 Have wild camped in the Lakes, NYM's, Snowdonia, Dark Peak and Dartmoor and coast paths of Devon, Cornwall and Pembrokeshire. Never been challenged, but then I have always been discreet and use a small bivi tent (Mountain Range - this company sadly is no longer around) and leave no trace. The group described by Lorraine are not wild campers, they are just a nuisance. She did right to shift them
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 That's interesting, Lorraine. Sometimes people will pitch a tent high in the hills and leave it up during the day while going off for a walk. Do you mean that you would ask those people to move on?
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 PW I don't reckon anyone does that in the Peak, they do of course in the remote areas of Scotland, in fact done it myself once. I personally wouldn't approve of anyone base camping wild from a spot in the Lakes or the Peak?
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 Morning happy campers.......well i'm going into the peak district (locations are classified for your own protection against serious eye damage from my "Tangerine dream machine" pictured left ---> ) for a weekend of unadulterated "WILD CAMPING" yes folks Posh vagrancy with a capital "P". i am even taking my very soup kitchen and the essential can of Strong lager. Only problem is that the sheep nick all the butt ends i usually pick up first....
But seriously folks i am going.....no one will see me...and the only thing i'll leave is footprints and and i'll only take memories and photo's away with me. What more can i say...as for breaking the law well i'll probably break a few road laws on the way too....maybe i'll do 75mph on the motorway and taunt the non existant wild camping police/gestapo to move me on at half past six at night when its dark and there isn't any body around for a 4 mile radius. I have heard they have satalites now and can pinpoint your location to within a few meters so i'll be switching my GPS off just incase !!!!!
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 In answer to your question Peewiglet, it once again depends on the circumstances. If I spotted a tent on the high fells in the middle of the day and no-one was in it, then I wouldn't be able to tell them to move on. It would be unlikely that I would be returning to the same spot later on, so I would note it down on my patrol report. It would then be up to the Ranger responsible for that area to decide what he wanted to do about it. I think that he would probably just ignore it but send another Vol Ranger up there in a couple of days time to check that they had moved on and that all was OK.
However, last summer whilst I was out doing a patrol I noticed about 4 tents pitched next to Angle Tarn. As it was very early in the afternoon and next to a popular beauty spot, I went over and had a chat with the campers and explained that the principles of wild camping - i.e. pitch late and move on early the next morning. I told them that someone would be checking up on them the following morning.
So long as people camp the way that Andrew has described above, then I have no problem with them. It all depends on where and how they are camping.
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Lorraine....Angel tarn is a great bug bear of mine for wild campers. As far as wild camping goes it's like pitching your tent next to the M40 in the Great scheme of footpaths. As for pitching your tent with three others, kind of defeats the object for me....i want SOLITUDE when i wild camp not neighbours. I suspect that langdale would have been quieter on that particular night.
If it had been me who had spotted them i'd have used the powers invested in me as a mountain ranger and confiscated there pegs and guy lines, which would be returnable at the stickle barn for the pinceley sum of a gallon of the finest cumbrian ale. But i'm like that and at over 6ft3" and built like a highland bothy....i can!!!
Not insinuating that i would knowingly and fraudulantly impersonate an honest and respected member of the mountain snitchers you understand!!!!
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 If you are looking to wild camp in Wales try the Rhinogs.
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do the Rhinogs have much forested areas??
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Come on people, if you cant find a place to pitch your tent away from prying eyes in the peak then your pretty dumb. I have wild camped in the peak on a few occasions as its on my doorstep and in any given area it takes about 10 minutes to find a suitable spot, if that. It also helps a great deal if you dont use a stupidly coloured tent, whats with the red / orange tents anyway.??? Just follow the wild camping rule of pitch late leave early. Simple.
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Me and my friends, we are 16 and are looking for an adventure. we were thinking of taking a tent and heading into the peak district somewhere, would we be allowed if we didnt make a mess and cleared everything away, or would we be told to leave due to the law?
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Got to agree with Twiglegs here.The Dark Peak is a large and
"empty" area with dozens of wild camp pitches, if you do as
said before. Pitch late leave early,leave no sign. Cheers.
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 Me and my friends, we are 16 and are looking for an adventure. we were thinking of taking a tent and heading into the peak district somewhere, would we be allowed if we didnt make a mess and cleared everything away, or would we be told to leave due to the law?
You're more likely to get moved on in the Peak District tan most places. You're not allowed to camp anywhere full stop. As twiglegs says above camp late leave early and pose no fire risk whatsoever.
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 And not only leave nothing etc, keep your area tidy, then if you are stumbled upon you can at least plead your case, i always make a point of keeping everything in the tent that's not being immediately used, i dunno if it would help but that's how i see it, plus i know exactly where everything i have with me is.
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I've only ever, ever been ask to move on once, and that
was in a churchyard/graveyard in Newcastle. A popular
overnight spot when thumbing down the A1. I apologised but
did'nt move as it was already dark. Cheers.
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 Wow, been off this site for a while, just had a PM from another member so logged back in, cant believe it was 2006 when I started this post and it's still going. Well since that time i've been out camping quite a lot of times with my son. Some wild stuff and some not so wild. Quite a bit of it was on private land, although we were wild camping, sleeping in handbuilt shelters, bivvy's etc. I ended up becoming a Scout Leader, although I finished last year because of work comittments. Anyway, we've had some brilliant camping trips in that time. Ironically, half an hour ago I was in the car and got a phone call from an old mate of mine asking if me and my son fancy going camping tonight in the Peaks!! So time to finish a few jobs around the house, then get the kit sorted. Weather is looking good so it should be good. I'll keep you updated.
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 Ace 
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Don't forget the "supermoon" tonight Carl. Btw, this was my pitch in the peaks last night. 
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Well we got back from our outing yesterday. It was the first time out this year, it was a bit of last minute thing and a bit rushed towards the end. Because of some DIY work comittments from "her indoors" I didn't get to start even sorting my kit till around 4.30pm on Saturday night. I went to get my rucksack, only to find half the stuff was missing or in other bags! So to save time we loaded the truck up (4x4) with all our rucksacks and bags in the hope that everything would be somewhere!! Called and picked some food and drinks up from the local Morrissons, said goodbye to the missus and off we set. My mate who was meeting us had arranged for us to stay in a field near Calver, right next to a small stream and had easy vehicle access, which was just as well with all the bags we'd got. We pulled up on site at just before 6pm. Within half an hour we'd got the fire lit, yes we were allowed to have an open fire, however we took one of those small fold up fire pits which allows you to have a fire but with no damage to the grass. Tents were erected, food made ready, drinks prepared and a night round the fire was enjoyed by all. We turned in around 9.45pm and the temperature had dropped considerably, there was even a slight frost! I use a Softie Chrysalis bag, with a military issue roll mat and air mattress, I was fully clothed + a fleece jacket but was freezing for most of the night. I normally sleep quite warm but this was an exception. It started to warm up a bit around 4am! Overall though a great overnighter and a reminder to get all our gear sorted out. Hope to be going out again very soon, but next time it will be backpacking rather than car based.
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