Do you just roll up to any old lay bye and stay the night ?

Park in the trail head car park and kip ?

or

Do you stay in a camp ground / official sites ? Pubs would be good ?

Just wondering Like 😀

Either campsites or places from motorhome stopover.co.uk.
Pay then £30 and get a nice long list of pubs etc around the country who are happy with you kipping in their car parks in exchange for you buying a beer or two, or maybe a meal from them.
Some have hook ups, water pipes etc too.

Not tried ‘wild’ camping in it yet, wife is a bit nervous of the ideaf being disturbed in the middle of the night…

£30? What’s wrong with simply asking the landlord.?

Dogging. CO. UK membership would be handier IMO so you know which carparks to avoid or not depending on your persuasion.

A mix – some ‘normal’ fee paying campsites, and also ‘wild’ sites – normally from the database from Wild Camping.

IMO the wild variety are for days when you pull over close to sunset and will be out of there after an early breakfast. My preferred fee paying campsites are mostly from the camping and caravan club list of Certificated sites (Caravan club has similar) which take just 5 vans at a time and are very minimal in facilities (and cheaper). They are often on a farm, are quieter and attract a different sort of punter.

We usually stay on campsites but have done a fair bit of wild camping and the odd pub car park. Finding good wild spots is a bit tricky but we’ve never had any hassle.

Not tried ‘wild’ camping in it yet, wife is a bit nervous of the ideaf being disturbed in the middle of the night…

😀

Thanks Mat, I see some people wild camping at the local beaches. I was mainly wondering for trail centers 7 stanes Whinlatter etc.

All of the above. And a multi storey car park, street parking in hackney and lots of other weird places.

Bit of both, depends on the area and what sort of van, we had a Transit with no windows so easily mistaken for just a van. Whinlatter is harder especially as they lock the car park but there is a lane on the way into Keswick (from the whinlatter side where the footbridge goes to Portinscale that seems to be camper van friendly.

7 Stanes did up at McMoab and Inners car park but Inners is no overnight, only did it as I arrived late. Mabie pay the Mawrthrone people and use the hot tub, Glentress managed fine up the fireroad in the car park and the one behind the coop in peebles.

I usually aim for Forestry Commission car parks or lay-bys off the beaten track.

For coastal sites like beach car parks etc I use http://wildcamping.co.uk/ for ideas

And in France we use Aires for stop over. This is a fantastic book listing over 2,000 of them
http://www.all-the-aires.com/all-the-aires-france-4th-edition.shtml
http://www.all-the-aires.com/pdf/france_compilation.pdf

Couple of reference sites for you campervanners

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=203913049334888237522.00049af91baebfd18ebc7&t=h&z=6

http://www.ukmotorhomes.net/uk-motorhome-stopovers.shtml

Not tried ‘wild’ camping in it yet, wife is a bit nervous of the idea of being disturbed in the middle of the night…

Whilst heading up to Scotland last year, we wild camped next to a lock, nice location tucked away from the adjacent road. What would’ve been a good nights sleep was slightly disturbed by my girlfriend at the time (now ex, but not connected to this!) screaming out ‘WHOS THERE!!!!!’ in the middle of the night 😯 , I struggled to get back to sleep after that!

Whilst heading up to Scotland last year, we wild camped next to a lock, nice location tucked away from the adjacent road. What would’ve been a good nights sleep was slightly disturbed by my girlfriend at the time (now ex, but not connected to this!) screaming out ‘WHOS THERE!!!!!’ in the middle of the night , I struggled to get back to sleep after that!

Perhaps “knocking and waiting” rather than “knocking and entering” would be the way to go, give her a chance to wake up and that….

wherever i feel like. thats the whole point of a van.
woken up in some odd places after finding a park up after dark

I only use campsites if I need a shower.

I would never just pull up and sleep in a lay by. I don’t like to be the only vehicle around, I try to be inconspicuous. I look for residential areas where I can park next to other cars or vans and no one looks twice because my white Transporter doesn’t look like a camper or motorhome from the outside.

We got caught out a couple of times on long drives in Europe where we had to pull up in an unknown area and try to get some sleep. I was worried about the girlfriend being scared or paranoid but shouldn’t have been. She goes out like a light anywhere it seems, leaving me awake to wonder about footsteps and voices.

Just found one of our Euro-spots. Complete with camouflage;

Aosta lift car park?

Just park on Exmouth seafront.. That’s where everyone else in the northern hemisphere parks up..

Generally pub carparks or wild. Use your OS map and guesswork to find a tiny road with enough room to park on that’s not going anywhere much. All part of the adventure. The more you get into the back of beyond the less people seem to mind (this does not include the Lakes). But don’t freak people into thinking the travellers have moved in. Some intuition plus common sense doesn’t go amiss.

Over on the continent, pretty much anywhere though I have never tried French aires (apparently some are dodgy) and once got busted in a Slovenian national park (avoid).

What canal were you on 😉

Aosta lift car park?

Well spotted. Did two nights there no problem.

EDIT: Just a thought; In America Wal-Mart have a policy of allowing RV’s to stay overnight as long as they park around the edge of the car park. I wonder if this has been passed down to ASDA?

Come to think of it. I wouldn’t dare spend the night in either of my local ASDA car parks.

In America Wal-Mart have a policy of allowing RV’s to stay overnight

Apparently B&Q have a similar policy here, as long as you are gone by 8am

I have never tried French aires (apparently some are dodgy)

Always use them but I draw the line at anything too close to Paris or Marseilles.

I have in the past parked up in one of the small layby/pull-ins on the minor road that runs around the ‘back’ West side of Derwent water. Here…

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=54.567546,-3.162691&ll=54.567241,-3.162045&spn=0.001788,0.003449&num=1&t=h&gl=uk&layer=c&cbll=54.567569,-3.16268&panoid=Zsn_KiEKp0jafpE4FRe4Hw&cbp=12,214.49,,0,22.53&z=18

ah Mrs Mugsy and I used to have some right fun in N Wales, the lakes and Scotland with our old berlingo van. When the children came along it wasn’t so practical as we got rid of the van. I’m sure we’ll get back into it one day though.

As Stoner says foresty comission car parks are usually a good bet and as also mentioned the lakes is probably the most difficult.

I have in the past parked up in one of the small layby/pull-ins on the minor road that runs around the ‘back’ West side of Derwent water

Ah yes, that would be Catbells quarry. Back in 1999 me and a bunch of mates climbed a load of (fairly insignificant) routes up that and named them in sequence, it’s, not, f**king, rocket and science. Don’t think they were ever written up though the middle one was worth E3 probably.

@Mark90. I know it’s nice to help a fellow vanner but I would question the wisdom of popping info like that up on the internet. (Though I might send a private message to the person who asked). I know this one is a popular van spot already but maybe the extra publicity is what tips the scales and next thing you know, it’ll have a ‘no overnight parking’ sign up like 99% of other laybys in the Lakes. Anyway van spots can be found in the Lakes but finding them is all part of the adventure and I wouldn’t recommend publicizing too widely.