in one. Too much snobbery, jealously and righteousness from members who refuse to think outside the box IMO.

Of course I wasn't saying that I wouldn't like to wildcamp I was saying that there are people like myself for medical reasons are not really able to do it even if it was possible so sites where medical help is readily available is the only was they can pursue their motorhomeing .. I just objected to being called silly or stupid. Roy

 

[Jim]

.. I just objected to being called silly or stupid. Roy

Yes but you might of started the name calling inferring that wild campers were freeloaders. Seems to me, that started the tit for tat.

Never freeloaded in the UK so will never have this problem . Lol.

How did that add to the discussion? It didn't. How did it make a new member feel?

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[Khizzie]

Yes but you might of started the name calling inferring that wild campers were freeloaders. Seems to me, that started the tit for tat.



How did that add to the discussion? It didn't. How did it make a new member feel?

My apologies @Jim for my flippant remarks. .

 

[2657]

JJ has it nailed! It's a motorhome Oh Please!, you don't have to be in a campsite to enjoy the benefits of being in one. Too much snobbery, jealously and righteousness from members who refuse to think outside the box IMO.

I use sites mostly,aires when needed and car parks when stuck, it is a motorhome Oh Please! and it's my choice what I do with it.

Snob......moi.....don't think so!
Jealous......of what exactly? I lead the life I choose to lead as I am sure most on this forum do, no need for criticism of others.......unless they are freeloaders of course
Righteous....

 

[PhilandMena]

Our best experience of wild camping is with out a doubt the experiences we had in Morocco. Superb locations with hundreds of like minded people form all nationalities together and being serviced from the the local community, who without doubt benefited from the trade received. A win,win situation.
Tagazout and Tafroute

 

[Khizzie]

Our best experience of wild camping is with out a doubt the experiences we had in Morocco. Superb locations with hundreds of like minded people form all nationalities together and being serviced from the the local community, who without doubt benefited from the trade received. A win,win situation.
Tagazout and Tafroute

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Fantastic.

 

[ambulancekidd]

My other half has MS, so we often have to use sites or CLs in particular, but the freedom the motorhome has given us was a revelation. My dad always had "caravanettes" & even back in the early 60s that was unusual, we wild camped & used sites. Until 5 yrs ago Hazel & I had been caravan people, but then we saw the light!!

We're all into a broadly similar way of relaxing (not dogging lol) & using our recreation time, but being different should be interesting, so lets live & let live folks.

Now that I'm retired we're looking at going along to rallies & meeting people, that'll allow us to put faces to the names & folks who write on this forum. Bring it on.

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[JJ]

An occasional problem with off-site motorhoming has just happened to me... right now.

After six nights on the beachside football club site in Armação de Pêra, paying an outrageous fee of €1.50 PER NIGHT, I have returned to a favourite (free) rural spot only to find that a bunch of inconsiderate locals have parked their bloody cars IN MY SPOT while they go off hiking around the lake for the day.

Some people hey?

JJ

 

[Khizzie]

An occasional problem with off-site motorhoming has just happened to me... right now.

After six nights on the beachside football club site in Armação de Pêra, paying an outrageous fee of €1.50 PER NIGHT, I have returned to a favourite (free) rural spot only to find that a bunch of inconsiderate locals have parked their bloody cars IN MY SPOT while they go off hiking around the lake for the day.

Some people hey?

JJ

How inconsiderate. Cant believe it @JJ lol

 

[TheCaller]

We also need to differentiate between overnight camping and overnight parking.

We do, but AFAIK, the legal difference is not the commonly held belief that it's what you do or don't put outside the vehicle that counts (as it generally is in the rest of Europe). In England & Wales, it's whether or not there is a person inside the vehicle.

I think English law states that cooking or sleeping in a vehicle constitutes camping, wherever & at whatever time of day or night. If anyone can point to legislation or statutory regulation that says different, I would be very interested.

There is also (I believe), a distinction between 'the highway' (which includes lay-bys) & other land, with the rules being surprisingly more relaxed about the highway than about other land.

 

[JJ]

Further to my post above...

They weren't even Portuguese...

They were FRENCH!

French tourists in MY spot.

Bloody cheek...

Whatever next?

JJ

Still... all alright now...

 

[ABZSteve]

Our dinner lady was particularly vicious with her ruler. It was one of the reasons I was glad to get into long trousers

Personally I was glad to get into skirts but each to their own

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[ABZSteve]

My other half has MS, so we often have to use sites or CLs in particular, but the freedom the motorhome has given us was a revelation. My dad always had "caravanettes" & even back in the early 60s that was unusual, we wild camped & used sites. Until 5 yrs ago Hazel & I had been caravan people, but then we saw the light!!

We're all into a broadly similar way of relaxing (not dogging lol) & using our recreation time, but being different should be interesting, so lets live & let live folks.

Now that I'm retired we're looking at going along to rallies & meeting people, that'll allow us to put faces to the names & folks who write on this forum. Bring it on.

If you avatar is your van, it's cracking Seen one just like it last year on the Forfar site. Apologies for the hijack