In June 22 i made a short trip to Belgium and Luxembourg, there was a heatwave going on and i wanted to get to the Sauer Reservoir (Lux) for a swim, i had been there already some years before and remembered it to be really nice.
When i arrived at the lake i was surprised to find it totally over crowded. It was a saturday, but few years ago it was also a weekend in, just there wasn’t even a tenth of the amount of people there.
Everybody and their mother had their boom box going, it was super annoying. I was really exhausted, been pushing through the heat of the mid day because i thought after all i’d be able to just chill, swim, drink some beers, then later set up camp with a nice view on the lake. I did all that, just the chilling was not as relaxing as i had hoped, because of all he people and noise.
Around midnight i set up my tent, almost everybody had already left and the last boom box was going quiet. Had a perfect spot with a great view, just on the lakes greens, not hidden at all, next morning i’d be right at a spot to jump into the lake. But then around 1:30 the police showed up. Actually some years before they also showed up, but only to see if people held their camp fires in check.
They woke me up and told me i’d have to pack my shit and leave. I was trying to negotiate for a bit and i think if it wasn’t for that one “bad cop”, they would have let me stay, but in the end they said they’ll be back in an hour and if i still was there, i’d be fined. Apparently there were new rules introduced for the lake area since it got too popular and the guests behaviour out of control. I was thinking to just move my tent a bit out of sight, but then decided to completely leave the lake area to not risk anything. First i was looking for a new spot in the forested valley, but all the insects that were storming at me and my lights drove me up the hills to the fields (Picture background). Night active animals were scaring the shit out of me, crossing the path, guess i scared them too, although i had the feeling they were not the cleverest of animals. Eventually i found a neat spot on the very top of the hills, next to picnic table (i used picnic table and bench POI’s in osmand to help me find a good spot in the dark), with hardly any insects and a nice cool breeze.
That’s very unlucky. I regularly camp in the wild, and while I usually try to find a somewhat secluded spot, sometimes there are no great options.
So far, I have never been bothered by police at all. Mostly it’s forest workers or hunters that stumble over me in the very early morning, sometimes farmers if I’m camping on their land ( orchards are great ). Only a select few decided to be annoyed, most were pleasantly surprised. But nobody every rushed me over they learned I only was camping overnight. The anxious ones were thinking I was planning to stay for days or weeks and were afraid of damaged grounds and garbage left behind. But nobody ever made me leave right away, even the most hostile ones just said I shouldn’t be staying for another night. Having to pack up and find a new spot in the middle of the night is super annoying and frustrating.
Funny enough the most obnoxious people are usually the ones that have no reason or right to complain: local joggers, dog walkers or hikers. They love to threaten to call the police or the landowner they claim to know.
Am mostly in Germany as well, but have traveled and camped all over Europe like that.
Maybe unlucky, maybe i was pushing my luck, i kinda expected cops to show up, like they did the last time. Just thought it’d all be fine. I also can see that they no longer tolerate people staying there, i think the rules for the lake are now that you are not allowed to hang out after 11pm in the area. The amount of people was certainly too much and i think there would be raves and noise all summer long if they would not intervene.
Leaving the area completely would have probably also not been necessary, i’m sure if i went a bit out of sight from the main greens, the cops would have been fine with it. Somehow i felt like fuck it, this is kinda interesting, and it wasn’t all that bad really.
I had another run in with cops, in Belgium, we were on a skateboarding trip and were about to sleep in a skatepark (no tents). They showed up and asked us to leave because there was a brawl in a pub nearby and they somehow thought it would be safer for us to go elsewhere. They led us to a nearby empty parking lot and told us to just sleep there. Very friendly.
All other encounters i had while wild camping were people greeting or just ignoring me.
Picnic table POIs are great as they are usually flat which can’t always be said of benches.
Just a request: if you haven’t: register and submit benches/Picnic tables on OSM. With OSMAnd it’s super easy! And from my experience living in a pretty well mapped area otherwise, there is a lot of work to do!
I do add those micromapping poi’s, basically all of those that i use when i am travelling, benches, tables, drinking water and shelters. Cafes and supermarkets. It’s also a nice sidequest.
Looks like you’re also from germany, tbh i find it so well mapped here, just a bench every now and then to add really. I think most of the times when i thought i found an unmapped bench i just had the poi turned off and it was already mapped.
I thought you were dutch because of you name. I just realized their signs actually say: Let OP! Drempels
Drinking water is so nice! The maps are probably so well done because everyone is micromapping. Stuff that I have consistently found is postboxes and their collection times, and defibrillators!
I actually managed to camp illegally in Sweden where you can camp legally in the wild almost everywhere due to allemansrätten. My wife and I arrived after a day of hiking in a wonderful little site near a small river and set up our tent. The next morning we walked a few meters to the next trail and we saw a big ass sign that said “natural habitat - no camping”. Luckily no one found us and we didn’t disturb any wild life.
Haha, nice one. Must have been a lovely and quiet place.
I’d suggest to take a hammock, it’s easier to disappear among some trees. Also you don’t need to carry a mat, unless it’s cold…
I did not try to disappear that day.
Hammocks are not for me, i say that without really trying one. Pretty much all of my best wild camps would not have been possible with a hammock.
Somehow I can never really sleep well if I am camping illegally. Once while camping I had to hide from the forrest ranger in the Jura mountains in Switzerland, they were driving around and clearly looking for us (I think some hikers ratted me out). That night I would wake up to every little sound, and has been challenging ever since
The paranoia can be real when wild camping, haha. Hunters scare the shit out of me. And animal noises too sometimes. Glad i have not heard any lynx screaming yet, but also kinda glad that i know how fucking crazy they sound. Oh it’s just a cat, that’s what i’ll think when i hear them.
Oh wow these screams really are the fuel of nightmares, thanks for sharing :)
![[Anecdote] Getting caught Wild Camping](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/ad53411a-eec6-4b1f-9d9b-53de39335c63.jpeg){kind=link}