Wild camping - fines or arrested? (1 Viewer)

[travelbunyip]

Wild camping, free camping, parking up call it what you like but it basically staying overnight in a an place that is not a campsite or designated motorhome parking area. We have completed 8 trips to Europe and will comence trip number 9 in a few weeks. We mainly wild camp for a few reasons, the first is that we have traveled to countries that just do not have any campsites. Try finding a campsite in Moldova or Kosova they just dont have any. Even Bulgaria has only 12 campsites and from what I have been told only 5 are worth staying at. The second reason is cost ,after a days travel or sightseeing all we feel like doing is relaxing in the motorhome and going to bed. Why pay for a campsite when all we do is sleep. There are other reasons but I had better get to my questions.
We have only been moved on once in nearly 3 years of traveling in Europe, this was in Spain while we were visiting my cousin in Denia. During the day we would go and spend time with him and at night we went to the beach and stayed overnight. This we did successfully for 5 nights but on the 6th night the police came and moved us on along with several other motorhomers. We understand that the locals are afraid that people will end up living on the beach. The police were courteous and all they did was take down our number plate details.
Fines and arrests. I have heard in many of the forums where people talk of getting fined or even talk of getting arrested. I have never met or heard of anyone getting either of these. Has any Funster ever been fined or worse arrested for wildcamping? And if so what was the result.
If I wildcamp mostly during a 3 month trip and I have to pay a fine occasionally I would still be better off than going to campsites and paying just to sleep. Depending on what the fine was.

 

[irnbru]

Not heard much on here, maybe the odd fine in Portugal but never arrested.. maybe those that were arrested were rude etc?

 

[BwB]

Haven't been and never met anyone who has mentioned they'd been fines or arrested. OK, maybe one but I think he was making a point and was not charged.

Not something I lose any sleep over and we do plenty of "wild" camping g

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[Northernraider]

All this talk is making me nervous lol, I've wildcamped in Scotland for years, even managed it in Yorkshire and in France but not done Spain and Portugal yet but plan to after new year.... So I'll be watching this thread with interest

 

[Podney]

No,never been fined.
Surely you should be equally concerned about your effect on the local community? If you wild camped near my place I may not be happy,more so if there were a few of you.
See Jims piece on the subject.

 

[travelbunyip]

Surely you should be equally concerned about your effect on the local community? If you wild camped near my place I may not be happy,more so if there were a few of you.
See Jims piece on the subject.

I have read Jim's piece and thoroughly agree with what he says. Being discrete and behaving in a proper manner should be a must for all motorhomers. Unfortunately that is not always the case and the bad apple's do not serve the motorhomeing community well.

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[Stealaway]

In six years we have stayed on a site only three times
We have been moved on maybe five times although I was sometimes pushing my luck.
We always find somewhere, some are idilic, some not so much but we'll never change.

 

[Northernraider]

I have read Jim's piece and thoroughly agree with what he says. Being discrete and behaving in a proper manner should be a must for all motorhomers. Unfortunately that is not always the case and the bad apple's do not serve the motorhomeing community well.

Personally unless I'm away in the wilds somewhere if I'm wild parking in a car park or layby I stay in the van and keep a low profile and no one would know I had been there when I leave.
If I'm out in the country away from houses towns etc then I'll spend more time outside

 

[Cliffdale]

@Stealaway
And anyone else!
How do you go about wild camping? Do you just drive and see a place that will do or are the next stops planned?

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[Northernraider]

@Stealaway
And anyone else!
How do you go about wild camping? Do you just drive and see a place that will do or are the next stops planned?

Personally at home in Scotland I know places where it's fine so I frequent them mostly.
Going abroad I'd like to have a rough idea where I'm going and whether it's allowed and safe..... But I will also just happen on places where others are parked and judge it on that

 

[Wildbill]

Out of sight out of mind park like a twat in front of someone's luxury apartments you will get moved on find a spot whare no one can see you you will be left alone
Park in land away Frome the cost down sum track sumware you will be left alone
Find a Bar sumware out of town with a car park
Spend something in the bar you will be left alone
Park up next to five other vans good chance you will be moved on
Remember park you are ok camp you are not ok
Nothing out side of the van not even the step you are parking not camping
Bill

 

[DBK]

Our only problem with informal camping is the problem of "fluidic stamina". By that I mean to some extent grey water capacity but more limiting, cassette capacity. The former is easily solved with a discrete dribble but emptying the cassette, which we need to do daily with ours despite trying to use the bushes where practical and a squirty bottle instead of flushing remains a limiting factor. Of course, we could find public loos every day to empty the previous 24 hours production but the convenience of sites and aires is attractive to us.

But there are some great spots to find - this is us in the Cazorla Forest in Spain - probably 20 km from the nearest house.

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[Stealaway]

Tonight we are in the car park of a small town in rural west Sussex. Parking charges are between 9.00 & 5.00. There is no charge until 10,00 as the first hour is free. We hoped to stay in the car park of a NT house we visited today but they lock the gates at 5.30 so had a look in the local town and settled down here. You do have to be flexible but we never fail. Picnic areas are always worth a visit.

 

[Huwmari]

Our only problem with informal camping is the problem of "fluidic stamina". By that I mean to some extent grey water capacity but more limiting, cassette capacity. The former is easily solved with a discrete dribble but emptying the cassette, which we need to do daily with ours despite trying to use the bushes where practical and a squirty bottle instead of flushing remains a limiting factor. Of course, we could find public loos every day to empty the previous 24 hours production but the convenience of sites and aires is attractive to us.

But there are some great spots to find - this is us in the Cazorla Forest in Spain - probably 20 km from the nearest house.

View attachment 179054

Not wishing to be too personal, but how does your cassette need emptying every day?! We wild-camp most of the time and ours will last for four days. And that's without excessive piddling in the bushes!

 

[DBK]

Not wishing to be too personal, but how does your cassette need emptying every day?! We wild-camp most of the time and ours will last for four days. And that's without excessive piddling in the bushes!

I think they come in different sizes, ours is one of the smaller ones, if not the smallest.

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[Northernraider]

I think they come in different sizes, ours is one of the smaller ones, if not the smallest.

I'm not too bad my new van comes with two cassettes and being solo that should do me a few days if need be

 

[vwalan]

Not wishing to be too personal, but how does your cassette need emptying every day?! We wild-camp most of the time and ours will last for four days. And that's without excessive piddling in the bushes!

when your in cazorla national park and the wild boars jump out right in front of you its s--t yourself time .
but you can be hassled by the park rangers if you look like your camping . we just say tacho rules we need a stop. mind we are in trucks .
if you do go there please treat every thing with care ,the wild life wild boars , red squirrels and some of the birds that get there do make it very special. there are toilets etc on the main road through .
low profile area. but what an adventure.

 

[Kool Kroozer]

When we wild, we pick a place we are visiting and then get on Google maps, its amazing what you can find, a couple of spots we have used not that long ago: First pic was a great spot but now has some signage up about overnight camping, but if anyone recognizes the place there are lots of other spots less than a couple of minutes away in woodlands - no signs at all, second and third pic no signage, cant remember about the fourth pic, but if you/we are parked up and intend to use for the night (only if there are no signage) and knock knock at the door and some authority figure is asking you to move its no problem is it ? Never heard of arrests or fines etc.. simple to just move and not to cause any grief for yourself and anyone else - That is about the worst thing that can happen i should imagine : asked to move, it beats the hell out of paying nearly £40 for a campsite and having to put up with other peoples crap and noise... My only gripe with wilding is you dont always get sat/tv signal (but we got loads of stuff loaded onto a portable HD) wifi and mobile signals, sometime you can get it all and other times just one or maybe two of the three... still suits us..

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[Northernraider]

When we wild, we pick a place we are visiting and then get on Google maps, its amazing what you can find, a couple of spots we have used not that long ago: First pic was a great spot but now has some signage up about overnight camping, but if anyone recognizes the place there are lots of other spots less than a couple of minutes away in woodlands - no signs at all, second and third pic no signage, cant remember about the fourth pic, but if you/we are parked up and intend to use for the night (only if there are no signage) and knock knock at the door and some authority figure is asking you to move its no problem is it ? Never heard of arrests or fines etc.. simple to just move and not to cause any grief for yourself and anyone else - That is about the worst thing that can happen i should imagine : asked to move, it beats the hell out of paying nearly £40 for a campsite and having to put up with other peoples crap and noise... My only gripe with wilding is you dont always get sat/tv signal (but we got loads of stuff loaded onto a portable HD) wifi and mobile signals, sometime you can get it all and other times just one or maybe two of the three... still suits us..
View attachment 179081 View attachment 179083 View attachment 179084 View attachment 179085

With a view like that who needs satellite Tv
I'd be out exploring

 

[Northernraider]

Where are those places? For future reference

 

[River gypsys]

There are stacks of places in Portugal and Spain to wild camp , just keep your stuff inside the van including your step and you should be ok, we did four months wild camping earlier this year and never had a problem,get the all the aires books and finding Elsan points is easy

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[River gypsys]

And always be polite and say it with a smile, it goes along way

 

[jongood]

We re up for a bit of wild camping and use the occasional car park, pubstop etc and we ve been moved on twice that I can think of in over 10 years. However we only do overnights, the people who park up for weeks are the ones that annoy the locals into putting up barriers and signs.

We do it to have a nice view or to be near to where we want to visit (especially pubs). We rarely wildcamp in France or Germany though as they have aires/SP nearly everywhere. I don t mind paying a few euros to be where I want to be.

Jon

 

[MR. FUSION]

We did 9 months travelling across much of Europe last year, with plenty of wild and aire camping. Our rule is get a campsite in a city though, many European cities these days have a higher content of hungry/drugged/homeless people in them than they used to. Things in Europe are sadly not what they used to be, play it safe pay the man and you will be OK. The other thing I would say is avoid aires in public parks, especially in cities even just for overnighting we never had a good experience in those, as at night the real dross comes out to play there.

Campercontact is useful for up to date info sometimes and please add to it if you use it.

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[JackieP]

I've been moved on by the police in Portugal but have never had a fine. I'm always very polite, apologise and thank them for doing what is a very hard job. I do have friends however who have been fined 220 euros for wild camping - one of which had accumulated TEN fines of 220 euros each! So yes, it does happen in the south/south west of Portugal.

There are just too many vans going there for the winter and the police just don't know what else to do.

Personally, I know spend more time north of the N125 than I do south. If I want to go to the beach I pack up, have a day at the beach and then drive north of the N125 again. In my mind it's fairer that way and everyone gets a chance to park by the beach - locals included.

 

[John & Joan]

Parking on the beach is against Spanish law Ley de Costa This sets an area between the beach and any development. Lots of places in Spain ban motorhomes from the car parks nearest the beach. However the law in Spain does not prohibit the occupation of a parked vehicle. Police will move you into urbanisations to park from the coast. Moving from the urbanisation to the coast as the OP stated is asking for trouble. Go to the coast during the day and return to the urbanisation at night is what is expected.

 

[Stealaway]

@Stealaway
And anyone else!
How do you go about wild camping? Do you just drive and see a place that will do or are the next stops planned?

Stops are rarely planned although we now have a library of previous sites we have stayed at. We left Friday afternoon heading for the South coast
The traffic was so bad we decided to stop in a truck layby on the A34.Bad choice too busy with trucks even on a Friday night. Stayed on my brothers drive Saturday. Stayed in Chichester Harbour car park for £5 per 24 hours.
We then went along the coast for the day and stayed in a large shopping centre car park. Caught the park&ride into Brighton for the day and stayed over night there FOC. Moved to this car park and have just paid 20p for 2 more hours. Total cost for 6 nights £5.20

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[MitchandJenny]

Reference emptying your loo so often ! ! ! !
Get a 6 or 8 ltr square continental type drinking water bottle and pee in that ! ! !
Its easy to empty in the bushes and too avoid any "shame, pops it in a carrier bag for that purpose.
Let the lady use the loo (that will keep the "solids", from Going hard).
We bought a waste hog, like the caravaners use to "de-cant into, should the need arise.
Bingo you have week without the loo problem.
Also, we use biological washing fluid as a cassette additive.
Mitch.

 

[spitfire]

Reference emptying your loo so often ! ! ! !
Get a 6 or 8 ltr square continental type drinking water bottle and pee in that ! ! !
Its easy to empty in the bushes and too avoid any "shame, pops it in a carrier bag for that purpose.
Let the lady use the loo (that will keep the "solids", from Going hard).
We bought a waste hog, like the caravaners use to "de-cant into, should the need arise.
Bingo you have week without the loo problem.
Also, we use biological washing fluid as a cassette additive.
Mitch.

OMG !!

 

[Neil S]

Oh dear !! wont be long before Motorhomes will be barred from there

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