Wild Camping 1

Wild Camping • 1

WHY WILD CAMPING? • LEGALITIES • CHOOSING A CAMP SITE • LEAVING A SUPPLY CACHE • SAFETY • RUCKSACK • TENT • BIVVY BAG • SLEEPING BAG • SLEEPING MAT • CLOTHES • BOOTS • COOKING EQUIPMENT • WATER CONTAINERS • FOOD • NAVIGATION • LIGHTING • UTILITIES • FIRST AID • LUXURIES

Monday morning rush hour, Codale Tarn

WHY WILD CAMPING?

Once you've camped wild there's no going back. A night spent on an official campsite will bring images of "Tenko". To be fair, there are good campsites and bad campsites. I stayed on a horrendous one in the Lakes one Easter where everybody had their tent pitched right next to their car. Obviously after a couple of days rain the field was like Glastonbury '97 (OK, the toilets were a bit cleaner). A few days later I was able to pitch my tent on a patch of beautiful springy turf, with not a hint of mud, despite the fact that it was still rainy. I was back in the mountains, camping by a stream that ran down to a small tarn, where I was able to swim in glorious sunshine the following morning. (It was freezing, though).

Still, wild camping isn't about luxury. There are no pubs on Helvellyn, no sweet shops on Scafell Pike, and I think the cafe on Snowdon closes at five o'clock. But to be on the fells at sunset when everybody else has gone down, or to stand on a hilltop at dawn and see the summits of the mountains appear out of the clouds like islands in a cotton-wool sea is something that makes all the effort worth while. Hopefully the photos on this site may give a better idea of what I'm on about than the words.

What I'm on about

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THE LEGALITIES

Technically, somebody somewhere owns every square inch of land. The usual advice given in the text books is to get permission from the landowner, preferably well in advance, before you put your tent up. For those of us who go camping in the real world, things aren't so simple. First of all, I don't always know where I'm going to be camping until I get there. I might want to walk an extra three miles, or it might start raining and I might want to put up my tent right here. Or maybe over there. Secondly, trying to find out who owns the land, then who to seek permission from just seems to be more trouble than it's worth. Much of the land in rural areas is owned by trusts and run by committees and I'd imagine it would take months to get a reply, which would probably be negative, (they've got nothing to gain by letting you camp there).

The good news is that camping in the mountains (i.e., above the intake walls and past the last gate) seems to be tolerated. I've never had any problems because usually I camp somewhere really remote. Obviously one should avoid putting a tent up where there are 'no camping' signs, or on farmland or in someone's garden. Discretion is very much the order of the day here. I suppose the phrase 'out of sight, out of mind' sums the situation up best. Imagine it's getting dark and the rain is hammering down on you and you're miles from the nearest habitation, then is a piece of paper in a drawer in Keswick Town Hall going to stop you putting a tent up?

The secret of wild camping - clean feet

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WHY WILD CAMPING? • LEGALITIES • CHOOSING A CAMP SITE • LEAVING A SUPPLY CACHE • SAFETY • RUCKSACK • TENT • BIVVY BAG • SLEEPING BAG • SLEEPING MAT • CLOTHES • BOOTS • COOKING EQUIPMENT • WATER CONTAINERS • FOOD • NAVIGATION • LIGHTING • UTILITIES • FIRST AID • LUXURIES

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