Wild camping in the Brechfa Forest area

[springer5]

Hi folks

I'm thinking of possibly spending a few days wandering aimlessly around in the Brechfa Forest area with my trusty hammock.

Does anyone know any good spots over there, or anywhere special to make for (or to avoid for that matter).

I've never been there before so I'm not sure what to expect, but it's close enough to where I live to be able to get to easily and I fancy taking a look.

Anyone's recommendations would be very much appriated. I hear it's quite big with mountain bikers so maybe it will be very busy at this time of year, but if anyone has any thoughts at all it would really help me decide on planning a route for 3 or 4 days wandering.

Appreciate your help.

Cheers

Thanks

 

[The Joker]

Cant give you any help there Im afraid but Im looking forward to the the next Springer5 trip the last one was great reading!

 

[Welsh Dragon]

Hi, I knew some people who used to go mountain biking there,from what I was told is they have plenty of casual trails there and they have some of the big downhill courses with bike lift to the top...So I think you need to avoid those areas.

 

[jonajuna]

its forestry commission, they dont allow wild camping

think you might want to read this thread

http://bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52767


the mods will jump on you if you carry on seeking "locations to break the law in"

 

[springer5]

Cheers Joker

Nice of you to say so

I'm HOPING to head out at the end of April sometime (depending on work commitments), so we'll see how things pan out.

Trouble is it's a big area and I have no idea where the "good bits" are, so I'm hoping someone on here has had some experiences of the place to share

 

[springer5]

its forestry commission, they dont allow wild camping

think you might want to read this thread

http://bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52767


the mods will jump on you if you carry on seeking "locations to break the law in"

Ok thanks for the clarification jona

Looks like wild camping is a no-no here then.

Another question related though. Does anyone know of anywhere good in the area to visit as a day visit, especially anywhere quite and peaceful "off the beaten track" as it where; not to camp in of course, but just to spend a quite afternoon

Thanks in advance

 

[springer5]

its forestry commission, they dont allow wild camping

think you might want to read this thread

http://bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52767


the mods will jump on you if you carry on seeking "locations to break the law in"

thanks for the link btw. That is useful information. Much appreciated.

 

[springer5]

its forestry commission, they dont allow wild camping

think you might want to read this thread

http://bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52767


the mods will jump on you if you carry on seeking "locations to break the law in"

just had a thought though....

having read the linked article and some of the other threads linked to from that one. The impression I've come away with is that as far as England and Wales are concerned this entire forum is dedicated to something that is mostly illegal,except by special permission which we all know will rarely be given.

So the question that begs is what is the point in this forum if the activity it "promotes" is illegal ??

I actually be quite grateful if the "mods" would jump in on this one at this point and clarify the purpose of this forum for me. Seems it may as well be a forum about making bombs or nicking cars etc.

Bushcraft in England, nicking cars in England, making bombs in England all criminal offences it seems - why have a forum for the first one.

I'm not having a go at anyone, it's a genuine question

Cheers

 

[Cap'n Badger]

just had a thought though....

''except by special permission which we all know will rarely be given''.

Cheers

Permission isn't hard to get or 'rarely given'....In fact it's relatively easy to approach a land owner in the private sector an' gain access to land for the use of 'wild camping' or 'bushcraft'.......But there are rules an' regs for the use of 'forestry' or 'public access' land......which we ALL have t' adhere to....I've camped in brechfa mysel' on a number of occasions. (tho not started a fire there or been near a 'public' route).....twice I've been 'asked t' leave' the area by a ranger....once by a copper!....I just packed up an' left as directed, knowing FULL well I was illegally camped....
Sayin' that this forum 'promotes an' illegal activity'...is just bunkum fella....I lived in Carmarthen for MANY years an' there's loads o' farmers around the area that are open for discussion about wild campin' on their land.
You need t' get out there matey.....you'll be supprized how many people are interested in how ye apply yer 'bushcraft skills' on their land.

 

[springer5]

there's loads o' farmers around the area that are open for discussion about wild campin' on their land.
You need t' get out there matey.....you'll be supprized how many people are interested in how ye apply yer 'bushcraft skills' on their land.

So what you're saying is that if I phone ahead and "book" myself in with someone who is good-natured enough to allow bushcraft/camping/whatever you want to call it, on their private land then I can fill my boots, otherwise no dice.

Sounds just like camping on any regular campsite to me. They're both by arrangement, both in a designated area and both about as "wild" as the rest of our over-civilised lives; about as spontaineous as a sunrise.
How is that any different from just booking myself in at a quiet (official)campsite ?

It's not your fault of course, or anyone else's here, and as I said before, it's not my intention to give the impression that I'm having a go at anyone here, but allow me to let off steam having just found that after getting myself all excited about the stuff on this forum I now find that my options are to "book" myself in for a few nights in some farmers field. I was doing that stuff years ago, the only difference being that my car was parked alongside the tent and I was a lot more comfortable. I wanted to get away from that "knowing about it all (and being tied to my plans) weeks before it happens" stuff.

No, sorry matey that still leaves me grossly disappointed and totally unimpressed with the scope for "Bushcraft/WILD camping" in Eng & Wales, which I personally feel I am justified in being, but then that's my right right, ain't it.

No disrespect to anyone here, and I'm still grateful to those who have responded to my thread, for all your input and advice. Perhaps I just need to get over yet another disappointing thing about being in this useless country.

...and the Polish actually WANT to leave their "state owned" land which everyone has rights to, and come HERE ?? - they must be mad.

 

[tommy the cat]

I'm with you all the way springer5 it is dissapointing that we cant wild camp in England and Wales that said that doesn't mean it doesnt go on.
I would guess that if you want to talk to people about 'wild camping' in England and Wales that maybe other forums are more suited.
Dont dismiss this site for brilliant info and some great people, it just has its limitations due to leagalities that the mods adhere to.
Dave
Oh and I disagree permission can be difficult to get

 

[dr jones]

Have to slightly disagree here mate, how does wild camping with permission take away the " wild " part of it ? And once you proove your self to the land owner that youll camp responsibly ,leave no trace etc, chances are he will then let you camp there without having to book in as you put it. Where as ten , fifteen years ago unkept woods were not cared about by the owners now with all the grants and subsidies conected with woodland even tho it looks uncared for the owner is probably being paid to leave it alone and keeps an eye on it to make sure no one is interfering with its earning potential.

 

[springer5]

how does wild camping with permission take away the " wild " part of it ?

For me it takes away the "wild" part of it because with "true" wild camping as I see it I pack my kit, choose an area I'd like to see and just pitch my camp where I decide to at the end of my day (not in someone's back garden obviously -but on land that is supposedly managed for the "leisure needs of the public").

With permission I need to commit to where I'm going to be before I get there. For me that's a massive difference, and wouldn't feel any more "wild" than booking a holiday.
But the most important difference is that to me "wild camping" offers the chance to pitch up in a different place every night along a trail chosen by me, at a pitch site chosen in "real time" by me, and that can be altered daily by me - wild camping to my mind is a bit like an on-foot version of the freedom of the open road.
For example, walking along the trail I might ask "Shall I go right or left at this point where the path crosses?". If I were truly wild camping I would have the pleasure that comes from the freedom of deciding for myself right there and then "on the trail". With what you are advocating as an alternative I would have no choice because the arrangement I'd made with the landowner would leave me with no choice but to take whichever path I had pre-arranged in order to get to his land, and there I'd stay until I could string together enough different compliant landowners to go somewhere else, or maybe I wouldn't get any further on my journey at all if I couldn't find a compliant landowner within a day's walking distance, so then I'd just have to spend my entire "trip" in that one field.

A different experience entirely.

I accept that this is just how it is in our country (the "free world" ) and that if I really want the freedom of the "open trail" I would have to travel to one of the ex-dictatorship countries, like Romania or Yugoslavia (ironic isn't it), but even though I do have to accept it (as we all do) it still isn't wild camping, whatever anyone says, at least not in my book, and as for "bushcraft" - making natural shelters from local materials, trapping animals etc, etc - where does THAT happen legally outside of a training course or demonstration day?

As I've said several times, I'm not getting at anyone here. I would have thought that many of you must feel the same way about this in reality. We've been shafted by our own govt. so many times on this issue....

The Forestry Commission - pre-Thatcher that was all "public land" and the FC was a publicly owned body; yes, owned by us the people. Then Thatcher sold it to SOME of us (despite the fact that we already ALL owned it anyway) in the form of shares. Then having sold to some of us what all of us already owned, that made it a private company and they chucked us all off (apart from developing those areas where they can cream in big profits from expensive "organised" activities).

I probably sound like a commy. I'm not at all. Communism doesn't work, but we've all been shafted - no question, and this "wild camping/bushcraft" thing is just another example of something that you can no longer do properly. Just another once-upon-a-time day-to-day activity that's now been criminalised on "public" land.

 

[teflon]

Even though it's two or three times removed and miles from nowhere, there's still a sense of being told what to do. Some people don't mind it, but it just doesn't sit right with this bunny and probably never will.

Thought of camping along some of the droves and bridle-ways that criss-cross my neck of the woods and keep walking until I get fed up. Even thought I'd 'make use of the land' by linking up the Tesco's from Salisbury to Shaftsbury, or Blandford even, then a bus back. No rules, right?

Good thread.

 

[Broch]

Look, I have backpacked and trecked the UK the whole of my life and camped/bivvied in some remarkable places - by lakes in mountains and on lonly beaches. I've never been asked to move on and only once had a raged landowner ask what I was doing; two minutes later we were friends.

The reality is I would never ask anyone else where to go or tell anyone where I've been - sorry, but it's too precious.

Cheers,

Broch

 

[John Fenna]

I have quite literally walked the length (lands End to Kirk Yetholm) and breadth (North Sea to Irish Sea) of England, much of Wales and Scotland too, as well as on the continent, Eastern Europe, Thailand and varios parts of Africa.
If I have been able to get perm from a land owner for Wild Camping -, then I have done so (often with the bonus of a great chat and even free eggs and milk).
Sometimes I have been unable to locate the land owner and have been "forced" to camp illegally...but have never been moved on by anyone (though I was almost accidentally run over by a tractor as I bivvied on The Ridgeway) or even been questioned by folk who saw me - many of those who saw me camping "illegally" chatting with me most pleasantly.
I do not advocate illegal camping and try my best to get perm ...it is just that it is sometimes hard to stay within the law when you are on the move across the wilder parts of Britain....

 

[bivouac]

I never went near a mountain until i was in my mid-thirties. I wasn't in the army - not even the boy scouts - and when the kids at school were off doing the DofE i was too busy getting stoned in my bedroom listening to Led Zeppelin to go with them. But that first time in Snowdonia blew me away and i got out there as often as i could. However, its a familiar tale - kids, mortgage, overtime...there was always an extra shift to do...trips kept getting postponed and then cancelled...my kit found its way into the attic and thats where it stayed. Recently, however, it has come home to me that tempus doesn't half bloody fugit and i'd better crack on and do some stuff while body and mind are still in reasonable working order and i dug all my kit out of the attic. The next question was - where? I'd browsed this site a few times in the past so a few months ago i asked exactly the same questions as you have. I was also puzzled by the same conundrum. By it's nature, bushcraft eschews rules and regs and yet on this site you are prevented by the rules and regs of the site to openly discuss where you are doing it. It had me scratching my head for a while. However, don't let this put you off. I got a bit wound up about it for a while but then shrugged my shoulders and just got on with it. You could google some stuff about 'stealth' camping or 'guerilla' camping or 'boondocking'. Or you can just bugger off somewhere nice and enjoy yourself. If the stuff about camping illegally puts you off, just find a nice campsite where you can pay someone to stay overnight and do your own thing. But you wont get people on this website giving you exact locations of nice wild camping places. And i dont really blame them. I've found a few of my own recently. And i'm not telling anyone where they are.

 

[sapper1]

Lets face it most of us have stopped somewhere and had a brew that is private property.Even if it is apublic right of way ,technically you only have the right to walk on it and nothing else.I try to pitch up for a night in a place that cant be seen from any public paths.By the time I pitch up it is getting close to dusk and most people have gone home.If I am approached by someone who requests that I leave then it's not really a problem.