Alpkiteer Adventurer Al Humphreys on the injustice and absurdity of being excluded from our wild places.
Personally, I am not that bothered about wild camping on Dartmoor. I’d probably pick a dozen or more places in England where I’d rather roll out my bivvy bag and sleep under the stars. But when millionaire Alexander Darwall bought 4000 acres of the moor to go along with the 16,000 acres of Scotland he already owned, he set in motion something truly brilliant that I do care deeply about.
I fervently hope that the banning of wild camping on Dartmoor is the catalyst that reinvigorates the land rights movement in England. The indignant outpouring of anger it provoked highlights an even bigger issue than the implications for those who love Dartmoor. Losing that tiny scrap of access has woken people up to the injustice and absurdity of being excluded from almost all of our wild places.
We do have an excellent network of footpaths to enjoy, but they are mere threads across the beautiful canvas of our country. 92% of that land is legally off-limits to us, as are 97% of our rivers. If people cannot access nature, they cannot connect with it, and will not engage with the biodiversity crisis caused by the way we treat our landscape.
If people do not care about nature, or feel a connection and responsibility towards it, then of course a few will be more inclined to drop litter and leave gates open. Nature remains such a low priority to the government that less than £2000 a year is spent promoting the Countryside Code and educating people how to act responsibly in the great outdoors that all of us reading this love, and yearn to spend time in.
So what can we do about it, beyond ranting with words and preaching to the already converted? A few suggestions:
- Get out there and wild camp! I have been bivvying and wild camping all over the country for many years, trespassing discretely and politely, with no problems at all. Evangelise about it, encourage others, and teach them how to do it properly.
- Leave a positive trace. This is an important escalation from the established leave no trace convention. Leave the landscape better than you found it. This not only includes tidying up litter, but also having courteous, open, positive discussions with farmers, landowners or hikers you meet.
- Make a noise. We all feel strongly about these issues, but getting involved with campaign groups is far more effective than just getting cross on your own. Sign up online with Right to Roam, get involved with Trash Free Trails, and send this letter to your MP to let them know that a fair and responsible access to nature is important for everyone.
- Educate yourself. I read The Trespasser’s Companion. I didn’t really like the title of the book, as I’m too wimpy and conformist to be a rebel or a trouble-maker but I loved the book, it made me furious and motivated in equal measure, and I have never made so many notes in any book that I’ve read.
Scotland has an enlightened Outdoor Access Code. Much of Scandinavia enshrines every person’s right to roam, to forage, to swim, to paddle, and to wild camp responsibly. That we in England have meekly allowed those simple rights to be removed is astonishing. Alexander Darwall has done us all a great favour by drawing a line in the Dartmoor mud for us. Enough. No more. It is time for everyone to be able to enjoy, to share, and to care for the wild places that mean so much to us.
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Mountain Journal Entries
Don’t forget to remind Labour hopefuls of their promise to extend access, preferably similar to Scotland.
Bob Andrews
August 08, 2023
Sadly, like most things, the selfish stupidity of a minority is undermining the rights of the majority. The wild campers who leave litter and show little, if any respect for the countryside code will continue to provide enough ammunition for landowners to keep the rest of us at arms length. Litter in the countryside is an increasing issue – I live on the fringes of the Lake District national park and since Covid there’s been a sizeable increase in the amount of rubbish left by people who simply don’t care. There are areas near me I can’t walk the dogs any more because of the prevalence of human excrement left by wild campers. Education is part of the solution but there also needs to be a stronger deterrent with more serious consequences for those who defile the countryside. There also needs to be greater incentives for landowners to be more open with access.
Johnny Sledge
August 08, 2023
I’m so pleased that the ban on Dartmoor has been overturned. I’ve only wild camped there a few times, but they are the most magical memories. Wild camping is so good for the soul, you can feel it breathe as you put up that tent with no one nearby.
We need to ensure that we have this right back and safe and not some grumpy person “trying to protect the environment from illegal parties”, which decodes as “I like my hunting parties to be unhindered by naerdewells and riffraff”.
Well done to all who managed to get this crazy ban overturned. Now for the next chapter of enhanced access. Let’s get mental health and the environment re-linked with people like Mountains for the Mind. Probably room here for Moors for the Mind.
Thanks for the hard work all who know who you are.
Nic Langlois
August 04, 2023
I’d make a big distinction between lowland countryside – hedged fields and livestock – and the wilder spaces and forests. In my experience farmers will welcome those who ask first and find room. But does a ‘secret trespasser’ know where the owl is nesting or the cows are grazing with calves at foot? Yes trespass isn’t criminal but it’s unsettling for those who farm the land – and they are not all rich entitled landowners! 225,000km of footpaths thread our landscape, use them and the open country well and as Al says leave a ‘positive trace’.
Andrew Clark
March 02, 2023
I enjoyed your article about access to land as it resonates with my own experience.
With so much land privately owned and with more much open space being lost to development, leaves those seeking the benefits of such access with very limited options.
Cemex owns swathes of land near me , spring lakes, which is now unused and barricaded off with barbed wire and no access signs. I’ve walked my dogs here for two decades and now it’s all closed. During the summer security patrol the lakes stopping wild swimmers taking a dip…it’s pretty oppressive.
Richard
March 02, 2023
Totally agree. Let’s hope that the Darwall controversy make more people aware of the importance of access to the countryside, encourages LNT and get more people wild camping. Please can this get people pushing for better access to responsible wild camping beyond Dartmoor. It works in other countries, please let it work in the wild areas of England and Wales.
Alex
March 02, 2023