Wild camping, bad experiences?

[JoeSchmo]

Hello folks,

I'm planning on doing some hiking and wild camping along the way. I know the 'Wild Camping Rules' etc and plan to leave no trace, camp late, leave early and all that.

Those that have done some wild camping, have you actually had any problems such as any angry land owners or are these tales mostly from a 'friend of a friend' type thing?

Cheers

 

[Toddy]

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35365

 

[RG30something]

Hey guys, new here so this is going to be a heck of a first post but I reckon I possibly had the worst wild camping experience imaginable!

A fried and I camped on Dartmoor, close to Princetown a couple of years ago in September and it poured with incredibly heavy rain the whole time. We had planned to stay for 3 nights but after the second night we elected to call it a day and retreat to his house in Exeter for some hot food and a few pints at the local pub. We set off in the morning cold, wet and exhausted but in fairly good spirits in anticipation of some warm and dry conditions. We headed up to the road as we thought it would be easier to hike the couple of miles back to where we had left the car than yomping across the moorland. As we were about a mile from the town, we heard a lady crying for help so we set off in her direction, only for her to shout for us to run and come quickly so we ditched our packs by the side of the road and started running as best we could towards her. I am not sure how to explain this in a way which doesn't come across as indelicate so please forgive me but basically when we got there, it turned out that the lady's sister had taken an overdose the night before in her car in what transpired unfortunately to be a successful suicide attempt. My friend and I had to smash the car window and lift the poor woman out of the car and attempt in vain to resuscitate her until the ambulance arrived. I will spare you the details but suffice to say to was a very traumatic experience made much more distressing, if that's possible, by the presence of the poor lady's, understandably, distraught sister. Not sure what else to say really As you can imagine that ended up being quite a memorable trip but for all the wrong reasons.

 

[cipherdias]

I have wild camped on and off allover Wales for about 35 years and only twice had any hassle. First time the landowner came along and asked what I was doing and I told him just camping overnight and assured him I wont leave any mess and a fiver slipped to him in a handshake and he replied "no problem". Second time again approached by landowner and he asked me to keep an eye out for sheep rustlers in exchange for letting me come back anytime I want.

Follow the usual rules:

1. Set up late and leave early
2. No more than one night in any one place unless its VERY isolated
3. Leave no traces that you were there
4. No fires if in woods and it's very dry
5. Dont damage any fence

You will probably be fine

 

[Erbswurst]

The point is that usual people are usually friendly if nobody tries to make them angry.

I slept several thousand times somewhere in the forest or on farmers land and never got any problems.

A few times a forester or ranger told me in the morning to leave the place, because we stood too long there they found us. That's all.
I never did it in Britain but everywhere in Scandinavia, Germany and France.

In the view of most people it isn't a crime to get tired and sleep somewhere.

And criminals who could disturb do not run around in forest or field. They run around in larger towns.

 

[ScottE]

Our little island is strewn with quite miserable land owners that have, for the most part, that very British “nimby” attitude.
I’ve found it best to go forth with a “beg forgiveness rather than seek permission” style but always working towards never finding myself in a position where apologies are required.
Leave less trace than you found.....

My worst experience so far has been lockdown.....my local countryside has suffered the consequences of the idle furloughed while I’ve had to work through and watch on as people who normally consume are now suddenly “outdoorsy”