UK South Coast Three Day Trip

[trewornan]

Quick trip to the south coast with a chance to try out my new under quilt made from a horrible old puke green sleeping bag. Other equipment - square silnylon tarp, DD Hammock and Snugpak Elite bag.

Day one:

Arrived at the New Forest about 8:00pm set up the hammocks and repaired to the local hostelry. Returned about 11:30pm but (as usual for the first night in a hammock) took a while to get to sleep - checked my watch about 1:00am and presumably fell asleep shortly afterward. Slept like a log once I did get to sleep though. Under quilt worked like a dream, very comfortable, if anything I was too warm and had to push off the sleeping bag that I was using like a quilt.

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Day Two:

Visit to Bournemouth and across the Studland Ferry, quick trip to Lynham and Lulworth Cove. Discovered a pub just up the road from Lulworth was having a cider festival (40 different ciders) which they were selling 6 x 1/3 pint of any selection you wanted . . . left some time later, hard to say exact time. Second night somewhere in the area not sure where. Started by setting up my hammock to a tree that was too small so when I got in it bent inward and obviously everything went slack and found myself bum on the ground. Re-tied to a more substantial tree but was very uncomfortable finally got up and discovered the hammock was severely off level (very head down) so reset again but still felt too head down - couldn't get the under quilt right, don't know what was wrong - just gave up. Finally got to sleep some time after 3:00am woke up about 9:00am feeling terrible. Not a good nights sleep.

Day Three:

Back home via some place with a big Saxon wall around the village and Dorchester.

Good fun trip!

[2ply]

Thanks for sharing the adventure. Cider festival sounds like fun.

[Gresh]

Thanks for sharing this. I'm in England about once a year and always look for opportunities to hang but I'm told that there are no public grounds on which to do so. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

[ofuros]

Hang in there, trewornan....after a few ups & downs/ trials & errors, your experiences will get better.
Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for sharing this. I'm in England about once a year and always look for opportunities to hang but I'm told that there are no public grounds on which to do so. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

If your talking leave no trace 'Wild Camping', Gresh, then from memory only Dartmoor National Park
in the SW of England & Scotland way way up north have areas to camp.

It's mainly a short country walk / highland ramble, hit the pub & stay a hostel or B&B type of culture...
You could always ask a local farmer if a spot takes your fancy....or stealth camp, set up in a forest late & pack up early, never had many issues either way.

National Parks UK & Wales.....http://www.nationalparks.gov.uk/visiting/camping
Forestry Commission.....http://www.campingintheforest.co.uk/...try-commission
Alternative shelters, mainly in Scotland...http://www.mountainbothies.org.uk/locationmap.asp
Irish National Parks, you can wild camp Wicklow Mts National Park...http://www.npws.ie/nationalparks/

Just as an added interest, long distance walks, paths, trails.....
Scottish......http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/long-...e-routes.shtml
English......http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/
Irish............http://www.irishtrails.ie/National_Waymarked_Trails/
Welsh.........http://walking.visitwales.com/long-d...tional-trails/
http://www.leapingstiles.co.uk/national-trails

[Scotty Von Porkchop]

Don't worry about it, England is 'the land of the free' so just be considerate. It's worth noting that there's no criminal trespass it's usually just a case of a kind hello and pleasantries.

[Gresh]

Many thanks for the resources. Dartmoor is almost exactly opposite of the village I visit in the East Riding of Yorkshire, but it might be worth it to make the trip and check it out - especially if I move over there next year.

[K0m4]

In some way, the greatest adventures are these small experiences. A couple of days in a place you may or may not frequent, run into a cider festival, figure out more about your gear and how to hang comfortably.. Sounds like a couple of days very well spent!

[Scotty Von Porkchop]

Oh and kudos to Truwornan for posting up the cider fueled mishap

[trewornan]

Having sampled quite a number of ciders that day I'd like to recommend "Lulworth Skipper" to anybody who has the opportunity to try it.

[trewornan]

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

If you go to a camp site most won't object if you can find a suitable place to hang and will charge the same as a small tent.

As Ofuros says, there are very few legitimate places for wild camping however if you pick some woodland out in the countryside somewhere and set up late (say an hour before sunset) and leave early . . . well I've never had any problems. Just don't go lighting fires or hacking down the local flora.

If worst comes to worst and the landowner turns up and asks you to leave do so quickly and without objection and you won't be breaking any laws - theoretically the landowner could sue you if he could prove damages in court but if you haven't done any damage and left when asked he'd have no grounds.

Technically we shouldn't have been camping in the New Forest (which is National Trust land) but by and large the Brits are a pretty reasonable bunch - if you follow "Leave No Trace" principles why would anybody object?