The Wild Camping Code

 Its a shame that this article needs to be written, but as wild camping has gained in popularity over the last few years, unfortunately we are seeing more instances of poor behaviour which tarnish the reputation of the responsible wild camper.

A lovely spot on Grasmoor

Wild camping is essentially illegal in England. Its 'tolerated' because wild campers have historically been small in number and fairly inconspicuous. But as numbers increase, and behaviour worsens, its becoming an activity with an increasing distasteful profile in the eyes of land owners. And as wild camping draws more negative attention to itself, wild campers run the risk of becoming demonised by the general public. 

Camping on the summit of Blencathra

Its a real shame because the vast majority of wild campers are discreet and respectful to the degree where they are totally inconspicuous. Which is the whole point. As people who love the outdoors most wild campers appreciate the landscape and the privilege of being able to spend some precious time in it. Its the thoughtless minority who threaten wild camping and its future in England. 

Room with view of Wastwater

The Wild Camping Code was written in an attempt to provide some ground rules and guidelines for wild campers so that we all know what is expected of us. Here is the code and the most common ways in which people ignore it !

1) Camp high on open hills, above the highest fell wall, away from main tracks, houses, farms and livestock

This should be easy enough. Its a simple case of being discreet, unobtrusive and out of sight. But we've all seen people camping within sight of roads or paths and I'm sure it annoys you as much as me. Unfortunately some folk don't like paying for campsites and think they can impose themselves wherever they like. 'Fly campers' openly flaunt everything that the responsible wild camper holds dear.

2) Minimise the numbers of people and tents

Another common code violation that we see time and time again. Large groups of tents, lots of people and usually therefore lost of noise, and often in conjunction with violation of rule 1.

3) Pitch your camp late in the evening and leave early in the morning

This is one which really irritates me and I see this happening all the time. I challenge anyone to hike up to Sprinkling Tarn, Scales Tarn or Angle Tarn in the middle of the day on any weekend without seeing at least one tent. This is just selfish behaviour. The fells aren't your personal camp site. Set up after the last day hikers have gone home, and pack up before they arrive again the next day. Wild campers should be invisible to all, with the occasional exception of other wild campers.

4) Don't dig drainage ditches, trample plants or move rocks

Just have some respect for the landscape. Its not yours to change to your taste. If you must move a rock to make way for your tent then put it back exactly where you found it.

5) If asked by a landowner move on, do so respectfully and without argument

We know we shouldn't really be there. If we are respectful and follow this code then its unlikely anyone will bother us but if we do get challenged, its likely because the landowner has had a previous bad experience with irresponsible wild campers and they, like us, are fed up of them. Try to project an image of respectfulness and understanding, in a manor which enhances the image of wild campers and doesn't erode it any further. If they still want you to leave, then apologise and do so without question.

6) Don't light any fires; use a proper camping stove for cooking

Fires scar the land, sometimes for many months or even years. They also pose a risk of causing wildfires in dry weather. Using a stove off the floor is fine but when you leave, there should be no signs of scorching.

7) Toileting should be well away from any water source or path (30 metres or more) and paper / sanitary items should be bagged up and carried out, not buried.

This is just common sense. Take a small lightweight trowel, dig a small hole at least 15cm deep, do your business and then recover the hole so the area looks as it did before. We've all seen human waste and toilet paper in the hills. It's completely unacceptable and selfish behaviour. If you've done this then go and have a serious word with yourself!

8) Do not use streams or rivers for washing with soaps or detergent

This doesn't need any further explanation. Keep your chemicals to yourself. Why anyone would bring detergent with them on a wild camp is beyond me. Just clean yourself with water or wet wipes (which you then pack up and take away) and have a proper wash when you get home.

9) Maintain the peace by aiming to be as quiet as possible during your camp.

A violation of this rule usually go's hand in hand with violations of rules 1 and 2. Noise travels remarkably far at night, so be respectful and keep quiet.

10) Leave no trace that you've camped. Leave the area exactly as you found it. Bag up all litter and take it home with you.

This is the one which boils the blood of anyone who has any sense of decency and respect for the outdoors. There is really nothing worse than coming across litter in the fells. Unfortunately the worst instances of littering tend be around wild camping sites. I've seen empty gas canisters, food packaging, toiler paper galore, uneaten food, guy lines and even a whole tent. Leaving your rubbish in wild unspoiled areas is perhaps the ultimate expressive of lazyness, selfishness and a total disregard for others. I'm really not sure if anyone who does this can actually be rehabilitated but we have to live in hope.


So those are the rules. They are really just common sense values and are not difficult to follow. So please spread the word and continue to act in way which represents our hobby in the most positive light. We, of all the people who enjoy the great outdoors, should be the ones who hold our wonderful landscape in the highest regard. Our behaviour in the fells should be second to none. Or we risk losing the access which we hold so dear.

Playing around with Tarps in the Garden .... again !

22nd April 2020

It's been funny year. I had planned to complete the Wainwrights before turning 50 in June. I'd booked off a number of days in March and April, plus a week at Easter and another in late May. That should have been plenty of time to climb the remaining 35, especially as most of them are clumped together in the Northern Fells. That was the idea anyway. Unfortunately though, a particularly stubborn virus with grand ideas of world domination has interfered with my carefully laid plans. And to add insult to injury, the recent weather has been glorious. We are now 4 weeks, or is it 5, into the Covid-19 lockdown. I lose count. Being an NHS key worker has thankfully spared me from the boredom of weekday 9-5 lockdown but there was no escape from my planned Easter week off. So having completed my list of garden chores I thought it would be a good time to update my old tarp pitching video on YouTube from 2015. Since then, nearly all my wild camps have been under a tarp and I've become much more adept at pitching them. I've learnt which shelters work well in the Cumbrian fells, particularly on windy summits where I seem to find myself more often than not. So here is my updated video showing, in my humble opinion, the best 5 tarp configurations using 2 trekking poles and my 9x5 foot silnylon tarp (the solo tarp, £55 from https://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/).






The A-Frame and the Cave are probably the least useful for my needs, the former being only suitable for really calm weather and the latter as a 'hunker down in a storm' shelter. Others may find them helpful though. The A-Frame would be the best option for a sheltered woodland camp and can be pitched between 2 trees instead of trekking poles. The Cave would be much more useful with a bigger tarp, but that's not really my thing. 

The other 3 shelters (the lean-to, the 'closed end' lean-to and the Flying-V) are my favourites and ones I use most. They can all stave off the wind which is usually my primary objective, and they all represent what wild camping with a tarp is all about for me. Wide open vistas, a real feeling of space and an open view of the sky. One of the best things about the tarp and/or bivvy is being able to lie supine in the comfort of a down bag and slowly allow your night vision to soak up the celestial arena. To fall asleep under a pitch black sky studded with countless stars and bisected by a glowing milky way that is hardly ever seen in 'urbandom'. To have wandering satellites, distant galaxies and streaking meteors for company.  You just don't get that experience in a tent. Of course its not always like that and I've had plenty of camps where the weather has unexpectedly turned for the worse. Where wind and rain have rattled the tarp and sleep has been sporadic, but even those experiences are special. Yep … I must admit that I've really fallen for the tarp. 

A High Level Wast Water Circuit and Bivvy Camp

Date: 31st May-1st June 2017
Start/Finish: Cinderdale Bridge, Nether Wasdale
Wainwrights: Whin Rigg, Illgill Head, Middle Fell, Seatallan, Buckbarrow
Wild Camp: Middle Fell
Distance: 16.3 miles
Height Gained: 5607 feet
Time Taken: Day 1 = 7 hours. Day 2 = 4 hours
Social Hiking route link

The route: Anti-clockwise from Nether Wasdale

                        A Video of the Hike


 This was a route planned a good while ago and was just waiting for a favourable forecast over 2 days which coincided with my being off work. According to MWIS there was 0 % chance of rain so I opted for a bivvy & simple tarp to keep weight down. There was over 5,000 feet of ascent on this route and so I really didn't want to carry anything unnecessary.

 After a painfully slow (Bank Holiday week in the Lakes!) drive across the Wrynose and Hardknott passes, I parked by Cinderdale Bridge, Nether Wasdale and was underway by 1pm, hoping to get to Middle Fell with plenty of daylight to spare.

Views of the route ahead, over the Wasdale Screes

Looking down the Wasdale valley towards Great Gable

Looking over to Buckbarrow, Seatallan and Middle Fell - tomorrows route

Glimpses of Wast Water down Greathall Gill

 It is a mercifully gentle gradient up onto Irton Fell and then along to ridge to Whin Rigg. From here the views down to Wast Water begin to open up and indeed were truly breath-taking from certain vantage points along the way to Illgill Head.

Wast Water from near Whin Rigg

Looking onwards to Illgill Head

Views over to Buckbarrow and Middle Fell

 From Illgill Head summit I wandered a little further northwards and found a nice secluded spot with stunning views down to Wast Water far below. An ideal spot for a bite to eat and to just sit and soak up the majestic scenery.

Illgill Head summit views towards Scafell, Lingmell, Great Gable and Kirk Fell ...

... over Wast Water to Middle Fell, Haycock and Yewbarrow ...

... and looking down on Wasdale Head.

 From here, I headed down towards Lingmell Gill, after a brief diversion eastwards for a glimpse of Burnmoor Tarn.

Burnmoor Tarn

Yewbarrow

Lingmell Beck with Kirk Fell and Great Gable as the backdrop

 Once back down to 'lake level' there was a brief rest-bite of level walking along the road until its time to gird up the loins again in preparation for further ascent. Middle Fell looks fairly innocent when looked down on from the screes opposite but now, from Nether Beck at the shore of Wast Water, it looked ferocious. There is no marked path from this side of Middle Fell on the OS map and so I spent some time just staring up at the steep crags trying to find a line of ascent. Finally, after some internal debate about the most plausible route, I headed up.

 It was indeed hard work. 'Middle Fell' sounds like such a bland and innocuous proposition but this couldn't be further from the truth. A more appropriate name would be 'torment fell' or 'morale sapping fell'. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the ascent but that was probably because I didn't have the nerve to prise my hands off the rock for long enough to press the shutter.

 Eventually I accepted defeat and convinced myself that discretion was indeed the best part of valour. I found a nice flat grassy ledge about 2/3 of the way up, with lovely views of Wast Water, and set up camp. The unfinished business with Middle Fell would have to wait until the following day when my weary legs had recovered.

Looking back over to Illgill Head

Yewbarrow from the foot of Middle Fell

Views back to Lingmell and the Scafells

Camp spot on a ledge 2/3 of the way up Middle Fell 

Nice views of the Scafells

 Shortly after setting up camp it started raining. This wasn't forecast! A light drizzle persisted for 30 mins before the mist rolled in and the wind got up. I very nearly didn't take the tarp as the forecast was so benign but I was very glad of the wind protection it provided through the night. By sun-up the clag looked fairly persistent. I was camped just below the cloud base and so had hazy views down to Wast Water but visibility quickly deteriorated as soon as I gained height.

Morning views from my camp

 Despite having 'rested legs' the remaining ascent of Middle Fell was far from easy. The pathless steep rocky terrain, poor visibility and a number a false summits made for slow progress. Eventually, the summit was reached and I couldn't see a thing. My abiding thought was that I must climb this fell again on a cool, clear day with a light day pack and then thoroughly explore the extensive crags and rocky summit plateau.  

Middle Fell summit with nowt to see today

 A faint path leads northwards towards Seatallan. I briefly dropped below the cloud base at the col between the 2 fells but was soon in the clag again on the steep ascent up onto Seatallan's broad summit plateau.

Seatallan's trig point and summit shelter 

 I finally got back below the cloud on the gentle descent to Buckbarrow and was rewarded with some hazy views over Wast Water to the Screes.

Buckbarrow summit views. Middle Fell, far left, still under cloud

Looking back up to Buckbarrow

The Wasdale Screes and yesterdays route from Nether Wasdale

 And there ended a cracking 2 days in the fells. This really is a great route which could be managed by a fit walker in a single day over 8-10 hours. Indeed, with a light day pack, the steep ascents up Middle Fell and Seatallan would be much more enjoyable.

Kit List

Shelter: Backpackinglight solo tarp (278g), 6x 8 inch Easton pegs, 6x 6inch titanium skewers, 2 x 3 foot bamboo canes (tarp lifters), 6 x 5 foot lengths 2mm Dyneema cord.  
Sleeping System: As Tucas custom down quilt (519g), Mountain Laurel Designs Superlight Bivvy Silnylon Large (190g), Tyvek solo ground sheet (100g), Exped SynMat7 UL LW (595g), 3 strips of anti-slip matting (50g).
Stove: High Gear Blaze titanium stove (48g)  + Primus 100g Gas Cart   
Pans: Evernew Solo-set (250g)  

Rucksack: Osprey Talon 44 (1.18kg)
Hydration: Deuter Streamer 2lt Bladder (185g) and 600ml Sigg bottle (100g empty) + Sawyer Squeeze filter (84g).
Food: Fuizion Chiken Tikka Masala, tortilla's, Supernoodles,various sugary snacks.

Bits & Bobs: headtorch and spare batteries, Iphone + Anker 5800mHh battery,  victorinox knife, map & compass, basic first aid kit and Petzl e-lite, spork, various fold dry bags, flint & steel, plastic trowel, smidge & sun screen.
Camera: Panasonic DMC-LX7 & lowepro case. Go-Pro Hero 5 and spare battery.


Clothes: Rab interval long sleeved T (135g), Rab 100 wt fleece (250g), Montane Lightspeed windproof jacket (147g), TNF Meridian Cargo Shorts (190g), Tilley Hemp Hat, ME beany, TNF E-Tip gloves, sunglasses, Buff, Innov8 short socks. PHD wafer down jacket (about 200g), Rohan Ultra Silver long sleeved top (95g) and leggings (80g) used as pyjamas (instead of a liner - which doesn't really work in a quilt).

Poles : Black Diamond Trail Compact (488g pair)
Trail Shoes: Meindl Respond GTX (820g pair)

Total weight excluding water = 8kg

Wild Camping with a 9 year old - Blencathra

Date: 18th & 19th June 2016
Start/Finish: Scales
Time Taken: 3 hours up, 2 hours down
Distance: 5.5 miles
Height Gained: 2156 feet

Our 'Den' on Blencathra summit

So my 9 year old lad had decided to sleep rough for the night in aid of Den Day, a 'save the children' initiative aimed at raising awareness for children in the world who don't have a safe place to sleep at night. The idea is to sleep in a home-made den in the garden or perhaps on the bedroom floor if the weather is poor. We thought we could do better though. I had planned to take Noah wild camping this year anyway and this seemed like a great opportunity to combine the two ventures. Admittedly, I had imagined a slightly less challenging project for his first wild camp but we decided to be ambitious and aim to build the highest den in the UK for national den day. Blencathra, at 2848 feet, seemed like a good choice as it is a superb mountain with amazing views and importantly, plenty of flat grassy areas on the summit for camping.

Click or zoom on the map below for route details 

 

Thankfully the weather forecast was favourable over the national den day weekend so we left for Blencathra in a buoyant mood. We set off from Scales at 3:30pm along the bracken lined path rising up onto Scales Fell. I had given Noah a trekking pole, a full rucksack and a packet of jelly babies so he looked like a real wild camper.

The path up to Scales Fell

Admiring the view

The first part of the hike is quite steep so we had plenty of short rests. When the path eventually emerges onto the main ridge of Scales Fell it flattens out and the view opens up on all sides.

Views over to Souther Fell ...

... over to Clough Head ...

... and the Keswick-Penrith valley

Blencathra summit comes into view

Looking over to sharp edge

A tiny hiker just visible on the right of sharp edge

Scales Tarn

The final push to the summit was a bit of a struggle for the boy as his rucksack was proving to be uncomfortable. Between us we carried it carrier bag style to the top.

Glimpses of Thirlmere

Looking nervously down the steep gully to Scaley Beck

It's hard work

Blencathra summit - views towards Derwent Water

Summit Selfie

We got to the summit at 6:30pm. Visibility was excellent. It was cold and a bit breezy but we had great views in all directions. 

It was now time to find a place to make camp (or rather, build our den). There is no shortage of flat grassy areas on Blencathra summit and so I let Noah choose a suitable spot. He thought we should make our den right by the little tarn in the middle of the summit plateau. That was fine by me as it was an ideal water source. He set about exploring the tarn while I set the tarp up. He then helped with some final den adjustments, such as the important job of attaching the official den day flag. In next to no time we were unpacked, wrapped up in sleeping bags, had the stove lit and tea on the go.

'Den' made and official flag flying

Having a well earned rest

Perfect summit camp

Home sweet home - Skiddaw in the background

I'd brought a small selection of foods for our evening meal. Noah chose super-noodles from the menu and I had meatballs and pasta. The phone provided our entertainment for the evening. We played pool and hangman and then watched Mrs Doubtfire together. He was asleep before it finished. It was a cold night (6 degrees C) but thankfully the wind died down. We both slept with woolly hats on.

The strangest part of the night was being woken up at around 2am by the sound of voices outside. I poked my head out of the 'door' to see about 20 head torches making their way towards us. A strange conversation then followed - started by "Hey look, a tent! - Is it cosy in there?", to which I replied "Yes thanks, are you fell running?". "Yes" someone answered "We're on the Bob Grahame round". "Ah OK" I replied "Enjoy yourselves!". "You too" they said, and off they went. I had forgotten that this was the closest weekend to the longest day and so was a popular time to tackle this famous 24 hour Lakeland challenge.

A misty morning

 We woke up to a cold and claggy morning. I left Noah watching the end of Mrs Doubtfire in his sleeping bag while I packed everything up. I then got him up and dressed and told him to keep moving around so as to stay warm. I then quickly packed up his mat and bag and then the shelter. A few minutes later the rucksack was packed and we were ready to go. Right, where was Noah? I couldn't see him. Panic set in. Visibility was about 100 feet and I knew that there was a steep drop down to Scales Tarn about 300 feet to the east. "Noah!" I shouted .... No reply. "Noaahhh!" ... still no reply. "NOOAAH!" ..... "What?" says a calm but perplexed 9 year old emerging from the mist. "Are you OK dad?" ..... Bleedin kids!!

After a short lecture on the dangers of wandering out of sight in these conditions, we picked our way carefully down the steep path towards Scales Tarn. It wasn't long before we got below the cloud base.

Scales Tarn through the mist

Wrapped up warm

Scales Tarn - spot the 3 other wild campers

An Emerald looking Scales Tarn

 We soon warmed up once below the cloud. The sun even came out.

Having a face wash in a mountain stream - very refreshing

Views back to sharp edge

Heading down

Made it

The triumphant duo

Overall our little adventure was a roaring success. Noah raised over £500 for save the children and had a great time doing so. It was a tough challenge for him but he really enjoyed the experience and is keen to go wild camping again with his old man. Result!