keeping your pitch (1 Viewer)

mandymops

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I am shortly going to set of in my mini camper for the first time. I'm not going with a set plan. Just seeing where the van takes me. Two questions:-
Firstly,My van will be my transport during the day and so I'm wondering what the etiquette is regarding reserving your pitch if you are returning to the same site?
Secondly, Is it legal to just park up if you're in transit and can't find a site? My van is the size of a normal car and someone told me the police had said it was perfectly legal if you didn't discharge waste or cause a disturbance. does anyone know if this is true?
 
Aug 27, 2009
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I am shortly going to set of in my mini camper for the first time. I'm not going with a set plan. Just seeing where the van takes me. Two questions:-
Firstly,My van will be my transport during the day and so I'm wondering what the etiquette is regarding reserving your pitch if you are returning to the same site?
Secondly, Is it legal to just park up if you're in transit and can't find a site? My van is the size of a normal car and someone told me the police had said it was perfectly legal if you didn't discharge waste or cause a disturbance. does anyone know if this is true?
I have a small toilet tent that I leave on the pitch, it fits into a shoe box and only takes two mins to erect. It is also very handy for storage while on the site. As far as stop-over etiquette, as long as you are sensible and considerate, you should have no problems. I often do it and have never been challenged, this is one of the benefits of having a small van.
 

Carol

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There are various signs that you can buy with your name or reg number to leave on your pitch to indicate that it is taken, or you can just leave a chair and bits to let people know.

You can wild camp though its not strictly legal lots of people do, if you are camping on transit a lot of the layby's you will see with lorrys parked up for the night, we often feel safer in these than some where on your own, if you do park up on your own, always make sure you can drive out easily if you need to.

Enjoy your travels in you van I am sure you will have a great time.

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MHVirgins

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We bought a "Motorhome Using this Pitch" sign that sticks into the ground whilst you're away for the day. It cost us £6 at one of the CC sites recently, however, you could always make your own:thumb:

However, we were told by a warden that if a caravan decided to set up in our pitch whilst we were away "we" would have to move and not them:Angry: So all in all, what's the point in sticking a sign in the grass if this is the case.

They looked at it from the point of view that it was easier for a mh to shift than asking the caravan owner to hitch up and move somewhere else. One ruling that we don't like about sites:Angry:

I'm sure someday we'll come back and find someone parked in front of it though and that will be interesting:Angry:
 
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I have a utility tent, which is a good way to reserve a pitch :Smile:.

When that's not set up I used to have a homemade sign, but in my small van that was taking up too much room :Blush: so now I just leave my grey-water bucket on the pitch (preferably pegged-down).
 
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I leave my wastehog and spare ehu cable (not the good one)...

Depends on the site though. Some I wouldn't as they would get half inched but I tend to avoid those type of sites anyway.

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Bushtrekker

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Move them off!

Theoretically and legally there should be a gap between tents or vehicles for fire safety reasons, which is why licences for camp sites stipulate how many tents area allowed, but unfortunately people tend to ignore that.

A few years ago we were camping , using power from the land rover for lighting and we went out for the day. When we returned we found two small tents had been pitched in our parking place, so I pointed out that they were in our parking space and they moved. If they hadn't I would have simply told the site owner and got them moved on safety grounds.

I would argue that if you have booked and paid for a pitch and someone moves onto it whilst you are out, they get moved.

With regard to stopping en route, safety has to be paramount, especially in your situation, as laybys tend to be used for all sorts of unsavoury activities and you need to make sure you can get your vehicle out if someone knocks your window or peers through, as someone has already said.
 

jonandshell

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We wild camped in a Forestry Commission Picnic area once.
For much of the evening we had cars stopping and flashing their headlights or brake lights at us!:whatthe:
We moved on to somewhere quieter.

Upon arriving home, we googled the location and found it was a popular 'dogging' location!:Eeek:
The flashing lights, apparently, are a communication method meaning 'come and get it here'!:Eeek:

We will stop there next time we are passing!!!!!:thumb::ROFLMAO: (Que a firm slap from Shell!)

Don't let our story put you off though, we weren't in any danger. There are some lovely places so stop over away from the madding crowd and there are sites which list 'wild camping' spots.:thumb:

Happy travels.
 

MHVirgins

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When I was at secondary school ( long time ago:RollEyes:) I used to do a lot of "dogging":roflmto::roflmto:

Way back then it simply meant "playing truant", but of course today it means something completely different:winky:
Margaret

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MHVirgins

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Isn't it great how these threads can go off at a tangent!!!

We've gone from "keeping your pitch" to "dogging":ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

Margaret:roflmto:

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John & Joan

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Theoretically and legally there should be a gap between tents or vehicles for fire safety reasons, which is why licences for camp sites stipulate how many tents area allowed, but unfortunately people tend to ignore that.

Quote from the Guidance issued by Natural England

Spacing and Density

[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]16. For health and safety purposes emergency vehicles must be able to gain access to any unit on the site. As such, units should be well spaced and sited so they do not restrict access to, or exit from, any other unit or the site in general. At least 3 metres should be required between units in all circumstances. For this purpose, a unit includes the caravan, motor home, tent or trailer-tent, plus any awnings, gazebo or pup-tent and the car or towing vehicle.
17. Where a site is being used by both caravans and tents they must be sited entirely separate from each other for health & safety reasons. However, this does not necessarily mean segregated. If the layout of the field does not allow for separate lines of tents, it is permissible to continue a line of caravans/motor homes with a line of tents, but they must be sited
[/FONT]
[/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]en-bloc [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]and not interspersed. Trailer tents are classified as tents and must be sited accordingly. Children’s "pup-tents" may be erected alongside the parents’ unit and should be considered as part of the unit for spacing purposes. It is recommended that there is at least 6 metres between any rows of caravans and tents. See Annex 1d for further advice on spacing issues. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]
[/FONT]
[/FONT]
 
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mandymops

mandymops

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Gee,thanks everyone.The questions I have asked (and a few I didn't) have been comprehensively answered.:ROFLMAO:
 

magicsurfbus

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Re the hoary old chestnut of overnight parking, this website

http://www.motorhomeparking.co.uk/

has been meticulously put together by a guy who's written to every local authority in the land about the topic. He also asked MH owners to contact him with their own recommended parking places.

Apparently, the thing to avoid is stopping overnight in MARKED parking bays, where local by-laws prevent overnight stopping, usually on the assumption that fires are being ignited in the vehicle.

Parking in lay-bys with trucks is a possible option, but ideally use the ones that are set back from the road, otherwise you'll wobble every time a truck passes. In fact leave those sort of spots for elderly exponents of dogging, where the occasional wobble might help things along a bit.

Most motorway service areas allow 24 hour parking, but at a cost, which varies from host company to host company, and often involves paying online using a debit/credit card and a mobile phone.

If you're heading for the Dover ferry there's always the Canterbury Park'n'Ride, which charges £2.50 a night, including a free return bus ticket to Canterbury. However, it doesn't permit entry on a Sunday, only exit.
 

jhorsf

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Being naked = having no clothes on
wearing no clothes = strutting about in company of others people wearing no clothes doing things you would not do even if clothed ie; volleyball tennis frisbee etc :ROFLMAO:

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MHVirgins

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Being naked = having no clothes on
wearing no clothes = strutting about in company of others people wearing no clothes doing things you would not do even if clothed ie; volleyball tennis frisbee etc :ROFLMAO:

You can add "Twister" to the list as well:Doh::thumb:
 
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mandymops

mandymops

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Re the hoary old chestnut of overnight parking, this website

http://www.motorhomeparking.co.uk/

has been meticulously put together by a guy who's written to every local authority in the land about the topic. He also asked MH owners to contact him with their own recommended parking places.

Apparently, the thing to avoid is stopping overnight in MARKED parking bays, where local by-laws prevent overnight stopping, usually on the assumption that fires are being ignited in the vehicle.

Parking in lay-bys with trucks is a possible option, but ideally use the ones that are set back from the road, otherwise you'll wobble every time a truck passes. In fact leave those sort of spots for elderly exponents of dogging, where the occasional wobble might help things along a bit.

Most motorway service areas allow 24 hour parking, but at a cost, which varies from host company to host company, and often involves paying online using a debit/credit card and a mobile phone.

If you're heading for the Dover ferry there's always the Canterbury Park'n'Ride, which charges £2.50 a night, including a free return bus ticket to Canterbury. However, it doesn't permit entry on a Sunday, only exit.

Thanks,that's super helpful. I'd rather forgotten why I was here with all this talk of dogging and nakedness.:winky:
 

Techno

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A recent visit to a CL left us completely amazed at how stupid some folk are.
The next pitch had a big van on it and we saw it leave and assumed being so big that it had left.
Later in the day a small van arrived and hesitated for a while before moving in and setting up.
A couple of hours later the big van returned to be confronted by this other van in their pitch.
They had left their hook up cable plugged in with money on the meter, a pitch reserved sign and their ramps :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
So just dont expect people to think like you do :Eeek:

EDIT
To be fair I think the offender was completely new to motorhoming and the lady must have assumed that having booked that the site must have laid it on for her?
How sadly misconstrued , however she did have a Doberman

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MHVirgins

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A recent visit to a CL left us completely amazed at how stupid some folk are.
The next pitch had a big van on it and we saw it leave and assumed being so big that it had left.
Later in the day a small van arrived and hesitated for a while before moving in and setting up.
A couple of hours later the big van returned to be confronted by this other van in their pitch.
They had left their hook up cable plugged in with money on the meter, a pitch reserved sign and their ramps :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
So just dont expect people to think like you do :Eeek:

EDIT
To be fair I think the offender was completely new to motorhoming and the lady must have assumed that having booked that the site must have laid it on for her?
How sadly misconstrued , however she did have a Doberman

The last CL that we stayed at had a few caravans and just us in the mh, despite leaving the hook up cable and the "reserved" sign up, we came back one evening to find a small car parked in the space:Doh:
The farmer was over in a jiffy and knocked on the door of the neighbouring caravan, a young female came out and moved her car without any apology or anything:RollEyes:
She was visiting a friend, but I'm amazed that her friend didn't tell her we were in the space, it was obvious with all the gear lying around.
 

Jaws

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We wild camped in a Forestry Commission Picnic area once.
For much of the evening we had cars stopping and flashing their headlights or brake lights at us!
We moved on to somewhere quieter.

I have yet to find an FC parking area in the whole of Norfolk /Suffolk area that is not infested with doggers or those that 'bat for the other side' ( though oddly the sites that attract the 2nd of those all seem to be in Suffolk for some weird reason ! )
 
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I have yet to find an FC parking area in the whole of Norfolk /Suffolk area that is not infested with doggers [HI]or those that 'bat for the other side' [/HI]( though oddly the sites that attract the 2nd of those all seem to be in Suffolk for some weird reason ! )

I believe its then called 'cottaging' for no obvious reason (not to me anyway)

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mandymops

mandymops

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An opening for research maybe but seriously,after reading very helpful advice here and elsewhere,I've decided to be less adventurous. As a single mum with daughter I don't think wild camping sounds too safe,especially as it's just occurred to me that the only locking device when inside is a little plastic turny thing. I should probably remedie this anyway.:cry:
 

geoff1947

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Mandymops If you are passing Plymouth any time put aost on here and I will sort out overnight stops etc for you How does my drive sound!!

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