Quote Originally Posted by strikealight View Post
Not over the pond to me! Welcome from the UK. Your English is an awful lot better than my German (or my English if I'm honest!). What's the hammocking scene like over the North Sea? Do you have any hammock manufacturers over there? We have DD Hammocks in Scotland and a few cottage manufacturers, but I envy our cousins in the USA for the huge choice they have. Our wild camping laws aren't terribly friendly, and our wilderness is somewhat scrappy and fragmented - I think you have proper big forests and that sort of thing.
I think there are 2 reasonable companies in Germany: Amazonas and La Siesta(not compareable to US in terms of outdoor). The hammock scene here is quite small, despite the amount of trees. Me, a friend of mine and sometimes a few guys from other countries(ireland/israel) are the only ones i have seen on campingsites going with hammocks! Tent and caravan camping is common here...
Camping laws in germany are sometimes very restriktive, and it depends on where in germany and wich way of camping. Open fires/bonfires for example are stricktly forbidden in all departments. Except on your own property and defined campingrounds. Same for tent-camping(destroying ground/soil)!
Otherwise hammock-camping for one single night is accepted (embraced by the term "emergency bivak") and the people you met are mostly astonished!
The nature in germany is very scattered too, because of the dense infrastructure/agriculture, and the few "nature" spots are mostly very restricted national/recreational parks/areas. Often crowded by people/tourists in the main season, making it quite impossible to get remote like in scottland or the baltic region.