Wild Camping in Scotland
The recent petition on legalising wild camping in England and Wales has helped focus attention on the definition of wild camping, even in Scotland where its legal status was formulated under the provisions of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.
While Scotland’s access legislation means everyone can go camping, pretty much anywhere (with a few reasonable exceptions) as long as it is done responsibly, the issue has caused considerable concern for many land owners and local communities in rural areas and urban fringes throughout the country. Scottish Natural Heritage, the organisation charged with looking after Scotland’s countryside, is keen to focus attention on what constitutes “responsible” wild camping.
Backpackers and hillwalkers know that wild camping is all about being in a special place, getting away from it all to enjoy a refreshing and invigorating experience, but according to SNH the natural beauty of many of these special places is being seriously compromised. An increasing number of antisocial and careless behaviour cases are being reported at wild camp sites across Scotland. These incidents include vandalism, out-of-control fires, rubbish, abandoned equipment and pollution from unburied human waste.
Scottish Natural Heritage is now particularly keen to target casual and occasional campers who pitch beside accessible roads or lochs and help them understand their responsibilities.
While the majority of campers observe the “leave no trace” principles of wild camping some inexperienced or less thoughtful campers can be less considerate. Access rights depend on responsible behaviour, and it’s vital that people think about the effects of their actions on others and on the environment.
It’s worth remembering that Scottish access rights do not cover certain areas. Places exempt from the access code include: buildings, curtilage around buildings, and compounds; reasonable privacy and disturbance zone around houses; sports and recreation fields while in use; schools and the land they use; where you have paid for entry previously; building sites, demolition and engineering works; quarries and surface mineral workings; sown or growing crops including hay/silage fields at late stage of growth; golf courses, except to cross over them.
Everyone who goes backpacking should do so in a responsible manner anyway. The Scottish Outdoor Access Code suggests you should use a camping stove if possible. If you must have an open fire keep it small and under control and remove all traces before leaving. When disposing human waste, carry a trowel and bury it. When urinating outdoors, do so well away from open water, rivers and burns. Never leave litter lying around. Take it away with you and dispose of it responsibly. Glass bottles, cans and plastic bags don’t just look unsightly; they also cause seriously hazards to wildlife. When driving to a site, use a designated car park where possible and never block a road or lane, an entrance to a field or a building.
I think if I had my way roadside camping would be banned and I do have serious concerns that the irresponsible attitude of the few could affect those who go backpacking in a responsible manner.
www.outdooraccess-scotland.com
August 25th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Could not agree more with the sentiments expressed in this posting. Car camping is not wild camping and should be restricted.
August 26th, 2008 at 12:16 am
Hi,
Whilst spending a week on Loch Awe in June we were surprised and disappointed to find a number of sites close to the road, but also on an island in the north of the loch with camps which had been left with rubbish including bottles, both intact and broken; broken camp chairs just left there. We even came across a smouldering fire. Most of the sites had evidence of those who had been fishing - presumably not true anglers!
However it is done these people need to be caught and fined. I am not convinced that education will help - I doubt they can read!
These inconsiderate people put the access at risk.
Bob Andrews
August 26th, 2008 at 7:34 am
When I walked the West Highland Way in May I was astounded at the detritus that was left along the easily accessible parts of Loch Lomond. The remains of camp fires I found particularly intrusive and these were invariably accompanied by empty alcohol containers. I was amazed at these, almost industrial, levels of waste.
However, when you come to the parts that are only accessible after walking a considerable way, the damage tails off significantly. It would be rash of me to draw any conclusions from this; but I obviously have and I’m sure other people will as well.
Just like many other aspects of modern life; the whole are judged by the most visible minority and the spotlight always focusses on the negative.
August 26th, 2008 at 8:31 am
When I walked the Chemin/Camino pilgrim’s way from Le Puy in France to Santiago in Spain late last year, I noticed the section through France (admittedly much less frequented) was more or less entirely litter-free, whereas the more popular Spanish part of the path was absolutely strewn with rubbish at the regular rest and relaxation areas along the route.
August 26th, 2008 at 8:55 am
I have to agree with Neil. It’s an anomaly that the access provisions of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act are for pedestrians, or cyclists or horse riders and not for those in motorised transport, and yet it appears the wild camping aspect includes people who arrive in a car, camp overnight, then leave in a car. I think this is as aspect of the law in Scotland that urgently needs to be tightened up.
August 26th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
It has got to be something based on car culture. On my LEJOG last year the filthiest place I walked was the central lanes of Cornwall - these were not tourist routes but litter created by local people. The further you are from the road the less litter there is. One way of dealing with it would be to have car and van wndows that do no open so that thoughtless drivers couldn’t just chuck their rubbish out of the windows.
Another would be to provide cars with decent litter bins that people could empty when they got home. At the moment drivers either lob it in the passenger footwell or out of their windows.
I also very rarely see a car driver who is smiling, whereas I am grinning like an idiot as I am trudging along in the rain.
Is it me?
August 27th, 2008 at 8:39 am
I suspect it might well be you Alan!
Wish there were more like you.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:58 am
“Car camping is not wild camping and should be restricted” … it it a good option for me, with 3 young children.
or are the children a problem to for the true hardliners?
It seems to me that the general point of the LRA was to open up the countryside to all that want to use it not pander to the requirements of the few.
People can and will be disrespectful of their surroundings irrespective of how they arrived.
August 27th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
The point of the Land Reform Act was to open up the countryside for those who want to use it for recreation - it it is quite clear such provisions are for those who walk, cycle or use a horse, not drive a car. If you want to unpack gear from the boot of a car and camp go to an official camp site - there are many of them, but what’s the problem with camping wild with 3 young children? I did it when my youngsters were small. We took one in a carrycot and another on my shoulders and trundled along forest tracks until we found a wild camping spot, well out of sight of roads and houses.
Don’t agree with your last paragraph, I’m afraid. Evidence clearly shows that litter, fires, etc are much more of a problem with car campers than with backpackers.
August 28th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Alan’s comment struck home.
At the end of July my buddy Robert and I did a three day backpack in the Forest of Bowland. Pretty darned remote at times, and the hills are severely under-used. We saw just four other walkers and they came in pairs.
The only place we came across litter was on the remote road passes that cut through these hills. There can’t be more than a few dozen cars a day cross those passes yet they still make the effort to throw their litter out here.
On the actual hill we collected all the litter we came across and brought it off. In every instance - seven if I remember correctly - that litter was helium-filled balloons, one of which appeared to have come from a bowling alley in Keighley.
Another, which was still fairly well inflated, was in the shape of a female cartoon character from a kiddies’ programme. Robert assured me that he was taking it into his tent to deflate and dispose of it properly, out of the public’s gaze.
August 31st, 2008 at 4:03 pm
The columnist Matthew Parris ran a thoughtless piece in The Times earlier in the year claiming that the rubbish strewn in the hedges alongside country lanes near his home in Derbyshire was all the fault of…cyclists.
Parris went out with friends and collected the rubbish. By the sound of what was collected (bottles of pop mostly) it was most likely lobbed from cars. Littering from cars seems to be socially acceptable in the eyes of many. ‘Somebody else will pick this up, my car doesn’t deserve to be sullied.’
Incidendentally, I introduced my ten year old boy to wild camping this past weekend. We bike-bivvied on the open access moorland of the Kings Forest of Geltsdale, near Brampton in Cumbria. This was my birthday treat, and my son is now full of the joys of bivvying. It didn’t rain that night.
Naturally, we packed all our rubbish home and didn’t leave any sign of our passing, except some lightly compressed grass.
October 24th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
It sickens me to think that the kind of people who will vandalise, drop litter and show a general lack of respect for these places, go anywhere near the wilds. I thought the one place we could escape these idiots was out in the wilds!