# Help with my first stealth camping night!



## jay clock (7 Aug 2009)

*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


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## Chrisz (7 Aug 2009)

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!!


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## PpPete (7 Aug 2009)

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.


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## RedBike (7 Aug 2009)

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.


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## jay clock (8 Aug 2009)

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


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## RedBike (8 Aug 2009)

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!


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## Proud2Push (10 Aug 2009)

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. 

View attachment 3854


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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.


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## jay clock (10 Aug 2009)

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!


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## andym (10 Aug 2009)

jay clock said:


> 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.


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## ComedyPilot (10 Aug 2009)

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.


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## yashicamat (10 Aug 2009)

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.


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## spandex (10 Aug 2009)

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.


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## Bigtwin (10 Aug 2009)

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...


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## andym (11 Aug 2009)

Bigtwin said:


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



Said the man from Surrey...


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## Bigtwin (11 Aug 2009)

andym said:


> Said the man from Surrey...



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

That's going to shag up immigration policy then.


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## andym (11 Aug 2009)

Ah right so you're one of those southerners who likes to maintain they are really a northerner?


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## jay clock (11 Aug 2009)

It's my posting, so no argy bargy please! 

As a southern softie (born in the Midlands as it happens) current forecast is rain, and I was only planning the ride in the first place as a way of getting to Bristol airport for my hols... I will be taking the train if it is wet


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## trio25 (12 Aug 2009)

Only done bivvying when I am riding off road so maybe easier to be away from people. I also live in the less populated NW. But never had any issues at all. Love it, ride till tired, sleep, ride some more!


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## jay clock (12 Aug 2009)

Current forecast suggests rain on Friday althought dry overnight Thurs to Fri, with fog in the morning. To be honest the trip is solely for the purpose of getting to Bristol for a Saturday morning flight (staying with friends on Friday night), so if the weather is not lovely it sort of removes the point of camping (in my view). So currently will be going on train but prepared to make a last minute change!


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## jay clock (13 Aug 2009)

*UPDATED: Help with my first stealth camping night!*

*IT'S OFFICIAL*, I am off stealth camping tonight. So if you never hear from me again....

I will try to send an update late tonight from my lair using my mobile....


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## mr Mag00 (13 Aug 2009)

go for it, excellent!


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## RedBike (13 Aug 2009)

It's 10:30 and there's no update. 

How late is late?


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## bigjim (13 Aug 2009)

11.17. Nothing yet.


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## cheadle hulme (14 Aug 2009)

I do hope he's out of 3G coverage rather than been eaten by wolves.


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## trio25 (14 Aug 2009)

Proper wild camping would have you out of mobile reception, more exciting that way!


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## jay clock (14 Aug 2009)

well I am ALIVE. No axe murders but there did appear to be a very low and very slow helicopter overhead at 1am. I was on the Wilthshire downs, up a bridleway on a patch of flat grass alongside but on the public side of a barbed wire fence. I had stunnign 25 mile views but noone within at least 1.5k from me, and no hassle. I was up at 610 and off by 635. Had a lovely cycle to Bristol. 

I will post a piccy later! I did try to post by mobile last night but it was just too slow


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## jay clock (14 Aug 2009)

if I have got this right there should be a pic attached of my lovely campsite


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## trio25 (14 Aug 2009)

Looks great! But a bivvy bag would be more fun!


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## RedBike (14 Aug 2009)

trio25 said:


> Looks great! But a bivvy bag would be more fun!




Some people are just harder than others. 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26379578@N08/3573521078/in/set-72157618830239251/


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## jay clock (14 Aug 2009)

i was crapping myself enough without worrying about roughing it even further!


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## asterix (15 Aug 2009)

jay clock said:


> if I have got this right there should be a pic attached of my lovely campsite



nice pic, but where's the tent? 

Have only wild-camped twice myself, both times in France. I didn't intend to it was just a case of not reaching the Youth Hostel in time and then finding it had been taken over by a rock band for a practice evening. Although I had no tent I did have a light mattress so I just just stopped off in a vineyard the first time and a field the second. Not quite as comfortable as a hostel but ok.


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## Suerdusty (15 Aug 2009)

I remember in the early 80s traveling from Wincanton Westwards along the A303, and after a few bevvies, I found a lovely spot of grass and set up camp ( just a sleeping bag ) when I woke up just before dawn I found myself on the central resevation !


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