I’m a huge fan of wild camping, and by default will wild camp when cycle touring. Yes, even in England and/or Wales, where people will tell you wild camping is illegal.
Of course, when wild camping, you will want to pick your sites with care. After all, if nobody knows you’re there, nobody can ask you to move along, right? However, there’s much more to it than simply that.
Flat and level
Ideally, you want your camping spot to be flat and level. The reason is obvious: if camping on a slope, you’re in for a very uncomfortable night. After all, you’ll be sliding down the slop in your sleep.
Sometimes, you don’t have a choice. Whenever I pitch my tent on a slope, I try and ensure that the length of the tent doesn’t point either uphill, or downhill. Then, once I inflated my sleeping mat, I place my panniers slightly underneath the sleeping mat. This has the effect of creating a “wall” that will prevent me from rolling off the mat in my sleep. It’s a simple measure, and can work well, but it isn’t a substitute for a flat and level spot.
Water
There’s a good reason the UK is so green: it rains a lot. Everyone knows water runs downhill. Despite this, you may be surprised how many people do not make the connection when picking a camping spot!
Look at the land around where you’re planning on pitching your tent. Specifically, as you stand there under clear blue skies, try and imagine where the water will go if the heavens opened up. If you’re planning on camping near the convergence of several slopes, rain in the night might give you a rude awakening!
If there’s any doubt in your mind about where the water will run if it rains, and rain is likely, then pick a different spot.
Vegetation
On Dartmoor, and many other parts of the UK, when you see rushes growing, you should know you’re looking at waterlogged ground. When at all possible, camp away from rushes.
However, it doesn’t stop there: if you’re using an inflatable sleeping mat (and most people do) then the last thing you want is for it to be punctured. As a result, try and avoid camping near hawthorn trees (or hawthorn hedges!) and also away from holly trees. With holly, the leaves have sharp, needle-like pointy bits.
Storm water drains and dry river beds
Every so often I read about some long-distance cycle tourer who talks about setting up camp in storm water drains, or dry river beds. Every time it makes me shudder. When I was a young boy, three lads from the same town in South Africa as me went camping. They were unfortunately enough to camp in a huge erosion ditch, carved out over many, many years, by storm water surges.
Though no rain fell overnight near where they were camping, extremely heavy rain fell some ten kilometres away. Much of that water came surging down the erosion ditch in the night, and one lad never made it home.
Again, water runs downhill. Ensure that you do NOT camp where water is expected to flow.
The unexpected
Recently, I went to cycle the Stover Trail again. I try and cycle routes I’ve done route guides for every so often, to keep them up to date. During 2024, Storm Bert hit the UK, dumping enormous amounts of rain. Much of that water came rushing down the river Teign. On a bend in the river, the river burst its banks, and the water started eroding the land very quickly.
The Stover Trail, at that point, was 150 metres away from the river, but it got washed away. In between the river and the trail was an industrial road, and an old railway – those are gone, too. Now when you cycle that part of the Stover Trail, the path abruptly ends at an expanse of water. Some 60 metres ahead, you can see where the route continues.
Imaging if you were camping along there when that happened – it doesn’t bear thinking about!
Livestock
Let me blunt here: cattle can kill you. More accurately, cattle can easily kill you. A cow can weigh anything from 500 kg to 850 kg, and when something of that size and weight pushes you, it can send you flying. Be especially wary of cows with calves. There are plenty of valid reasons why I typed that in bold text.
Cows can, and have attacked as a herd. If that happens, unless you’re able to rapidly get to safety, you will be at serious risk of death. Herds with calves are most likely to attack. Herds can respond to a threat by running away, or attacking. Sure, you don’t mean to threaten them, but the cows have no way of knowing that.
Your best option, by an enormous margin, is to never camp where there is livestock. Besides, farmers (quite understandably) can get upset if you camp in a field where they keep livestock. Having said that, on Dartmoor, I have (slowly!) walked my bike right through a herd of cows and calves.
People
When you find a lovely spot to camp, then discover empty beer cans, or similar, move along. That spot is often used by the very type of people you wouldn’t want to discover – at 2am – are sharing your camp site!
Most people are good, and most people would give you no trouble. Unfortunately, it can be hard to predict which people would be less-than-pleasant. As a result, the wisest, of often simplest course of action is to camp away from people.
Stealthy camping can help a great deal here. After all, if nobody knows you’re there, nobody will bother you.