ActiveOutdoorsCampingWhat is wild camping and should I try it?I’ve been wild camping for years, and it’s one of the most liberating things you can do in the outdoorsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
ActiveOutdoorsCampingWhat is wild camping and should I try it?I’ve been wild camping for years, and it’s one of the most liberating things you can do in the outdoorsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
I’ve been wild camping for years, and it’s one of the most liberating things you can do in the outdoors
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Getty)
(Image credit: Getty)
What is wild camping?
(Image credit: getty)
(Image credit: getty)
Wild camping differs from sited camping in many ways, but principally because you choose where you sleep, you don’t pay a fee to anyone, and you don’t need to prebook your spot. All of this makes it particularly attractive for multiday hikers and bikers tackling long-distance routes and trails because they can simply continue walking or pedalling for as long as they feel like it on any given day before setting up camp for the night.
Obviously, you do not have access to any facilities such as toilets or tapped water when you are wild camping, so you need to be prepared, carrying things such as a goodwater purifierand a bag to pack out all your rubbish (an olddry bagmakes a great trash sack).
(Image credit: getty)
(Image credit: getty)
What are the issues around wild camping?
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Wild camping does not involve driving a vehicle to a site and staying there, free of charge, for several nights. Responsible wild campers use their own steam to access the outdoors and only stay for one night in any particular place. In fact, one of the tenets of wild camping is to pitch late and leave early.
Wild camping is also not about turning up with loads of other people, making lots of noise, and it certainly doesn’t involve leaving rubbish behind all over beautiful landscapes, starting fires and disrupting wildlife – all of these things are connected to problem picnicking and outdoor partying, which became an issue during the lockdown. Moves to outlaw wild camping would do little to stop such problematic activity and could, in fact, prove counter-productive because people who enjoy wild camping are more likely to object to or report such behaviours than to indulge in them.
(Image credit: getty)
(Image credit: getty)
Responsible wild camping
This also includes responsible toileting – going at least 50 metres from any water source, digging a hole for solid waste and either burning the paper (only if conditions are safe to do so) or packing it out.
If you’re using a tent, it’s also best to use one that’s discreetly coloured (with a green flysheet, for example) to avoid being a visual blot on the landscape for others. Pitch it late in the day, and drop it early in the morning for similar reasons. Be conscious of things like ground-nesting birds and wild animal burrows when you’re selecting a site, and never bash a new trail or flatten flora in order to find a spot.
Wild camping while bikepacking on Dartmoor(Image credit: Pat Kinsella)
Wild camping while bikepacking on Dartmoor
Wild camping while bikepacking on Dartmoor
(Image credit: Pat Kinsella)
Is wild camping legal?
This is a really thorny issue, and it basically depends on where you are – laws about where wild camping is officially alloweddiffer across Britain and Europe. As mentioned above, wild camping is once more permitted across much of Dartmoor (the Dartmoor National Park Authority provide all the details you need to know about where you can sleep outhere), but, at the moment, this is the only place in all of England and Wales that you can legally wild camp without the landowner’s permission.
The situation in Scotland is completely different – theoutdoor code in Scotlandis far morepermissive of wild camping(both external links), although it is proscribed in certain heavily visited areas, such as around the shores of Loch Lomond.
Getting permission from a landowner is one way of wild camping elsewhere in England and Wales (and in other countries), although that’s not always easy to do – it can be hard to figure out who owns a remote piece of land, let alone get in contact with them, and if you’re doing a multiday adventure you might not know where you’re likely to stop each night.
The other option is to be extremely discreet, make your site out of sight, stay for one night only (pitching late and leaving early) and leave no trace of you ever having been there in the first place, as per the principles laid out above, and thesewild camping hacks. In many places, rangers are tolerant of responsible wild camping, and it’s worth remembering that unauthorised wild camping (which falls under trespass)isn’t a criminal offence in the UK(external link) and only becomes one – aggravated trespass – if you refuse to move on when asked, or cause damage to the place where you are camping.
(Image credit: getty)
(Image credit: getty)
Should I go wild camping?
If you enjoy engaging with wildlife and experiencing the outdoors, then yes, you absolutely should try wild camping. Sleeping under the night sky in a remote area – away from the noise of traffic and other people – is an astonishing liberating thing to do. Discovering a truly stunning spot to wild camp, offering views that you would never get at a commercial campsite, is like finding hidden treasure.
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