Pennines

[scouser4life]

Well i am looking to go camping for a week, just me and the dog on the 10th of febuary. My plans were to go to the pennines, i know there are several trail but i havew just looked on goolge map and some questions poped into my head.

I thought with it being a national park that it was all public land. But when i looked on google map it appear to be farms, is this true?

Is there many streams and lakes etc? I will need water as means of survival and fish for food.

is there much wild live there? i was hoping to snare some rabbits etc

Has anyone got any links to site about the pennies other than the official ones? The official ones don't give much detail about personal experiences.

Has anyone been there and would like to share there experience?

I will be taking army ration packs but even with them i still need water.

Thanks John

 

[Neanderthal]

After this weather lack of water will be the least of your problems there will be plenty of streams around. Some of the boggy areas will be quite 'interesting'

The better places for wild camping are up on the moors but the wildlife is mainly sheep. I wouldn't count too much on catching rabbits. Fishing, if in season, will need licences etc. There are heavy fines if you are caught as it would be poaching in most places.

The Pennines is a huge area with the Pennine Way running up the middle of it and only parts are in National Park areas. Most of the land is owned by someone, usually the nearest farm so I'm not sure about Public Land only Public Rights of Way across it.

Where abouts were you thinking of going?

Stu

 

[scouser4life]

I was looking at following penninie way trail inside of the peak district.

 

[Doc]

The Peak district isn't really ideal for foraging. But it is still a good place for a trip.

Edale is a good start point. There is a train station and you can get the forecast at the national park centre. There is a good commercial campsite (might be no hot water in winter though) and two good pubs. The pennine way starts at the Nags head.

The way heads north across Kinder Scout and if you want a 'wild' experience it is good for that. Although only 2000ft up the summit is a flat featureless plateau of heather, streams and peat hags. It can be very boggy. You will see and hear grouse, a few sheep, perhaps the odd hare. It is often misty and windswept and navigation can be difficult.

Wild camping is not allowed, though it is access land so you can wander pretty freely. I expect a lot of people do wild camp by pitching late and striking early.

A good trip is to walk from Edale to Mill hill (there is a crashed Liberator there from the war) and either wild camp or return to Edale by a different route, or press on on the Pennine way.

Take care though. People have died on Kinder.

 

[scouser4life]

So i suppose the sheep belong to a farmer Can you recommend anywhere else in the northwest/wales/midlands/within a hundred or so miles of liverpool where i can get a good wid experience? Thanks John

 

[Doc]

It is difficult.

Wild camping at high level seems to be tolerated in the Lake District- I've chatted to the ranger while wild camping and he did not object. It is mountain and moorland rather than forest, and opportunity for fire and foraging is limited. In February snow is likely at high level.

In Scotland the access laws allow wild camping, but might be a bit far. Glen Trool/Galloway forest Park is nice, and likely quiet that time of year. http://www.7stanes.gov.uk/website/r...umfriesandGallowayGallowayForestParkGlenTrool The FC are naturally not keen on fires. Scottish law prohibits making fires in a 'plantation' or enclosed land. You can walk and camp almost anywhere though.

 

[garbo]

In the peak park you have a right to roam on access land, but most land is farmed or forested,and privately owned even if it looks unkept or wild, setting snares, killing sheep, even possession of fishing equipment in the wrong place is illlegal. Farmers around Hayfield and Glossop opperate a farm watch as there have been many instances of sheep and cattle stealing and I suspect if you were seen trying to catch a sheep you may find your backside absorbing buckshot before your arrest . All the farmed animals and birds i.e Grouse are owned by someone and all the fishing rights are owned mostly by fishing clubs .
As for impromptu camping in the peak park watch out for Peak Park rangers, National Trust rangers. etc
Fires are prohibited in open country and even camp stoves are frowned on in a lot of places
Sorry to cast such a shadow on your idea of living off the land but too many people make their living from it to allow any freebies, I have found more edible plants and wild animals in city parks than in the Derbyshire countryside.
Remember this is a park a playground for people from Sheffield and Manchester, Chesterfield and Derby and lots more, it only appears wild it is in fact carefully groomed by agencies such as the National Trust, Forrestry commission, Severn Trent Water who work closely with the peak park planning board to keep the place attractive to tourists including bushcrafters

 

[Doc]

"Grouse are owned by someone."

Live wild animals are ownerless. Killing, say, grouse without the landowners permission (and a game licence) is of course illegal, but the offence is poaching, not theft.


You are right that the Peak national park is intensively used, and it is a credit to landowners, land managers and the park authorities that it is unspoilt as it is. It is a good place for a walking/camping trip, but, as you suggest, it is not a good place for fires and foraging. Given the amount of visitor pressure I suspect few landowners would allow anyone they don't know permission for these things.

 

[scouser4life]

So it seems as if my idea's have been squashed And i didnt mean killing sheep i'd run the other way if i saw an angry sheep :swordfigh i just ment if the sheep are there then it must be someones land.

The sheep remind me of a few years ago we was trying to cut across the farmers field when all these sheep charged us. You should of seen us clear that electic fence ... so did the sheep Like wild animals :O hehe

John

 

[garbo]

Live wild animals are ownerless. Killing, say, grouse without the landowners permission (and a game licence) is of course illegal, but the offence is poaching, not theft.


You are right that the Peak national park is intensively used, and it is a credit to landowners, land managers and the park authorities that it is unspoilt as it is. It is a good place for a walking/camping trip, but, as you suggest, it is not a good place for fires and foraging. Given the amount of visitor pressure I suspect few landowners would allow anyone they don't know permission for these things.[/QUOTE]


grouse and pheasant etc tend to be reared, like chickens and released on to the moors to provide targets for shooters, on or after the glorious twelth (august) they are not wild (livid at being shot at maybe) nor are they indiginous, without a lot of care they would soon die out. As an aside, the heather is burner every few years to encourage new growth as the Grouse eat the new shoots. Without the grouse shooters there would be very litle moorland in this country.

 

[Doc]

'Without the grouse shooters there would be very litle moorland in this country.'

That is very true. Besides heather burning to provide new growth for food, the local keeper puts out grit and spends a lot of time controlling ground predation.

Don't know about England but I always thought red grouse were indigenous to Scotland.

The upland 'grouse moor' is, on a worldwide scale, a very rare habitat. We are fortunate to have a large chunk of it in the UK.

 

[Dunelm]

I'm not familier with the southern Pennines but the northern Pennines are not really suitable for either wild camping or foraging/bushcraft. I live in Weardale and the local farmers and land owners will not take kindly to trespassing or fire raising and unless you go right to the top of the moors its not that wild.

On the other hand it will be cold. The last time I visited Cow Green Reservoir in Upper Teesdale was during the heatwave in July, and frigid icy wind almost blew the car over. The ice-age still lingers up there...