Going off-grid - tips and advice welcome

[Janne]

If we mindlessly encourage him he might try to give it a go and die trying.

Obviously the poor chaps experience of Nature is watching BBC and taking a stroll in the nearest park. He did not even bother to check facts about Sandinavia on the internet.

 

[SoldierPalmer]

If we mindlessly encourage him he might try to give it a go and die trying.

Obviously the poor chaps experience of Nature is watching BBC and taking a stroll in the nearest park. He did not even bother to check facts about Sandinavia on the internet.

Some times I like to leave things and watch Darwin's theory take effect.

 

[mousey]

About as off grid as I'd go =

Stef Roberts "I sleep in the woods"
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNvSqCsVaDYmVpec3btEv6Q

This was linked to somewhere on here before and I watched a few of his videos, good take on things [IMO], but still relying heavily on society and still participating in it - he has a job even. Can't do that with a family though.

 

[Nomad64]

He did not even bother to check facts about Sandinavia on the internet.

At the risk of dipping a toe into forbidden waters, the OP wouldn't be the only person guilty of that in the last week!

 

[bowji john]

At the risk of dipping a toe into forbidden waters, the OP wouldn't be the only person guilty of that in the last week!

Oh very good !

Very deftly done

 

[mrcharly]

(swerving round the deep and dangerous waters of politics) I read the blog of someone who cycled up through scandinavia, camping in some of the free spots. They travelled pretty much the length of Norway, north of the arctic circle, through finland and estonia. That's some damn fine off-gridding and lovely campsites

 

[Janne]

(swerving round the deep and dangerous waters of politics) I read the blog of someone who cycled up through scandinavia, camping in some of the free spots. They travelled pretty much the length of Norway, north of the arctic circle, through finland and estonia. That's some damn fine off-gridding and lovely campsites

In Scandinavia, ALL land except gardens and fields are free to camp on! Pick berries, mushrooms, dead wood for a fire.
Some great roads to cycle on, as the traffic is much less intense than in UK.
Also plenty of lakes, streams and rivers, mostly very clean.

The only thing which can be negative is the huge distances involved, doing a trip like that.
If you choose the route carefully, you can see some fantastic stuff, both nature related and cultural.
But is it off grid? I guess it depends on how you define off-grid, but no, it is not really.

My impression was that the OP asked about the most extreme "off gridding' which is a more or less total break with civilization?

 

[Lacijag1]

Hi everyone!
Not sure this is the right place to post but I'm after tips and advice about going off-grid.
Location: we're thinking Scandinavia as it's wild camping allowed. French Atlantic coast is nice but you can't camp there.
Stuff: What to take, essential or useless.
How: Is a bike the best way? Of can you suggest anything else?
Money: Can you really do that with hardly anything.
Experience: There are lots of blogs but I'm after your story, the good, the bad and the ugly.
Food: Can you really live off nature?
Hygiene: Where do you wash lol
Thanks.
CampingCapy

my advice to u, don't do it!

if u want to live long term off-grid is hard, u may not realize it but it means NON STOP working.
my grand parents lived semi off-grid on a farm up in the mountains in hungary. water from the well, wood from the forest, food from the animals they kept and butchered for themselves. no electricity whatsoever.
it is an extremely time consuming life. no time for fb or chatting on forums.

if u just want to have like a trip, a short term holiday like off the grid adventure. choose some other place rather then scandinavia. do it during summer somewhere in central or south europe where the weather less likely will be ur enemy and more to forge from the land. and cheaper to buy staff than in scandinavia if anything needed.

 

[Robson Valley]

My retirement move from the city to this little (600) village was absolutely deliberate.
Goods and services and health care (little hospital with full med lab.) Even a funded "Health Bus"
service for specialist appointments in the city. Our health care insurance system is second to none.
It's now 15+ years since I bought my home here. I still think village housing is affordable.
Yes, we have serious winter. At this very moment, it is snowing like Hello as the WX cools down a few degrees (-5C)
for the next couple of weeks. Oh well.

Off the Grid:
If you mean no electricity, many people simple substitute other energy sources (wood & gasoline) and carry on.
If you mean going bush, I would set you down in either one of 2 camping spots which are heaven on earth.
There's water, wood and good forest shelter. I figure you'll be dead before Christmas.
Read about it = paleo people lived in communities for very good reason = survivorship.

 

[Hammock_man]

Still with all that been said, by myself as well......... its a wonderful idea.

 

[Janne]

Campingcapy has been very quiet. It would show good form if you gave us a bit input.

Jamaicans ( plenty of them here) have told me it is fully possible to live well in the forests of Jamaica. Plenty of nuts, fruits, game. Plenty of water. Warm.
All you need is a woman, a machete, flint snd steel and a Mora or two!

 

[Robson Valley]

Have you read "The Martian" by Andy Weir (sp?). You want to survive alone? What is your caloric requirement? Count it out or die.
Biologically and mathematically, that work of fiction is your survival guide. Nobody has done it better.
You can't second guess that kid, he got it right. The wigs at NASA think so, too.

My environment is equally brutal = there's essentially not enough to forage for (salmon, moose/elk/deer/grouse)
to keep you alive. You aren't a good enough hunter. The nuts-and-berries thing is a fake.
You can't garden with the local herboivores (they know what's good and what isn't and your garden is #1 on the list.)
Fail to count your calories and you will die.

I think, to their credit, that Campingcapy is having a re-think. One step at a time. Very smart.

 

[C_Claycomb]

I almost feel sorry for Campingcapy. He came here with brimming enthusiasm and the bliss of ignorance, and in one fell swoop had his misconceptions and fantasies ripped away.

I know that the members here COULD offer really useful advice if the question was phrased better. Adding information about current experience and fitness would be a start. Has the OP camped much, done bushcraft, what and where? Do they have gear already or are they going to have to shop for stuff? What sort of things do they want to see and experience on this trip? How long do they have, how long do they want to be travelling, or do they want to just stay in one place?

The problem is that the gulf between where the OP appears to be now, and where he was suggesting that he wanted to be in a short time makes for an almost irresistible opportunity to insert some reality. I think I probably felt the same sense of incredulity when I was answering a young chap's thread about creating a dog village in the forest as a way to deal with strays in Eastern Europe. There is something inherently humorous in the situation, I think that this sketch by Monty Python sums things up rather well.

[video=youtube;a00cHtT9BKE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a00cHtT9BKE[/video]




All that said. If the OP is looking for an adventure, it is certainly possible to do such a thing on a far lower budget than most tourist on TripAdvisor will suggest. Its about managing expectations. If you are fit enough to ride a bike over long distance, then that can work, but you need to be fit. Guys where I work nonchalantly talk about doing 50-70 miles after work during the summer. They could cycle tour no problem. If you wild camp and cook simple food, your daily expenditure can be kept low. Forget living off the land. Fishing is nice and a fish is a bonus, don't count on it. You want to enjoy your trip, not be worrying about whether you can find enough to eat.

A hammock/bug net/tarp system can work, as can a smaller tent. If there are two of you a light three man tent can be a good choice.

Here is another thing to think about. If you are serious about doing something adventurous, don't let something like the response to your initial questions put you off. Learn by it, go away, do some more reading and research and come back and ask slightly better informed questions aimed at a more focused goal and I think you will get information that you will find more useful.

ATB

Chris

 

[Adze]

Good points Chris.

Spending a week hungry 'living off the land' while walking and camping above the intake wall in the Lake District might be an idea before deciding to up sticks and sever all ties with 'civilization'.

Reading the story of Dick Proenneke and all the preparations he made for southern Alaska, particularly the length of time preparing and the amount of supplies shipped in would be an idea too, just to give some sort of sense of scale. If living off the land includes smallholding then that is definitely do-able, one of my neighbours grows a year's worth of fruit and vegetables every year in the garden of a semi-detached - granted you do still need the skills to achieve that and a crop failure means a visit to the local greengrocer for him, whereas for 'wilderman' means starvation.

 

[Hammock_man]

Ok maybe "we" have been a bit mean to the OP. I wonder if there is more then a bit of self loathing creeping in here. Many of us would like a bit of the wild life, a bundle of trees to call our own! However for what ever reason we are unable to do this and feel a miffed that yet another hopeful soul is thinking of doing what we are not able to do. Maybe if it was a face to face conversation, we could smile gently, pat them on the head and softly explain why.
I am sorry if I have added to the problem but it did seem that it was yet another " give me a 3 line explanation of how I can side step years and years of experience and perform something almost no one is able to do. please."
It does not help that the OP has not responded!

 

[bowji john]

Perhaps he is already gone off grid, living the dream, and no longer has internet .