Forums

Anonymous

Anyone have any tips about locating fresh water while wild camping ?
I have found it difficult, garages aren't very helpful unless you buy 50 quids of diesel, car parks and pubic places seem devoid of fresh water taps.
Recently I spotted a tap ouside a tourist office, I went to the counter and asked politely if I could fill up the van. The woman replied she disn't mind a bottle or two but a whole tank load !! I was speechless, I asked if it was metered and didn't mind paying but she was most rude and said it wasn't allowed !!
I wrote to trhe tourist board and was send back an appology with the assurance that the "woman" would be spoken to.
As motorcaravaners we are very poorly served in this country and I find a hostile attitude to motorcaravans from many people. Height barriers are another one of my hobby horses... I better end , I could be here all night Confused

Jim

EOR

Hi Jim

You mentioned petrol stations. If you scour the archive you’ll find posts about a station in Camarthen being very stroppy with regard to water.

What we do is only put in about £10 worth of fuel at a time as you tend to have them over a barrel when asking for water, but not always.

Everyone has different methods of gaining water We carry bottled water for brushing teeth. However we do fill up out of streams (the higher up the mountain the better), this we use for washing and showers. We do also use that water via a ceramic and carbon filter for cooking and boiling. There are people who take a dim view on our practice due to contamination etc. However we used to get our domestic water at home from a well.

I did come across a drain from a man hole flowing with water, on opening found a fire hydrant point leaking off the mains water supply. I managed to drop our submersible pump in to the hydrant point and fill our tanks. Probably not everyone’s idea of finding water, but as I used to test fire hydrant points, I didn’t have any problems.

Another place is cemeteries, as apparently (never looked myself) there’s usually taps available. Never found any on docks, though there was a closed tourist office on one with an outside tap which we used. In Ireland we did find a Customs and Excise office near some docks with an outside tap. That felt really good to use that one. Some public conveniences sometimes have outside taps. Usually in Ireland we found rural PC’s with running water which we used, also in Ireland there are hydrant pillars in some streets (yellow) of villages which have taps on, they were very useful.

____________________________________________________
[b :3aa8ad2a9f]Steve
aka A very wild....wild camper[/b:3aa8ad2a9f]
.
[URL=http://tinyurl.co.uk/lpak]Click here for my van website![/URL]
.
[img:3aa8ad2a9f]http://www.motorhomefacts.com/alb ums/PostingPhotos-1/VanThumbnail01.gif[/img:3aa8ad2a9f]

[i:3aa8ad2a9f]I do like a bit of feed back to my posts please[/i:3aa8ad2a9f]
______________________________________________ ______

Anonymous

Hi Steve

thanks for replying and the tips. I found the one about cemeteries quite humerous .. don't think I would have the nerve to drive into one and fill up ...lol
You have obviously lots of experience of wild camping, up until last year I was a caravan person but I only stayed on CLs , I hate organised sites. Now I feel liberated and for me the wilder the site the better .. I just wish I lived back home in Scotland ..lots of great places as I'm sure there are in Wales.
As for people taking a "dim" view of your lifestyle, I am quite envious, you live in a beautiful part of the UK and enjoy your lifestyle to the full.
Sorry to hear about the shunt into your motorhome, I hope it wasn't too serious Crying or Very sad

Jim

dodger148

Sorry from too Steve on the van

You would be surprised how many motorhomers fill up with water from cemeteries in France

Anonymous

Places that we've filled up with fresh water when camping:

1) Petrol stations (some are fine about it)
2) Friends houses
3) Other random taps here and there

We generally fill up at CLs every 3-4 days, between wild camping sprees.

Hope this helps a little.