Wild Camping - Why?

Why would anybody go wild camping? It's had work, tiring and not the most comfortable or convenient thing to do. Yet in sometimes its the only way to experience the outdoors in certain locations and times.
In this video I share how I've recently come to realise that I'm not wild camping in the UK for the actual camping, but more of a means to an end to experience the great outdoors the way I want to and to support exploration and hiking.

[@valorian555]

Wild camping for me is solitude, going inside myself - and at the same time being connected to nature, feeling integrated and oneness

[@dogdadoutdoors]

Yes, its different things for different people. I tend to get all of that from just wandering around now and exploring but there is something magical about waking up somewhere beautiful.

[@davidneal6920]

I love enjoying the outdoors. Get away from people. Enjoy the forest, enjoy the animals. No phones or computers. Truly relaxing. Yummy food. Oh yea….I’m an introvert! But have loved the outdoors since my parents took me camping / hiking as a boy 🇬🇧 🇳🇿

[@dogdadoutdoors]

NZ has some fantastic countryside. I've always wanted to go after learning the Lord of the Rings was filmed there.

[@wr1120]

I just turned 57 and I feel like 25. I run marathons and I'm in great shape. I'm unwilling to pay 30 quid for a few square meters of grass and wild camping is getting more appealing here on the continent every year with the current prices of accomodations. I can afford the fines and I'm pretty sure it's a financially sound idea to take my chances wildcamping and it's a lot more fun than joining the crowd with their campers, coffee insulation flasks and toast with peanut butter and crossword puzzles. Next journey will be a no budget holiday in Germany by bike just for the fun of it. While wildcamping in the past I've seen fireflies and squirrels. After walking three days I smelled like cinnamon and buttercups,. I crossed Germany for less than 30 pounds from the Dutch border. What could ever beat the joy of travelling no budget just like we did when we were twenty?

[@dogdadoutdoors]

That's great to hear. I was in good nick until lockdown, I was still competing in Ballroom and Latin, I was actually ranked 5th in the UK in the senior age group in the national Supadance league. Lockdown was not kind!

[@3y3sho7]

Nothing much comes close : Good exercise from the hike with a heavy pack. Enjoying beautiful nature & wildlife. The fun challenge of staying discreet and safe. Optimising & making the gear. The holiday from normal modern life.

[@corinnelaking569]

Now THAT was perfectly stated. All the best to you, Sir!🙂

[@dogdadoutdoors]

Thank you kindly!

[@lettersquash]

A question that's so often on my mind. I'm not very experienced, and I've often had a horrible time, wondering what on earth I was doing it for. I realised recently a large part of it for me is the challenge. Not everything has to be comfortable, and we can enjoy difficulty and stress and even pain. It's also about recapturing some childhood freedoms, when I used to cycle all day, get lost, then find my way home - I prefer to cycle camp now with panniers, as it's better for my neck and shoulders than carrying a pack. I love the woods, but also where I am it's not far from higher land with moors and mountains, where the views are very different, and the challenges different too. And solitude - I've wild camped with a family member a couple of times, but I prefer to be alone. It is surprisingly character-building, trying to sleep in a tent on your own on a moor with the wind howling and the rain lashing down, and just having to rely on yourself. But I am there for the camping itself, just not managed camping. Great content as ever, Brian!

[@dogdadoutdoors]

There definitely is an element of 'because its there'. I can see that!

[@leemichel8199]

Expensive ,controlled, homelessness, where you can live like a tramp with all the things they wish they had ,knowing you have somewhere to go if it all goes wrong ,plus being in nature is the best feeling in the world. Away from everyday life and people .Great content, brother. God bless you and your family, and happy camping 🏕 😀 😊 🙏. Lee

[@dogdadoutdoors]

Cheers buddy!

[@leonperry123]

Wild camping for me is getting away from people. Hate a campsite with noise going on until late. If I go to a site with the family, I always take my wild camping gear.

[@dogdadoutdoors]

Yes, I'm definitely not a people person. I can do it all, but I feel exhausted afterwards and need to be by myself!

[@NerdAdventurer85]

I'm very into solo camping, perhaps not wild as such, as the Woods i camp at are about ten mins from my front door, but it's the Wildlife i love, the smell, the sounds. None of that's a possibilty at a campsite or in a hotel. You have traffic, other folk talking and tech bleeping away. I've never lit a fire on my Adventures, because i feel it attracts too much attention, and deters those lovely little critters at the same time. I want them to snuffle about nearby. That's the nitty gritty of it for me. 😂

[@dogdadoutdoors]

I do like it when you have a 'close encounter' with an animal and that does tend to happen when you are still and just enjoying the smells and sounds of nature. I had a deer almost knock my stove over one year, I had to call out to warn it and the look on its face when it realised I was there was priceless!

[@NerdAdventurer85]

@@dogdadoutdoors Haaha! That sounds proper comical. I never light fires, and either sit in my chair or lay in my Tent. Like you said about being quiet and still, i find it therapeutic for myself as well as better for Wildlife. No screen flickering in my face, and no daft noises in my earholes. 😂 There's a time and place for that, but not in the great outdoors in my opinion. 👍🤝

[@Lee_303]

Hotels are stupidly expensive now.

[@dogdadoutdoors]

They can be, but they can be pretty reasonable too. I've seen hotels out in the countryside for £50, but it does vary area by area.

[@offthearrowshelf]

Hope you are feeling better now

[@dogdadoutdoors]

Cheers! Still not right, I actually got really ill towards the end of this one.

[@Chris66able]

Sounds to me like you need better gear if you are so uncomfy !

[@dogdadoutdoors]

Gear is fine, i just can't take a sofa when i am on foot!

[@MrTaxidriver50005]

Perhaps you might mention wild camping is illegal unless you have land owners permission first.... And finding who owns the land will be a challenge itself. Unfortunately you may end up on the wrong side of land owner... Imagine someone camping in your garden😮

[@dogdadoutdoors]

It is legal in some places. Not all, but some. Notably Scotland and Dartmoor. Then there are scraps of land owned by the council, but not in use. Some of which can be quite sizable.

[@MrTaxidriver50005]

Getting my info of gov website www.gov.uk/common-land-village-greens#:~:text=You%20cannot%3A,or%20other%20event%20without%20permission

[@McCaff62]

13 hours ago at 8.40am i had a gamekeeper come past me in one of them buggy things, didn't say a word to me, its where you camp that matters, camp in stupid places or have rubbish strewn about then your your own worst enemy.

[@lettersquash]

Yes, this is a serious issue, at least (for me) in that it makes the whole affair stressful - "wild" camping becomes "stealth" camping depending on the circumstances. However, actual prosecutions have been extremely rare, and usually involve refusal to heed requests to leave, damage to property, etc., and I trust that most people are amenable to friendly solution (including, of course, my readiness to evacuate). The "someone camping in your garden" is a bit misleading, since most of us don't have gardens of hundreds of acres that we hardly use, which is the case with most of the places we wild camp. Your link looks really useful, thanks. I would love to be able to find landowners to ask their permission. The nearest I've got to that is when a guy walking his dog said he knew the owner, and "he wouldn't mind you camping here at all. Why don't you go down to the farm house and ask him to fill up your water bottle?" (I was trying to find springs marked on the map, but they were mostly dry. I found a spring.) I often wonder if it's possible to set up some kind of wild-camper certification system, with a membership fee, the proceeds going to landowners who offer parts of their land for wild camping. It would depend on basic training for, and good behaviour from, the members, with sanctions for anyone abusing the system.

[@MrTaxidriver50005]

​@@lettersquashmost land owners are amicable but not all, while out on mtb I came across some walkers who warned me the land owner was only a couple of minutes behind them and didn't take kindly to tourists of any kind... 2 minutes later I came across her... A lady in her late 60's..i pulled over to one side of this single track lane to let her get past and casually asked where the track led to.. She told me where it went and asked I close gates behind me and there was no problem using the paths. Moral of the story is for most land owners it's not worth the hassle of evicting you especially if it's for only one night but it still there right if they feel your being a nuisance so behave and leave with your rubbish and you should be sweet.