Overnight not on a campsite

[caliash]

Hi,

Does anyone know what the "rules" are regarding stopping overnight at the side of a road/car park/etc. rather than on a campsite? Is this allowed? And are there different rules for other European countries? Any advice or prior experiences would be welcome.

Thanks,

Ash

 

[jts46]

Not sure of rules in England, but lorries seem to stay over night in lay-bys and carparks. In France where i live for part of the year no problem staying overnight virtually anywhere, but a lot of towns, villages even hamlets usually have somewhere to stay either free or a few euros

John

 

[CannellWalker]

We wouldn't stop in a general layby however we have overnighted at various spots around the coast in the UK. Tend to follow the rule 'arrive late, leave early' and do it out of season. Not had any hassle yet.
In France most towns and villages have aires where you are allowed to stay.

 

[timber]

Hi
Have a look at this site------------http://www.wildcamping.co.uk/
I would wild camp all the time if allowed by the wife :doh
Regards
Richard

 

[no friends]

Check out the nomadgb.co.uk website.
shows all the wild camping spots and you can use the little man to view the location for safety.
I have park in secluded laybys in the country overnight and not had a problem,just not on main roads because of traffic noise really/safety

 

[TwentyOneThirtyFive]

Wouldn't use a lay-by, too noisy. I did notice an Exclusive camped up in a lay-by in Surrey a couple of weeks ago. Been known to camp in service stations to break up long journeys though.

Much prefer to find little carparks in the woods, FC carparks and the like. Spent the solstice camped in a cliff top carpark with a clear view over the sea west. The POI database from the Wildcamping site is very good.

Generally we move on after one night, don't arrive too early, don't leave too late and leave the place tidier than when we arrived with a quick litter pick.

If you feel uneasy in a place, move on.

This one was nice:

 

[TwentyOneThirtyFive]

A halfway house between campsites and wilding is the Britstops scheme. I think there is a similar one in France (France Passion?).

http://www.britstops.com/welcome.html

Does anyone use this? Looks interesting.

 

[caliash]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Was thinking more car parks, countryside etc. than lay-bys. Will check out the websites suggested later.

Thanks,

Ash

 

[Alan]

I sometimes ( actually quite a lot ) get the map out and look for picnic sites and have had favorable results even had toilets and hot water left open all night on a number of occasions and that's in the U.K.
When in France I never seem to be to far from lakes or canals where I do the same even get a spot of fishing in
A couple of nights ago ( in France ) I left it to late to find a spot so used the village car park ( toilets and shops 5 minutes away ) where there was another camper van, expected to be moved on from there after seeing a police patrol car taking an interest 2 or 3 times during the night but was left alone,looked upon it as having personal security.
I suspect you can risk confretation but for me it's part of the adventure and the Cali fits the bill by looking like van if you so want it to
My contribution is to leave the site tiydier than found that way respect has been shown

 

[Looby]

A halfway house between campsites and wilding is the Britstops scheme. I think there is a similar one in France (France Passion?).

http://www.britstops.com/welcome.html

Does anyone use this? Looks interesting.

We used this stunning Britstop location recently. It's been the only time we've not used a campsite and the only time we haven't turned the drivers seat but we had no problems at all and will probably use them more in winter when campsites are closed. There was a contribution requested for this one, in aid of local project. It had toilets and water close by and was well worth it.

 

[GrannyJen]

I can recommend all forms of wild camping in GB with the exception of lay-byes and public car parks off main roads.

I travel as a single woman but have had no bad experiences. I use Britstops a lot, have parked up at the Mull of Kintyre, often look for places a bit off the beaten track purely for the quiet solitude.

It's what the Cali was made for. A go anywhere, stop anywhere vehicle and at the end of the day I feel as secure if not more secure parked up in a locked vehicle than I do stopping alone in an empty house.

 

[Paulgromdrayton]

We haven't braved a full wild camp yet but have used a couple of britstops in Cornwall and that has seemed like a great compromise...

Although we were on an early drive in the Lake District this week and the forestry commission car parks were littered with camper vans!

 

[KernowLad]

Scotland is great as you can free camp almost anywhere.

Down here, there are some spots but I wouldn't stay for more than a night.

We free camped for six nights in total during our month away. It's the best way of staying at the nicest spots away from the crowds and noise (especially in Spain!) but you do need to carefully plan everything and IMO try and set your van up so you can move on if needed; for us that means not using our pop up tent (where we usually store boxes of kit/chocks/etc), washing dishes indoors or just using a bowl outside and generally being only half unpacked.

But it does mean you can stop at places like this:

And this:

 

[CannellWalker]

Another tip for wild camping is to use Google maps and their satellite imagery. It is easy to pan down the coast spotting car parks. Then it is a simple matter of dropping a pin and using google streetview to do a 'drive by' to check for height barriers, etc parking rule signs etc.