Well Stealth camping in the UK is totally safe, here the case is if the land has a fence of sorts then it is private, if you ask the owner, never been refused, its the way to go. But there is plenty of common land so 9 times out of ten you do not need to ask anyone. A general guide is to look on an ordnance survey map, private land is usually in white, forest, which is accessible to all, is normally green and there is also paths shown on the map. If you also see the word after the name, xxxxxx common, then this is common land. In the old days you could camp up and graze your cattle usually on the way to or from the markets, there is no problem stopping here, its best to obviously keep away from paths in the forest and don’t be fooled you will get people walking their dogs and the dogs will come up to your camp, The rubbish is always strung up on a tree high, and pots & pans with food kept away. This way the dogs will suss there is no food for them and go before the irate owner start to investigate why his faithful K9 is not responding to his calls. As I said I stealth camp every Friday and always have a fire lit up in the night. The obvious rule when you leave it has to be as you found it. Once I had an irate woman who told me this was not a camp site and that I could not camp there, my response was I am not on private property and the only people who had the authority to request me to move was the police so if she felt like that I suggested she should contact them. Never happened, actually on one occasion, I was in a deep forest and I found a tent erected with sleeping bag etc. I called out several times and had no response so I quietly left. 2 weeks later I passed through the same spot and sure enough the tent was still there and there was no sign of anyone had been there. Since I was there previously, I had left several pressure traps around in key places, this would have told me if someone had passed. The traps were all undisturbed so I got concerned; maybe the person is dead in the forest somewhere I thought. I called the Police and they promptly came. I had to escort them 1/2 a mile in. They investigated the whole area and then asked me how I found this place. I explained I do this every Friday with friends cycling and camping, cooking on fires etc. They seemed quite impressed. I am sure if I was doing something wrong they would have raised a point or advised me accordingly. As for the animals in forest you get fox, badger & rabbits. Luck if you actually spot one apart from the rabbits. Hunting is not allowed on public land so you will not get any shotgun merchants.

How do you guys out there cope with Bears, I must admit the thought of a Grizzley lurking around the camp makes a chill down my spine. Are they gentle giants, have you encontered them whilst camping out ??.