Video Of Wild Camp On The Broads

[SwanR]

I'm sure there are folk here already familiar with this YouTube channel, in fact I think I discovered it through a recommendation from someone here a few years ago.

A new video published today with a paddle up the Thurne and a wild camp the other side of that bridge.

 

[lakesailor]

Few videos filmed on the broads if you go back through Simon's channel history 

[marshman]

Camping on private land IMHO is not really to be encouraged, unless you have permission from the landowner. 

The last thing we need to do is encourage wild and unauthorised camping leaving behind the detritus often evident from irresponsible individuals - well thats my view anyway!!!!!

[Vaughan]

31 minutes ago, marshman said:

well thats my view anyway!!!!!

And mine.

He appears to have started by trespassing on private fishing grounds close to Upton Dyke and when he finds his camping spot he has to wait until sunset in case anyone sees him lighting his fire.

Makes we wonder whether he also got around to paying a short visit toll on his canoe.

Anyway, in that weather, I am quite surprised the canoe and his lean-to, didn't blow away in the night, with him in it.

[annv]

Why does every body have to light a fire what's wrong with a hexy burner and why transfer the cooked food onto a cold plate better to eat from the pan. John

[marshman]

Looks as though he is on that bit of land going northward through where the silver birch trees are between Heigham Sound and White Slea on the starboard side - used to be nearly all silver birch trees but the NWT cut most of them down fairly recently. Interestingly, or not that piece of high ground where the trees were, and he is "camped" and is where mud was dumped many years ago when Hickling was dredged years ago , probably by the GYPHC.

The birch trees grew on the "raw mud" and it has been the aim of both the BA and the NWT to remove the trees  - they would never be able to get back to marshland but shows how just dumping mud anywhere  can inadvertently changes to landscape which would have been just open reedbed!!

Yep definitely to be discouraged  - there are bittern around that area and its not far from the Cadbury White Lodge. Pretty isolated but he would never have  got permission and is quite definitely trespassing. 

Does he care? Of course not!!!!!

 

[Smoggy]

1 hour ago, Vaughan said:

he has to wait until sunset in case anyone sees him lighting his fire.

Surely a fire is far more visible after sunset, they kind of have a habit of being quite bright and burny...

If has has BCU membership he won't need a toll for a canoe.

[floydraser]

This clever use of Youtube. He has 181K subscribers and if that's not enough to support his adventures maybe this is: https://simon-a-bloke-in-the-woods.teemill.com/

I read an old book about this kind of adventure, dating from the 1930s I think. Nothing new under the sun.

[Vaughan]

2 hours ago, Smoggy said:

Surely a fire is far more visible after sunset, they kind of have a habit of being quite bright and burny.

He said he was waiting until dark so no-one saw the smoke in daylight. The light of a fire can easily be screened in darkness.

I do agree about the "hexy" burner though. Would have saved him paddling around the river with a whole tub full of firewood.

[SwanR]

Ooops … I just enjoyed this for the entertainment value and seeing the river in challenging conditions. As Simon is not a member here as best as I know then he isn’t able to reply to these comments and put his own perspective on this. If the mods feel this thread should be removed or curtailed then I have no objection. 

[Vaughan]

I see no reason at all to remove it.  We are discussing a video which has been published on youtube.  The person concerned doesn't have to be a member here, for us to give an opinion.

 

[SwanR]

No but there are personal comments about whether he has paid the toll for his canoe and whether he is trespassing where he entered the river. That’s questioning his character IMHO and I don’t feel that’s fair nor was it my intention to draw that kind of criticism. 

[floydraser]

Anyone feeling strong enough about it can easily post in the comments section below his video on Youtube. However, he does have the ability to remove any comments he wants to, which may be why there are no negative ones.

[floydraser]

2 minutes ago, SwanR said:

No but there are personal comments about whether he has paid the toll for his canoe and whether he is trespassing where he entered the river. That’s questioning his character IMHO and I don’t feel that’s fair nor was it my intention to draw that kind of criticism. 

I think we all know you only had the best of intentions. Thanks for posting, it has provoked some interesting points.

[Gracie]

I agree totally. Thank you for posting Jean. The only point I would like to make is that he should buy himself a ruddy tent  x

[Meantime]

Thank you Jean for posting the video. There are too many no mooring signs, private keep off signs, territorial land owners around. I'm a little surprised at some of the comments on here from those who admit to enjoying a bit of wild mooring. Not really sure what the difference is between wild mooring and wild camping if both are done correctly. Pretty much every bit of river bank is owned by someone.

I admire Simon's spirit of adventure. He was careful to leave things as he found them, to leave no mess and take all his rubbish away with him. He had an experience, enjoyed his adventure and as far as I can see was careful not to upset anyone or cause any harm. To be honest I envy his adventures.

In the same way that many boaters like the remoteness of swinging off a mud weight or a wild mooring all to themselves, I think this was Simon's get away from it all and recharge.

[CeePee1952]

Noticed he used what I believe to be ex military dixie and lid to cook his chicken and breakfast in/on! Used to have a set of those on our tank in the good old days. The only downside was having to clean off all the soot/black stuff from the bottom and sides of the damn things after using them on a No 2 petrol cooker  but nevertheless a very useful bit of kit.

Cr

hris

[JawsOrca]

Simon is somewhat local to us here, I've not met him but come very close (Like in the same bloody shop!) he's one reason why we got into Canoeing and kayaking (and even why we moved here as the canoe parts of the upper Waveney are pretty close!).

From recent videos he does have a BCU licence and well practices the practice of leave no trace. He is a carpenter by trade (and I think a tree surgeon) so he seems to respect the land he camps on. He's certainly not of bad character and whilst I somewhat agree that it's not fair to squat on owned land I kinda see a valid point of enjoying the land for as long as no mess is left and the land is respected.  Like meantimes comments I envy his trips big time! and I see no difference between canoe wildcamping and wild mooring lets face it these places are pretty remote, if I was the land owner and I didn't know it happened (and it's being done for the right reason) I wouldn't care at all. (Simon you are more than welcome to bring maggy and camp in the garden!).

Jean take a look at KentSurvival and EastAnglianBushcraft (he's a tad more eccentric though) also Divum is good too (He's East anglian ambulance pilot).

[Wussername]

Sadly it is not  the Simon's of this world that we  have to worry about but those who attempt to emulate his ability to live, respect and survive in a fragile environment. 

It is those who light fires in high risk area's such as reed beds and peat beds in drought conditions, leave rubbish which threatens wildlife and cattle and domesticated animals alike with such tragic consequences.

How does one differentiate between the two?

[Vaughan]

29 minutes ago, JawsOrca said:

Simon is somewhat local to us here, I've not met him but come very close (Like in the same bloody shop!) he's one reason why we got into Canoeing and kayaking (and even why we moved here as the canoe parts of the upper Waveney are pretty close!).

From recent videos he does have a BCU licence and well practices the practice of leave no trace. He is a carpenter by trade (and I think a tree surgeon) so he seems to respect the land he camps on. He's certainly not of bad character and whilst I somewhat agree that it's not fair to squat on owned land I kinda see a valid point of enjoying the land for as long as no mess is left and the land is respected.  Like meantimes comments I envy his trips big time! and I see no difference between canoe wildcamping and wild mooring lets face it these places are pretty remote, if I was the land owner and I didn't know it happened (and it's being done for the right reason) I wouldn't care at all. (Simon you are more than welcome to bring maggy and camp in the garden!).

Jean take a look at KentSurvival and EastAnglianBushcraft (he's a tad more eccentric though) also Divum is good too (He's East anglian ambulance pilot).

In the spirit of a debating society (a forum) let me put my side of this discussion.

As a boat owner who keeps his boat on a boatyard mooring, I spend the thick end of £3500 a year on fixed costs, before considering diesel, gas, pumpouts*, and all the rest of it. Every time I want to stop and moor up I have to "wad out" ten Quid or more, even if I only stop for lunch on the river bank. What few public moorings are still available on the north rivers will now be charged by the BA, even though they are leased and maintained from the Tolls Fund. If I turn up on the pontoon mooring where this chap launched his canoe (marked no mooring), I would probably have ground-bait heaved at me by the anglers who have (quite rightly) paid for the lease from the land owner.

This person may well have paid his BCU membership - whatever the "Sam Hill" that is - but he seems to be able to enjoy the the genuine Norfolk Broads very much more easily and cheaply than I can. I resent that, because I fear that this is an example of the "Broads National Park" that the BA would like to see in future.

* I wonder where this person "went to the toilet" during his "wild" visit to the Broads? 

 

 

 

[JawsOrca]

If it helps at all canoes and kayaks aren't cheap ;) and ours are proudly hand made in Norfolk. Indeed personally for me I get far far more enjoyment in the kayak than on the boat,(You obviously get very close to wildlife... the bungay loop is amazing too and even better it's outside of the broads national park and BA's "Jurisdiction" and not even a BCU is required!.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBaKoOCBePc/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

The BCU is a licence paddlers can pay which allows to paddle on most waterways removing the need to line the Pockets of the BA etc (and it's cheaper than the BA's absurd canoe tolls, it's also well worth just to see the rangers disappointed look when shown!)

*I'm sure Simon has a heathy bowl movement and is able to use the loo in the morning and evenings at public convivences just like day sailors. 

[OldBerkshireBoy]

24 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

In the spirit of a debating society (a forum) let me put my side of this discussion.

* I wonder where this person "went to the toilet" during his "wild" visit to the Broads? 

 

 

 

A Tesco bag? 

[CeePee1952]

29 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

I

* I wonder where this person "went to the toilet" during his "wild" visit to the Broads? 

 

 

 

Ha Ha  I was wondering the same thing myself. Perhaps as we used to say "Shovel Recce" or "Bag it and Pack it" 

Chris

[JawsOrca]

52 minutes ago, Wussername said:

It is those who light fires in high risk area's such as reed beds and peat beds in drought conditions, leave rubbish which threatens wildlife and cattle and domesticated animals alike with such tragic consequences.

Indeed and most of these "professional" you tubers do preach this to the viewers and often tidy up rubbish left previously, valid points for sure though but sadly I think the same can be said for any countryside users, you just need to look at the mess on all of the wild moorings on the river ant. I can't think for a moment these videos are encouraging bad behaviour they are more of the "Enjoy and respect", Simon does have shorter videos, well worth a watch and enjoy. 

The only thing he does do which I don't like for sure is light fires on the ground on the broads, that's a big no no 100%.   Somewhat in defence he is generally out doing this out of season so I guess the ground is wet enough but yeah no defending such action there.

[Meantime]

55 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

This person may well have paid his BCU membership - whatever the "Sam Hill" that is - but he seems to be able to enjoy the the genuine Norfolk Broads very much more easily and cheaply than I can.

He is enjoying the genuine Norfolk Broads, in nature, without the benefit of a luxury 35-40ft x12ft floating caravan to fall back on. I'm not knocking you because I have one as well, but I wish I had the spirit of adventure to enjoy the Norfolk Broads the way he does, in a no frills way.

Perhaps the closest I've come to it was when I hired a Hunters boat for a few days with a friend. It was a much more back to basics experience, very enjoyable for many reasons, but I won't be selling my boat anytime soon in favour of something similar to a Hunters boat.

Horses for courses and all that.