Filling up the water bottle

[User]

 

[HLaB]

I don't know about down south but a mate ran out of water up here, I sent him into a Hotel/Pub (there was nowhere else) and they filled it :-)

 

[Rebel Ian]

Ha! Nothing like a sweeping generalisation! I've never had a problem getting various Southern-based Costa Coffee/Starbucks type outlets to fill my water bottle.

 

[Gixxerman]

I usually just stop at private houses and politely ask.
Generally I look out for people who are outside gardening, washing car etc. rather than knocking on doors.
I realise that it is a bit cheeky, but I have never been refused yet.
In fact quite the opposite. I have been invited in for cake, cups of tea / coffee, biscuits etc. On one notable occaision, I was offered something a bit more that I expected by a (married?) middle aged woman. I gracefully refused and just left with a full water bottle.

 

[Moodyman]

Just don't speak. Write down a note 'Water please' and show it whenever you need some.

Once they hear your Scottish accent, the'll not only refuse you water, but chase after you with a stick and set their dog on ya.

Seriously, though, I've never been refused water when I've been caught out on hot days.

 

[Amanda P]

If someone waved a water bottle at you and asked you politely to fill it, you would, wouldn't you?

Other people are just the same. Expect courtesy, and generally, you'll get it.

 

[ianrauk]

Sorry, i'm not trying to be cheeky about southerners or anything , I guess my mates winding me up, he reckons approach any one down dover / kent way and they will presume you are an immigrant and call the polis. Ask in a hotel / pub / shop and they will charged a tenner. Never been down that way before, not knowing what to expect.

The way Gixxerman descibes it, sounds very much like here. Although I'm yet to be offered anything that exciting

Tell your mate that he talks a load of old bollocks.....

 

[Globalti]

This thread is a wind-up, right?

 

[fossyant]

What's touring ?

 

[Zoof]

In Germany / Austria cemeteries always have fresh water taps (for people tending graves presumably) so are good places to fill up the water bottle. At home in the Scottish Borders there is usually someone about as I pass through farm steadings / small villages so I just ask, nobody would ever refuse. I'm going to be down in the south of england touring, any tips on getting the bottle filled up, have heard its not all that friendly and speaking to strangers is not the done thing.

Where do you refill when out touring?

I have had to strain stagnant pond water, through my socks filled with sphagnum moss,
then boil it it an old tin-can.
Later I manage to snatch a ice-lolly from a kid sat on a wall.
Good idea about the crem tap if I had known that ,the kid would still have an ice-lolly,
Zoof

 

[fungus]

I usually just stop at private houses and politely ask.
Generally I look out for people who are outside gardening, washing car etc. rather than knocking on doors.
I realise that it is a bit cheeky, but I have never been refused yet.
In fact quite the opposite. I have been invited in for cake, cups of tea / coffee, biscuits etc. On one notable occaision, I was offered something a bit more that I expected by a (married?) middle aged woman. I gracefully refused and just left with a full water bottle.

Have you got the address

 

[Gixxerman]

Have you got the address

I can't remember exactly, but it was somewhere in the vacinity of Cadwell Park, Lincolnshire.

 

[Dave Davenport]

If someone waved a water bottle at you and asked you politely to fill it, you would, wouldn't you?

Depends what they asked me to fill it with!

 

[Davidc]

Only place I've ever been refused a water fill up was at a petrol station. The woman behind the desk said I could buy a bottle, they didn't give it away!

I answered that I'd just become very sympathetic to the Rolling Stones, and left. I think the remark was wasted though from the blank look I got. As I was leaving I spotted an outside tap and filled up from it.

Sad to say the place was Bridgwater, Somerset, just 10 miles up the road from here. (I was coming back over the Quantocks so I really did need water 10 miles from home)