Touring & wild/stealth camping…advice

Studying maps, if you arrive late and leave early your options will open up considerably i’d say.

Whereabouts are you planning going?  I've only done this in Scotland on a road bike where there is a right to camp.  My tactic tho is to get out of sight of at all possible even then if I am close to a road.  A hundred metres or so and behind a hedge or trees - or ask the farmers permission if you can

Don't use a bright orange tent, pitch late / leave early, as you tire look for suitable spots and use a map if necessary, be prepared to push / lift / carry you bike a bit to get to a spot, abandon hope of a flat pitch.

The Beard Brothers on YouTube have found some interesting camp spots on their travels!

I always try to suss out your spot while it's still light....saves waking up in a highly visible spot you thought was ideal on the dark.

In more urban areas golf courses are excellent. Find on an os mapping app, scope out a spot while it's light, pitch at dusk. Up and away by 6. Far less nocturnal activity on golf courses than parks, urban woodlands etc, and less dogshit.

I always try to suss out your spot while it’s still light

this.  Many years ago I arrived in a city late and bedded down in what I thought was a thick shrubbery in a park.  I woke in the morning to find that i was 3 feet from a busy footpath and the shrubbery was not thick or high enough to hide me properly.

Aim for areas of woodland via bridleways from the road. Some places have relatively thin pickings if you want a nice bivi spot, Wales for example where so much of it is farmland and it can be rare to find unfenced or ungated areas for miles, but bridleways and byways often take you to a good spot away from the road, in peace. Just got to take the gamble and see what's up there when it gets to that time in the evening. It's why my road tourer has 50mm tyres.

Done a fair bit in the USA. Pitch late. Leave early. Do any cooking before getting to your site. Have a simple to pitch tent you can put up with minimal ambient light
Other than your wallet etc leave your gear on the bike. Just take your tent and sleeping kit.

Where? Close to the the road but out of sight. Many places if a passing car won't see you nobody will. Far enough from houses that dogs won't be barking. A few yards off a bike trail. Quiet corners of town parks. Mown lawn area beside utilities like an electrical substation. On the back porch of a civil war battlefield museum. (Overhanging roof so only sleeping bag needed.) Under bridges.

But asking is always worth a try. I got to camp on the lawn of a radio station in Illinois. Ran out of daylight in a town with sprawling houses and no suitable semi public land. Saw a light on around 9pm in a radio station. Chapped the door. Got shown round the setup by the owner working late on maintenance. Camped on the big bowling green lawn under the mast.

Only once got woken up by a park employee in Telluride and told I couldn't camp there. It was already 7am so I just packed and got breakfast in town.

At the end of the day if you are out of daylight all you want is somewhere off the road where nobody is going to see you before first light.

Lots of good advice on here!

If you're late in and early out then your options are broader. Leave no mess or litter.

I once camped at the back of a bowling club, was fine. Another free camping spot was in the garden of a pub, I just offered to buy a few pints and a cooked breakfast in the morning. No issues.

Green tents, tarps and bivvy bags are best, avoid bright colours. There's plenty of good YouTube videos of wild camping.

This website is pretty decent.

https://www.stealth-camping.co.uk/

Have a look at the warmshowers network too.

One of the big differences I found wild/stealth camping in less wild areas was access to water I'd want to drink. Wilderness camping often involves finding a spot with good water - stealthier camping won't have that facility usually.

Bigger picture - camping stealthy but dodgy can be less romantic than you'd imagine. Fitful nights concerned about being disturbed, noise or waking up to the vista of a substation or industrial park are not that awesome.

warmshowers

The problem is warmshowers now charges for hosts. I let my membership laps while my kids were very young went to sign up again and faced with being charged to host only.

But I did find bewelcome however I have not had to host on it yet. https://www.bewelcome.org/

I've been following some guys on Youtube over the last year or two, touring and wild camping while being fun to watch, which is a pretty good trick to manage.

https://www.youtube.com/@toofargonetours

I've always been a fan of Youth Hostels & B&B though I have a dinky one man Aldi tent for a single night out, and have never struggled to find a spot once the light starts to go and few people are about, even close to bigger towns, unless you're somewhere bleak or flat there's always a dip to hide you or the angle of hedges and walls.

Also try Keep Smiling Adventures on YouTube - he's southern based and does a lot of stealth camping.

Bigger picture – camping stealthy but dodgy can be less romantic than you’d imagine.

Yeah agree. If you generally need to plan well, looking at maps and learning what to look for. You also need to learn to not give a shit. If you do get seen you probably won't have a issue anyway as long as your off early leave no trace (obvious campfires etc). It's quite often better to get a good list of site. We have a small (really small) campsite and are on nearlywild and hopefully greener camping club soon. These will not pop up on pitch up etc, but being a member of a few of these smaller clubs can open up a lot of smaller sites.

I actual find it easier to get a good spot on the road than off-road, I think I just lower my standards (and if campervans and lorries can do it then).

Places like the Lake district are really easy, just head off up a dead end track to a viewpoint car park, throw your bike over the wall at the top and camp. The kind of hikers that'll be there at 5:30 when the sun comes up aren't the type that gets arsey about proper wild camping (i.e. not a T5 with the occupants shitting in the hedge).

In more urban areas golf courses are excellent.

Plus, 18 pre-dug cat-holes.

Stealthy camping is just part of the mix. My preference is cheap campsites. Nice to get a shower. Nice to get set up, showered and relax with a beer. Past $20 though I start thinking what else I could do with the cash. Often there isn't any campsites. In the USA in small towns on bike routes free camping in the town park is often offered.

Off bike routes asking in the only bar or shop in town often works. In rural Missouri I finished up at a small town Pre smart phone so all I knew was that there was a town marked on my map. Turned out to be a pop 500 place - Madison. Small enough that everyone knows everyone but big enough to have a small general store. I had an hour or two of light left. No idea where I was camping. I stopped at a bar for a beer. Coming out a local couple were looking at my bike as they had never seen a touring bike before. They asked me where I was camping. I said "not sure yet". They told me I could camp in the town park. They would let the local Sheriff know. He was in the other bar. Great! Tent pitched then back into the bar for a meal a d a few beers.

While there a local couple invited me to stay at there house as there was a storm forecast. As I was already set up I said thanks but no thanks.

A couple of nights before in a big town I'd stopped at a bike shop and been told I could stay in a church basement. Small donation requested. Great facility though with good shower and kitchen.

Being comfortable with camping anywhere is useful to be able to just ride in a general direction without needing to get to a particular place to stay.