Help with my first stealth camping night!

[jay clock]

GOING AHEAD!! my first stealth camping night!

Having been touring for a few years I have now been on a couple of tours with my tent (last one here www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/france2009 )

Next week I plan to cycle from Winchester to Bristol, leaving around 6pm and stopping shortly before sunset somewhere west of Salisbury. Hanging Langford looks good, up on the downs. A bit further past Warminster a place called Black Dog Woods sounded great until I googled it and found it is haunted by the ghost of a highwayman's dog....

So any general comments or suggestions about choosing a site, what not to do etc? And in terms of specifics my dark green tent has some annoying orange elements including guy ropes (replaceable) but also orange piping along the edges: see here http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/pic/?o=3Tzut&pic_id=449280&v=3Q&size=large for a pic The orange is actually a bit brighter than it looks there. How can I cover this up? Paint? Mud?

All other suggestions and advice welcomed!

Jay

 

[Chrisz]

Permanent marker pen ot a laundry marker should do the trick. But if you want propper stealth use a bivvi bag with a hoop - nice and toasty when hiding under hedgerows

It might also be worthwhile checking up on the MOD training areas - you might wake up to a nassty surprise if you bivvi in the wrong place!!

 

[PpPete]

If forecast is good - leave tent behind.
Make sure you leave early in morning. Mate of mine overslept in woods one night. Early a.m. lady dogwalker found him, could detect no sign of life. Ran off straight away to phone cops (this was pre-mobile days) . When they turned up they found the reported "corpse" busy with his Trangia making bacon & eggs.

 

[RedBike]

Others will probably disagree but I don't think there's any real need to hide away completely or camoflarge yourself. Just don't camp right next to a busy path or in sight of a road.

This is my last wild camp

I'm actually right beside/ on a section of the Pennine way footpath!

Most importantly make sure you leave everything as you found it. That way nobody is going to mind too much.

 

[jay clock]

Task one achieved - replace bright orange guy ropes with black ones. They do have reflective flecks in, but at last in light conditions they are less glaring.

Am really keen to give this a try - slightly nervous I must say

 

[RedBike]

I haven't dared bivvy yet.

I've found wild camping quite preferable to using a campsite. A lot quiter, I can pick a spot out of the wind and on flat ground a lot easier. There's been much better views at all my last wild camp spots too!

 

[Proud2Push]

Hi JC

We've wild-camped in Scotland and at canal locks in England, but recently we tried wild camping in Kent, applying some of the good tips on the forum.

The most helpful advice is to camp late and leave early. We cooked and ate our dinner before looking for a place to stop, and pitched the tent as it was getting dark. We found that dog walkers start at about 6.45 - 7 am so made sure we at least had everything packed away before then. We moved on somewhere else for breakfast and even got the tent out to dry. I agree with advice not to camp in woodland because of the mosquitoes, especially at dusk (and the scary animal noises.) Also, if possible, try to pick somewhere neutral that isn't obviously privately owned, or that is a hang-out for the local yoofs.

The first picture is on a roadside verge on Exmoor where only one car passed all night, the second was among the radio masts alongside the NCN 1 above Pegwell Bay, and the third was on a rare patch of grass at Dungeness with a view of the Nuclear Power Stations.

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Finding somewhere to wild/stealth camp is challenging in the overcrowded south of England, but it is also possible. Good luck with it and let us know how you fared.

 

[jay clock]

Thanks P2P - nice pics. Good to see that Dungeness are keeping an eye on people camping in line of sight! I am surprised they didn't send someone out to have a look.

Using my OS e-maps and google maps on satellite mode I have rumbled a couple of places. Assuming the weather is ok, I plan to leave home at 6 on Thursday, arriving around 8pm. That gives me close to an hour before dark to cycle up a likely looking track to the top of the downs. I am hoping that I will be a good distance from any houses and will also get a nice view. Will post a pic if I can!

 

[andym]

Task one achieved - replace bright orange guy ropes with black ones. They do have reflective flecks in, but at last in light conditions they are less glaring.

I'd say tripping over a guyline and doing yourself an injury was probably more of a risk than being tarred and feather'd by an angry farmer.

Oh, by the way. At this time of year farmers can work very late if the weather is dry. Listen for tractors.

 

[ComedyPilot]

I am on holiday next week and am looking at doing a ride/stealth camp/ride on a day with the best weather. I'll post pics when I'm done. As with others, don't leave ANYTHING, and be gone early.

 

[yashicamat]

Staying in a bivvy bag overnight is doable - I've done it before now when ultralight backpacking, but if the weather gets at all damp, it becomes miserable quickly! Plus other considerations are:

1) slugs etc. work their way under your bivvy bag, then get squashed onto it when you roll over (I bivvy in winter so less of a problem when it's frosty)
2) you may share your bag with small and curious animals (a shrew was clambering into my hood when I was half asleep - seriously!!)

However, nothing compares to waking up in the open, it doesn't matter what you had to eat the previous night as the air is still fresh and you have saved about 2kg+ in tent weight.

 

[spandex]

I cant help much with where you can camp bit I do know wild camping is so fun and there is nothing better then doing it on a bike.

 

[Bigtwin]

Bivvy bag def the answer. That, bit of thought and some bracken/bush/whatever and you'll just disappear for as long as you want to. Nice and light to carry too.

Never had the soft luxury of one with a hoop hood though. Must be a softy southern thing...

 

[andym]

Never had the soft luxury of one with a hoop hood though. Must be a softy southern thing...

Said the man from Surrey...

 

[Bigtwin]

Said the man from Surrey...

Since when does living somewhere make you "from" there exactly?

That's going to shag up immigration policy then.