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Braemar and the surrounding area offers a wide range of Camping
opportunities.
The Invercauld Caravan Club Site
Glenshee Road, Braemar, BALLATER AB35 5YQ.
Tel: 013397 41373
Dec 2007 - Oct 2008
For details click
HERE
Wild Camping
Camping wild in open country is one of the best ways to enjoy
and appreciate the beauty of the hills. When done responsibly
it has little impact on the environment but increased numbers
of campers mean that we must all now take more care than previously.
A little thought and effort can pre-empt many of these potential
harmful impacts.
Plan ahead, and consider not only your own impact, but the
repeated impact by others.
1. CONSIDER OTHERS
- People go to the hills for solitude. Keep groups small.
- Remember that people have to make their living from the
land.
- Camp as unobtrusively as possible.
- Remember that noise travels from tents disturbing wildlife
as well as humans.
2. SET AN EXAMPLE
- Minimum Impact Camping
- Commit yourself by following this code and encourage your
friends to do likewise.
- Take personal responsibility for the care of our fragile
environment.
- If you are in doubt about any of your actions, make an
effort to find out what is right. Don't carry on wondering
whether your present practice is right or wrong.
- Enjoy the freedom of wild camping without leaving a trace
of your passage. Protect our country's outstanding scenery
and biodiversity as well as the wilderness experience.
3. TOILET HYGIENE
- Always find a spot at least 30 metres from fresh/running
water when going to the toilet.
- Bury excrement in a small hole (not under boulders). A
trowel or ice axe can be used to lift a flap of turf. In
areas of sensitive upland vegetation, such as the Cairngorm
plateau, vegetation takes a long time to recover, so holes
should not be dug at all.
- Be particularly careful to bury excrement properly when
the ground is snow covered.
- Burying tampons and sanitary towels doesn't work as animals
dig them up. Please carry them out.
4. LEAVE CAMP AS YOU FOUND IT
- Remove all litter (even other peoples!) Carry out what
you carried in. Think ahead and only carry in tins, bottles
or gas cylinders if you are prepared to carry them out.
Do not bury or hide them under stones as it offends those
who visit after you and can harm wildlife.
- Choose a dry site to pitch on rather than resorting to
digging drainage ditches and removing vegetation and boulders.
In replacing boulders, return them to the same place, same
way up.
5. CAMPING AND THE LAW
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Under current Scottish Access
Legislation everyone, whatever their age or ability, can
exercise access rights over most land in Scotland for
"Recreational Purposes". It is taken to include wild
camping and the Scottish Outdoor Access Code (see
www.outdooraccess-scotland.com ) gives the
following guidance on wild camping.
"Access
rights extend to wild camping. This type of
camping is lightweight, done in small numbers and only
for two to three nights in any one place. You
can camp in this way wherever access rights apply but
help to avoid causing problems for local people and land
managers by not camping in enclosed fields of crops or
farm animals and by keeping well away from buildings,
roads or historic structures. Take extra care to avoid
disturbing deer stalking or grouse shooting. If you wish
to camp close to a house or building, seek the owners
permission. Leave no trace by:
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taking away all your litter;
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removing all traces of your tent pitch and of any
open fire (follow the guidance for lighting fires);
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not causing any pollution"
- The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (1994) gives
the police powers to deal with either an encampment which
involves more than six vehicles or a smaller encampment
where there is damage or a public order offence.
- The Road Traffic Act 1988 makes it an offence to drive
a motor vehicle onto private land without lawful authority.
No offence is committed, however, where a person drives
within 15 yards of a public road for the purpose of parking.
This does not imply that a person has a right to do so.
6. ROADSIDE CAMPING
This is not Wild Camping
-
Roadside camping is not normally considered to be wild
camping. Nevertheless there are sites around Braemar that
are very popular with roadside campers. As a result there
have been issues - such as litter and rubbish being left
behind, unsightly fire pits and pollution of water courses
- associated with this practice. By following guidance on
roadside camping in the above MCofS leaflet these problems
can be reduced to the benefit of all those visiting and
living in Braemar.
- Use an official campsite with sanitation facilities if
there is one available.
- If you wish to camp near houses, seek permission before
pitching.
- Remember vehicles have a great impact on vegetation. Park
on hard ground or on a safe metalled area. It is better
to walk to your car than to drive to your tent.
- Avoid sites which are at risk of being overused.
- Take particular care with toilet hygiene.
- Pitch late and leave early. Be unobtrusive.
7. PROTECT VEGETATION
- Camping on the same spot harms vegetation. Aim to move
frequently.
- Vegetation is more sensitive at higher altitudes. Aim
to camp lower down in glens where vegetation recovers more
easily.
- Dead wood is an important habitat for insects and many
small animals, so it is best to avoid fires even for cooking.
- Lighting fires poses a high fire risk on peaty soils and
close to tinder dry grass. A high risk of fire can exist
at any time of year, and not just in times of drought.
8. MINIMISE DISTURBANCE TO WILDLIFE
- Watercourses and loch sides are important sites for birds
and animals. Avoid the temptation to camp immediately beside
them. Look around for other sites if possible.
- Food scraps (even when buried) attract scavenging birds
and animals which prey on more sensitive nesting birds.
Carry all scraps of food out with you.
- Be prepared to move if you become aware that you are disturbing
nesting birds or animals.
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