Hi Ben

Having wild camped on all the National Trails there is a lot of good info at:
http://www.magazine.ordnancesurveyleisure.co.uk/magazine/tscontent/editorials/outdoor-skills/2011/wild-camping.html (copy and paste for access)
This site includes a useful unofficial wild camping code of conduct.

I found this article via George Tod’s comprehensive and excellent Long Distance Walking Advice web site
http://www.gtleisure.co.uk/walks/advice.htm

Regards Allan

Hmm. Perhaps a little too much information there! ;-) I'll stick to digging a hole in the ground but I generally bag used loo roll rather than burn it. I'm a dedicated wild camper absolutely anywhere. On long summer days, I'll hike up to 16 hours each day. Late afternoon I'll hope to have acquired two litres of water. Around 6pm onwards, I'll find somewhere to cook a meal. Then I'll carry on walking till light fades and find somewhere to pitch out of the way. Away at first light. Can't beat it.

Hi Ben
Backpacked 45 paths, including a LEJOG and the 19 National Trails. Also wild camped on a English tour (3500 miles) via the OAP bus pass. Will ask permission if a real farm house and its not a holiday house, is close. Use proper camp sites if they have reasonable backpacker rate. Otherwise in no particular order some of the places I have wild camped are village hall grounds, sports grounds, golf courses, church yards, on the side of tow paths, nature reserves, on the path itself if there is room to walk round, open parks, commons and private gardens with owners permission. Got very picky as regards sites on my LEJOG not wishing to duplicate. (A LEJOG as the crow flies. [Long Distance Walks Forum] ) Normally all you see is a couple of dog walkers who I always talk to and tell them which path I am walking and I am just camping for 1 night. 95% of people are so kind to strangers in my experience. Yes its illegal in England but have had only 3 minor incidents in 40 years from people with minor mental problems. When backpacking a shower is great but a strip wash with the hot water in a margarine container is a good substitute. The container also stores washing equipment when walking. I use pub toilets where possible but as regards faeces I will dig hole if very isolated but actually find it more convenient to evacuate my bowel on all fours into a liquid proof bag in the tent. In my experience this is a 10 second operation. This bag I then carry in my pack until I pass a dog faeces bin.
Regards Allan

When I go hiking I backpack with my tent and rarely stay in a B & B. I have hiked the PW, C2C and so on and have never found real difficulty in finding a camp site, in fact I try not to plan it, if a site is near when I want to camp I go for it, or if not I wild camp, never had a problem yet. Wrong, I did have a problem once with clouds of midges when I camped by a river in Alston. Dreadful! What is most important to me is to be near a pub or restaurant (as I do not cook) so at least I get a meal, a pint or two and make contact with people again.

Thanks Ben , what a wonderful post. I am new to all this but plan to eventually go on many multi night walks that involve wild camping. I live in Scotland so never really thought there would be a problem. I was hoping to work up to the coast to coast maybe summer next year. It never dawned on me there could be a problem with wild camping. Thanks to all for the very useful info here. I reckon if I wear my kilt and dress as a true Scotsman , that should dissuade any altercations with farmers and the like. Do I need to advise them to lock up their sheep prior to my journey ?

Glyndwr's Way is perfectly suited to wild camping. I've just completed the walk in glorious weather, and wild camped every night. Always found somewhere suitable, and the bonus for me was that I met only a handful of people walking the trail.

I did the Coast to Coast a couple of years ago. All wild camping except for two nights. No problems. Lynne Stafford

Have yust done The South Downs Way camping. We did not wild camp propper but had 1 night in the garden of a B&B £5. 1 night in a pub garden Free (meal in pub). 2 nights at farm pitches 1 £5 the other £10. It would be possible to wild camp if one does not mind carrying a fair bit of water as not much to be had up high on the Downs.
We found pople very helpful offering sugestions on the walk. The Backpackers provide a Farm Pitch directory to members and also advice on possible wild pitches. It is very inexpensive to join £12 individual £15 family.
They are a good source of ideas on how to backpack lightweight and on gear.

We backpacked the Coast to coast a couple of year ago, mainly using camp sites, a couple of nights in accom and the rest wild camping. We have wild camped most of the Wainwrights too over a space of 4 years. We have never come across any problems as we always try to tuck ourselves out of the way somewhere and leave no trace.
We are backpacking the Dales way next month, this looks a little tricky for wild camping spots, so unfortunately we've had to book a couple of camp sites and pubs, but we still need to pitch wild 1 or 2 nights on the trip as is just isnt possible to find suitable accommodation (with a dog!)

I have done many LDPs wild camping. I tend to do daily mileage of 30 miles and more, so I set off before sunrise and pitch just before sunset. When it starts to lose light near the end of the day I start looking for a suitable place to put down. On occasions this has meant pitching in the dark as the first opportunity opens up.
I generally plan it out where I want to be at the end of each day before I go, so have a general idea of the area and terrain.
The difficult areas are obviously low lying cultivated and agricultural ones, but i try and get through these during the walking day, so as to get onto common or high ground for the night.
To travel lighter still I often don't take cooking gear, relying on one decent pub or cafe meal a day anytime after 2pm, and just carry snacks for the rest of the walk.
In mountain areas I use streams for water, in lower areas, I but water from shops or if running low and not near any facilities I'll knock on a door.
Dave.

I have always camped on National trails, my first was the Ridgeway in 1974 or 5. I did that with my mum, her first too. We had a Campari tent that I sewed flaaps on and bubble pad to sleep on. if it was fine we just tucked our selves away under a hedge or wall and pulled the fly sheet over us. I have now done more than 10 National trails, The West Highland way, camping with my son and daughter who where 6 and 8 at the time, and took 10 days. Daughter and I are off to do the Clywdian way tomorrow, I'm sure we will find many a fine place to sleep out. You can always ask a local..I have camped on peoples laawns, in chuch yards, outside pubs, in orchards and on village greens, the coprner of the school field... all with permission. Just ask and you'll be surprised at where you may find a welcome.

A bit late in arriving at this thread but only joined yesterday! My partner and I camped our way up the west highland way this summer including 2 nights "wild". I also did half of the Ridgeway last year (retired hurt!) and wildcamped around the Uffington white horse. I agree with the view that as long as you are discrete and responsible (leave no trace) then there is no problem. I love camping and would rather stay on the path than have to divert for a B&B (although not over new year! - see http://walk2012.co.uk/blog/?p=12 )

I recently published a short article about the problems of wildcamping in "Backpack", the magazine of The Backpacker's Club, www.backersclub.co.uk The article has created quite a stir from Backpacker's Club members. If anyone in the LDWA would like to see the article, send me a request at ben@hollamhouse.com

Footnote to Dennis. I did not complete the NDW in July. I had a major problem with one of my feet and had to abandon after completing 102 miles. I was not wildcamping on the trail but if I had have been, I would stopped earlier and addressed the problem correctly. But, I had to push on to the B&B. I hope to complete the trail in October. Ben

Hi Ben
I would think that by now you would have completed the NDW and I would be very interested to hear how you got on and if you experienced any problems with the camping.
Dennis

Dennis, you wrote "If you can find a way of disregarding the almost continuous noise of motorway and major road traffic I'm sure you will enjoy the NDW." I have the perfect solution. These days, I have to wear hearing aids. I'll just switch them off!!

If you can find a way of disregarding the almost continuous noise of motorway and major road traffic I'm sure you will enjoy the NDW. I walked it, and the South Downs Way in Feb/March and found both quite undemanding with good paths and excellent waymarking. There will be many places along the route where you can tuck yourself away for the night and plenty of places on route for resupply.
please let me know how you get on.
Best wishes
Dennis

Thanks for your helpful reply, Dennis. You have confirmed my suspicion that the only real solution to wildcamping in the UK these days is “be discrete, be considerate, be quiet and be hidden”. I last wildcamped over 50 years ago when I was in my late teens and in those days, wildcamping was acceptable and safe. Given that I am about to start wildcamping again, I wondered about “What’s changed?” This is what prompted my original question. I’ll take heart from your experiences and give it a shot. Who knows – we may meet on one of the LDPs?

Good luck in your quest to walk all the UK National Trails. I’m not sure that I’ll ever achieve such an ambition – the South West Coastal Path is a bit daunting - but I am looking at walking a few more of the National Trails. I’m on the North Downs Way starting July 3rd.

Regards,

Ben

Hi Ben
I can understand your dilemma. There are a number of points I would make about walking LDP's. In my experience with LDWA there are not a large number of members who want to do them preferring the challenge events and long day social walks. I have walked nearly 70 ldp's and hope to complete all the National Trails by the end of next year. I meet very few walkers on these occasions but of those I do meet a number of them are backpacking and wild camping and none has ever reported any problems. If you wildcamp responsibly as you indicated I doubt very much if any one would ever see you and if you are thinking of seeking a landowners permission you may well have to walk a considerable distance off route to find the farmer.
If you want to find out the official view of camping on National Trails I suggest you go to their website and send them an email.
Although it not strictly approved, I have wild-camped on many occasions in the Brecon Beacons as have many others but never had any problems.
I wish you well and continue to enjoy these wonderful long distance paths.
Dennis

Further comment. I notice that quite a few LDWA members have viewed my question about camping along National Trails but no-one has posted a reply yet so I thought I would dig deeper. It’s a can of worms! The Backpacker’s Club, www.backpackersclub.co.uk maintains a list of farmers and members who allow overnight camping for backpackers on National Trails or elsewhere but the whole question of what is called “wildcamping” has stimulated a number of activities recently. Wildcamping is allowed in certain areas in Scotland e.g. moors, mountains, National Parks, but not in England or Wales. A petition requesting similar rights was posted on the 10 Downing Street web site in January 2008 basically asking for English and Welsh law to be bought into line with Scottish law. Go to http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/wildcamp to view the wording of the petition. The petition attracted over 2000 signatures but was rejected by the government later in 2008 and is now closed. As far as I can tell, the petition has not been re-submitted but there is another web site, www.legalisewildcamping.com that is continuing the discussion and has pointers to other interested parties e.g. the Ramblers Association.

It seems that the current attitude is one of live and let live. In other words, although it is illegal to wildcamp in what might be called open country in England or Wales, most authorities and landowners will turn a blind eye if it is done responsibly. Responsibly means: only one night at the site, maximum of two people, pitch away from any main road or trail, no open fires, no litter, dogs on leads, etc. But, a landowner can object and charge you with trespassing. There is even discussion about the right of landowners to confiscate gear such as tents and other over-night stopover items. So, as I said, a can of worms.

Where does this leave someone like me i.e. someone who wants to walk along the whole length of a National Trail camping overnight rather than B&B-ing? To be honest, I don’t know. I could try to be discrete with my stopovers, pitching out of sight and leaving early with no trace; or see how the Backpacker’s Club members-and-farmers list coincides with my target stopover points; or stay with the B&B approach; or a mix of all three options. The problem with B&B-ing however is cost. I rarely find a place cheaper than £30 per night and if I walk, say, Offa’s Dyke, I probably will need at least seven or eight stopovers.

Hmm. Food for thought. Any other comments, or do most LDWA members not want or need to wildcamp?

Ben Bennetts
LDWA Member 28270

Since I retired 2 years ago, I have taken up long-distance walking over multiple consecutive days e.g. Isle of Wight coastal path and the South Downs Way last year and, this year, a 300-mile 21-day trek in Nepal with my eldest son. The trek in Nepal re-introduced me to the joys of sleeping in a tent, as opposed to using overnight B&Bs, and I am now motivated to try other UK National Trails carrying a 1-man tent and sleeping bag. The problem I am having is finding campsites along the trails spaced at 25 to 30 miles apart i.e. a day’s walk apart. It has been suggested to me that I “knock on farmhouse doors and ask permission to put up a tent” each evening. I don’t mind trying this but this problem must be quite common amongst those who go long-distance walking backpacking-style over a number of days and I wondered what general advice members have to offer.

Ben Bennetts
LDWA Membership Number 28270