Wild Camping Ethics and Leave No Trace Principles

Know Where You're Allowed to Camp

In Scotland, the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 gives a right of responsible access, and wild camping is generally allowed on unenclosed land — but not in enclosed fields, not in buildings or their grounds, and not in every location. Some busy areas, including parts of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, require a camping permit between March and September. In England and Wales, wild camping on most land requires the landowner's permission, and while Dartmoor and a few other places have arrangements in place, these can change quickly. Check the current position before you travel, rather than trusting a forum post from a decade ago.

If you're unsure, ask. A quiet knock at a farmhouse, a polite request a week ahead of your trip, or a word with a landowner on a track will get you further than a hopeful pitch in a field of sheep. Permission is not a formality — it is the whole point.

Choose a Pitch That Can Take the Pressure

Look for bare, compacted ground, gravel, dry sand, or an obviously used pitch — the sort of spot that has been slept on before and has nothing left to lose. Aim for at least 50 metres from any loch, stream, tarn or water source, and 30 metres from a path or right of way. Heather, moss, lichen and tussock grass take years to recover and will show a tent-shaped scar for a decade.

• Don't move rocks, logs or stones to flatten a spot. They are habitat for invertebrates, and lifting them leaves a bare patch that lasts.
• Don't dig drainage trenches. If the ground is that wet, move on. A slightly lumpy night is better than a repaired bog.
• Arrive late and leave early. This keeps disturbance minimal and avoids putting on a show for other walkers.
• If the pitch is pristine, keep walking. A worn spot can absorb you; a new one cannot.

Waste and Water: Bury, Carry, or Take It Home

Human waste should go into a hole dug 15–20 cm deep, at least 30 metres from any water, ideally in the topsoil rather than the hard mineral layer below. Do your business, bury it, and carry the toilet paper out in a sealed bag — it does not disappear as quickly as most people assume. Above the treeline, in thin mountain soils, on popular summits or in snow, don't dig at all: use a waste bag and carry it out with you.

Pack out all litter, including the small, easy-to-forget items: tea bags, orange peel, apple cores, fruit stones, wet wipes, hair bands, cigarette ends, and scraps of foil from a bar wrapper. Orange peel takes years to break down and is litter, however natural it looks. Wash up 30 metres away from water with a small amount of hot water, and pour the grey water onto the ground rather than into the loch. If you can, carry an extra bag and take away a handful of other people's rubbish as well. It is a small, satisfying tax on a good trip.

Fires: The Default Is a Stove

In the UK, a stove is almost always the right answer. It is faster, safer, and leaves nothing behind. Where open fires are permitted — and in much of our moorland, woodland and national park land they are not, particularly in dry spells — the impact is entirely in how you do it.

• Use an existing fire ring or established hearth; never build a new one, and never ring a fire with stones pulled from a stream or a drystone wall.
• Burn only dead, fallen wood that is already on the ground, and keep the fire small. In peat country, avoid burning peat altogether — peat fires are hard to put out and can smoulder underground for days.
• Don't collect deadwood in woodland nature reserves or SSSIs, where fallen timber is part of the ecosystem.
• Drown the fire with water, stir the ashes with a stick, and check with the back of your hand before you leave. Then scatter the cold ashes.

A bare fire scar in a popular spot can last five years or more. That is the real cost of a pleasant hour.

Wildlife, Livestock and Other People

Ground-nesting birds are sitting on eggs from March to July; a tent pitched on a quiet moor edge can do real damage. Keep food sealed and stowed well away from your tent, never feed animals, and give deer, seals and livestock plenty of room. Close gates, keep dogs under close control or on a lead where required, and keep your voice low after dark.

And remember that bothies, lay-bys and much-loved viewpoints are shared spaces — leave them as you would hope to find them.

Leave It Better Than You Found It

Leave No Trace is not a list of rules to tick off; it is a way of making sure the places we love can absorb us without being damaged by us. The habits are small: one trowel, one rubbish bag, a stove instead of a fire, and the discipline to walk a bit further for a pitch that can take it. Cairns left behind, stones stacked on summits, and initials carved into trees are the same impulse as litter, just slower.

Do it well and nobody will know you were there — which is exactly the point. The next person arrives to a place that looks untouched, and the ground underneath is still worth camping on.