Hi I'm new, plus pls help on where to go!

[skybandit]

Hi there, just found the site, and it looks brilliant. Hi to my fellow bushmen!

I'm off on a bushcraft/survival weekend this weekend, and am thinking of places to go to avoid the crowds but that wont be overly demanding for my not so bushcrafty orientated friends.......does anyone have any suggestions for a nice secluded empty piece of countryside, anywhere from the south coast up to wales and beyond? We'd like to be out of contact and away from campsites and the public etc, and a river to fish in would be a bonus.

Any suggestions gratefully received!

cheers
Pirran

 

[bushyboo]

hello and welcome skybandit
sorry i cant help you with where to go down your way but im sure there are lots of people here that can

 

[Sickboy]

Welcome aboard
Sounds like your looking for the holy grail with the rest of us Can't really help with pointing you towards somewhere, we all have our little spot's that we use but the forum dislike's us talking about them for obvious reason's, who can blame them!
If you just want to camp out and enjoy the great outdoors away from the crowds then then north wales is good as you can bivi above the level of the farmed land (intake walls?) no problems, though worth taking a small bottle of scotch as emergency payment if you've camped a little low . You can't build open fire's though but camp cookers are o.k.
One of the best night's out was in a bivi bag next to the lake south of the Snowdon summit, clear as daylight with the snowdon summit visible from the star light , sweet! But it's busy early in the morning so if you wanted to hang about not ideal, but buy a map and see where takes your fancy.
Hope that help's a little
sickers

 

[Singeblister]

welcome to the forum

 

[skybandit]

Hi Guys - thanks for the welcome and ideas. Interesting that the forum moderators aren;t keen on talking about locations, especially considering they have created the "out and about" sub-forum! Anyway, I may well try N wales, thanks. Shame that I can;t combine the trip with my other great (and perhaps contrary) love; cars, by driving there in my lotus (N wales roads are legendary)......not a great deal of room for my kit!

Yeah I have my local spots but was after some local knowledge from those of you who are a bit further away from me.

Anyway, many thanks again, and I hope to "see" you all soon on the site.

Cheers

 

[Matt Weir]

Hi Guys - thanks for the welcome and ideas. Interesting that the forum moderators aren;t keen on talking about locations, especially considering they have created the "out and about" sub-forum! Anyway, I may well try N wales, thanks. Shame that I can;t combine the trip with my other great (and perhaps contrary) love; cars, by driving there in my lotus (N wales roads are legendary)......not a great deal of room for my kit!

Yeah I have my local spots but was after some local knowledge from those of you who are a bit further away from me.

Anyway, many thanks again, and I hope to "see" you all soon on the site.

Cheers

The thing is that the site admin can't be seen to condone any illegal activities which includes camping/trespass without land owners permission in England and Wales which is what Sickboy is saying.

Scotland is a different matter and has different by-laws for land rights and access but if you have a good nosey around the forums you can find more info about that kind of thing.

There are plenty of informal meets that get arranged plus the official site sanctioned Moots to be getting on with.

Anyway hello and welcome

 

[Marts]

Hi Guys - thanks for the welcome and ideas. Interesting that the forum moderators aren;t keen on talking about locations, especially considering they have created the "out and about" sub-forum! Anyway, I may well try N wales, thanks. Shame that I can;t combine the trip with my other great (and perhaps contrary) love; cars, by driving there in my lotus (N wales roads are legendary)......not a great deal of room for my kit!

Yeah I have my local spots but was after some local knowledge from those of you who are a bit further away from me.

Anyway, many thanks again, and I hope to "see" you all soon on the site.

Cheers

Hi Skybandit and welcome to BCUK. I just wanted to clarify what's been said above...

It's not so much the moderators that are against discussion of locations per se that means no one is going to suggest places to you, rather that many bushcrafters work hard to get permission to use private outdoor locations - it can be tough work convincing private landlowners to allow us onto their property to have fires and camp etc. When we do get permission all the good work can be undone easily by careless or innapropriate behaviour.
I'm not implying that you or your mates would do so, but you've just joined the forums and no-one has met you outside of cyberspace, so you can probably understand why people would be reluctant to say "sure go use xxxx woods, the owner lets me and a few of my friends use it" It's no reflection on you personally. Try getting along to a meet sometime - we're a friendly bunch and you'll soon be invited to more places than you can shake a stick at.

If it's public spaces you're talking about in England then that is another matter. There really aren't many spaces you can camp and have fires legally. This is why the moderators frown on people who discuss places to wild (for wild read illegally) camp.

Dartmoor springs to mind though

 

[Nightwalker]

Firstly a warm welcome to the community here skybandit. Im sure you will find this community to be a useful resource.

Regards camping locations; I have a location that meets all of your criteria and yes has been a holly grail to me in the past Lucky Tor, Dartmoor.

As far as I am aware from what I have read from the Dartmoor National Park Authority's website you are aloud to camp and have a fire on dartmoor as long as you meet certain criteria. I cant recall the criteria now because currently their website is down, but it had a number of basic stuff in like it cannot be within 300m of a road or a wall, other stuff like that. If I've got it wrong please inform me folk!

Anyways about Lucky Tor; it has beautiful scenery, a big river to fish (if legal - check the legality of it first!) and walks too. I first visited this spot as a younger teenager a good number of years ago, our teacher recommended the place to us and a group of us young teenagers went off on our first week long camping adventure!

You can see photos of that visit here:
http://www.ashleycawley.co.uk/luckytor/
(Yes I was the one who fell in the mud! )

In 2004 me and my girlfriend visited Lucky Tor for the first time in the winter, as you can see the gallery is some what different as the previous:
http://www.ashleycawley.co.uk/luckytor2/

And then just recently (few weeks ago) me and my girlfriend visited again, this was my first camp with my new tarp, bivi-bag & sleeping bag, I greatly enjoyed it.
http://www.ashleycawley.co.uk/Lucky-Tor-2007/

As for getting there, you first drive to a carpark at Dartmeet on Dartmoor. You can find that here. Then its roughly a 2 mile walk I believe, over rocky/rough terran yet beautiful at the same time as it follows the large river chopping through a valley of woods either side. I've pulled the coordinates off my GPS and put them through Google maps for you, here is the spot.

Hope you enjoy your future adventures! Take care and be safe.

My friend Jack Bailey beside the river on our hike to Lucky Tor.​

 

[skybandit]

Guys thanks for the posts.

Firstly, the moderation/secrets issue: Aha of course - I quite understand that the site can't be seen to condone trespass etc - I hadn't considered this when I asked the question. And yes I quite understand that people aren't going to tell me where their special spots are that have good resources or where landowner permissions have been sought - I wouldn't send anyone from the site onto the land I have permission to shoot on, nor would I tell you where my favourite cep picking spots are, so I quite understand that!! I guess I was just after some general advice on areas to visit rather than specific spots. Many thanks nonetheless.

Nightwalker - many thanks indeed for such detailed info!! I was beginning to sway towards the Brecon Beacons, but will now check out your suggestion in a bit more detail.

Cheers to you all!!

 

[Nightwalker]

Not a problem, its good to have all the info I think this one is relatively easy to find aswell.

 

[Dougster]

SO 005 243

It's in the Beacons and feels remote, but can have a few people there. The farmer will arrive with his tractor at some point in the morning and charge you £2 per person.

It's a ten minute drive into Brecon, and when you look south, the view is superb. There is a river running through the middle, but no fish.

You can have hammocks, tents, tarps and a fire - take a saw and axe as a huge Oak died and fell just nearby, then less than an hour after setting of you are on the summit of Pen-y-Fan.

Enjoy whereever you go.

 

[skybandit]

Thanks Dougster; you've all been so helpful that I am now in a bit of a quandry as to whether to head to dartmoor or the beacons. I shall consult my friends and maybe flip a coin!! I'll let you know how things go!

Cheers
Pirran

 

[KAE1]

Firstly a warm welcome to the community here skybandit. Im sure you will find this community to be a useful resource.

Regards camping locations; I have a location that meets all of your criteria and yes has been a holly grail to me in the past Lucky Tor, Dartmoor.

Absolutley stunning location, thanks for sharing. We're off tomorrow, meadow by small river, camp fire, open canoeing and a few beers, not as picturesque as Lucky Tor but better than watching 'Iam a singing iceskater' GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!!!!!

 

[skybandit]

Well have a great time, sir! I reckon we'll be trying to get lucky tomorrow, though we may end up in brecon - I'll try to take some snaps either way and let you know how it went.

Cheers
Pirran

 

[skybandit]

I said I'd let you know how it went, so even if no-one reads I feel I should! Me and some friends ended up going to dartmoor, and followed nightwalker's excellent instructions (thanks!)- we actually went a bit further than lucky tor, and crossed the river and camped on the other side overlooking the river. It was a lovely spot and we had a fantastic weekend, despite some rain.

Cheers guys!