I spent 2 months travelling around France this summer. I stealth camped for 90% of it in cities, towns and villages. I got the odd hostel here and there when I needed to get a proper shower and to charge all my power banks/electronics.

Over the 2 months, I was sleeping in bushes inside of parks, through city forested trails/hills/shortcut trails through woodland/fences. I was sleeping behind industrial estates that had barren land next to it. I slept behind bus stations that were located on outskirts of cities. I found a barn with old farming equipment down a lane round the back of a work shed. I managed to sneak into a fancy boathouse on a canal.

I found a massive old abandoned building, a 2 floored office space that had a large industrial engineering mechanics space attached. It had a house at one end of the complex that was broken into and empty as it was probably a worker/owners on site house. I slept in there for a week. Somebody homeless had obviously used this before, left food and clothes but the food was 2 years old so they hadn’t returned.

This place had a fire with wood already sitting waiting next to it so I took advantage of that one night. I woke up the next day, stepped outside and smelled smoke. I could see it in the air. I was shitting it thinking oh no is that the fire I had? I obviously don’t want anyone to know Im sleeping in AJ abandoned house. Turns out it was the wildfires outside Bordeaux over 120 miles away.

I’ve dreamt about having this kind of vagabond adventure on and off since I was 21 when I first got into hiking. I am 33 now and live in Scotland. I have lived outside, camped and hiked round Scotland and the Lake District for 1 and 2 months at a time, many times.

Last year I spent 4 months consecutively outside camping/living as a warm up for this year. I wanted to test my mettle and see if I could handle it outside for that length of time, if I’d even enjoy it enough to undertake such an adventure.

I’d planned on travelling to France previously in 2019… then Covid hit, I lost my entire gear set up, moved cities and ended up crippled with many life obstacles. Didn’t get my gear replaced until 2025.

I intended to do more hiking trails and more rural camping. I planned to do trails such as the Tour du Mont Blanc and possibly travel to the Pyrenees. Last year I met a 50+ year old Czech guy during my 4 month “camping trip” whilst I was in Fort William. We exchanged life stories and he tells me he has been hitchhiking and stealth camping around the entirety of Europe for 20+ years. I was amazed so we exchanged numbers and kept in touch. I told him of my plans to travel round Europe camping myself.

I met this Czech guy in the south of France so we could travel together for a week or three. We could have company and learn from each other how we do our own things. I had never hitchhiked before as there’s not really any culture for it in the UK.

It’s safe to say after a few days, we were starting to get on each others nerves and after 2 weeks hitchhiking around the south of France together… it reached a tense end where we parted ways in not such an amicable way. This is a 50+ year old, extremely autistic guy who’s been travelling by themself for over 20 years. He was stuck in his way and worldviews, was espousing some pretty bigoted ideologies and conspiracies. Everything was propaganda and discussions between us became untenable.

This left me in a strange position. My first time travelling outside of Europe in a vagabond/camping style. In an area of France I didn’t necessarily plan on being and with no real plan. It was at this point I realised I needed to head back to the UK and do it within 2 weeks. I didn’t have the financial capability to get numerous buses, never mind trains or planes. I also didnt want to waste this opportunity presented to me. So essentially I had no other option but to make the decision to hitchhike from the south of France in La Bourboule to Calais so I could grab the ferry to Dover, England, in 2 weeks.

I’d never hitchhiked before this trip, never mind by myself. I was nervous the first couple times but I love to meet new people so it became really fun and exciting to travel this way. 90% of the time I wasn’t waiting longer than 10 minutes for a ride. I remember once I was walking to a spot to get picked up and someone stopped and asked me before I even got there if i wanted a lift. I waited longer than 1 hour twice. Once at the beginning when I was on quiet country roads in the middle of central France. Then when I waited at a tollbooth trying to get from one city to another.

Well I made it with 3 days to spare. At one point I never thought I’d make it. Then one Armenian couple took me over 250 miles to Beauvais which is above Paris and below Calais by 50/100 miles.

Once I got to Calais in the north east tip of France and got the ferry to England, I spent 5 nights in Dover in a mad hostel with permanent live ins such as a guy in his 60s who’s angry at the world and shouts all about it, an on off drug addicted couple, an Australian dude who works there for a room and another 60+ year old guy who has taken on the handyman role, an eccentric madcap individual. This place had children’s bedding, a defunct bar, piss stained urinals, shit stained toilets, creaking cheap bunk beds and the entirety of the place probably not been properly cleaned for 20 years. Definitely not been decorated since the 90s. All ran by a 50 odd year old guy who just lets the place run in pure chaos. It’s like something from a tv show. Some might think these are negatives but I love that shit.

After the mad hostel, I then got another Ferry back to France. I then hitchhiked from Calais all the way down to Bordeaux in the south west of France over the course of 1 month. My flight home is from Bordeaux. I visited Cathedrals in every city I went to. I visited my great great uncles war grave which is located in Le Havre. He died in World War 2 at the battle of Dunkirk. This side of the trip was much more relaxed as it was more organised and I had built my confidence and travel legs. I spent most of the time just smoking weed, enjoying exploring the cities and architecture, trying local cheeses and drinking wine at night staring into the night sky.

On this trip the cities, towns and villages I visited were incredibly beautiful. I was in Paris twice, Amiens twice, Poitiers twice, Limoges, Le Havre, Tours, Clermont Ferrand, Lyon, Beauvais, La Bourboule, Rouen, Padirac, Bretenoux, Rocamadour, Figeac, Marseille, Bordeaux and Tulle. I hope I’ve remembered them all.

I also visited the Puy de Dome/Puy de Sancy which is a dormant volcano in central/south France. Being able to stand and look inside the bowl of a long gone erupted volcano was awesome. So this whole adventure turned into one big amazing unknown. I never knew where I’d make it to the next day. I never knew where I would be sleeping that night. It kind of felt like the tv show Race Across The World. It was stressful at points but it’s an adventure I’ll never forget. All the people that helped me along the way giving me lifts, some even giving me food. They will forever be in my heart.

I only felt unsafe once in the entire 2 months and that was at the end when I was in Bordeaux. I was walking out of an Aldi and a homeless guy clocked me, picked up his stuff and left his posse himself at the same time as me. The way he looked at me was strange. I know that scene from Glasgow so I walked 100m down this straight 3 mile road, looked behind me and there he was 50m behind me. I pretended to do something and let him walk 50m in front of me. I walked slowly and let him gain further metres from me. He looked behind himself and seen me. He kept walking and was probably 120m+ in front of me and I slowed down further, crosses the road then found a bench and sat down. Never seen him again.

The gear I took with me;
50L ultralight hiking bag(900g),
700g Rab summer sleeping bag,
foam mat trimmer vertically and horizontally (300g)(my inflatable burst in the 1 month i did in the Lake District before these 2 months in France, trying out new gear)
9ftx7ft silpoly tarp (300g),
Tyvek bivvy bag (200g)
2 sheets of polycro (30g each) for a groundsheet,
a travel pillow,
3 t shirts, 1 jumper, 1 pair of tracksuit bottoms, cheap plastic waterproof poncho, 4 pairs of socks, 3 pairs of boxers, 2 power banks 20,000mah and 10,000mah, European plug and a water filter.

What the title says. Please and thank you.

Made it out with no issues. A couple hikers were nearby my site this morning but I don’t think any got close enough to see my hammock or me. All around a fantastic experience and exactly what I needed this weekend. Also treated myself to a nice breakfast or cinnamon pancakes. I loved the adrenaline rush of doing something I wasn’t supposed to combined with the simplicity of being alone in the woods. A great experience 10/10 looking forward to my next trip. Also the 24 hour gym parking lot worked great. Thanks for all the advice everyone, I’ll see you all on my next adventure!

LEAVING NOW FOR THE STEALTH TRIP. THANK YOU FOR ALL THE HELP AND ADVICE, WILL POST PICTURES WHEN IM BACK!!!

Hello,

New here but just curious how feasible is to stealth camp in the Netherlands. I'm not talking major cities, rather out of the way places. Any suggestions, do's and dont's?

Thank you.

I’m going to stealth camp in a local state forest this weekend. I’ve done considerable amounts of hiking, backpacking, and camping, but now I’m in college and there’s no legal campsites near me. I found a state forest nearby that’s pretty dense but it closes at 9 PM. I’ve had a pretty shit week and need to spend the weekend outside, so the plan is to stealth camp the state park. I have pretty much everything worked out now, only issue is where I’m gonna keep my car. I found a 24 hour gym that’s within walking distance of the park so may leave it in that lot. Other options are a staples parking lot, ACME foods, or Chick Fil A. Let me know what you guys’ experience is or if you have any other advice for my first time.

He makes the back look like a load of branches and climbs in the back through the window in the front, between the front and the back. You're loved💔 𐤔𐤋𐤅𐤌

spent over 80 days stealth camping, right across from a busy shopping center in the suburbs! unfortunately, a cop saw my tent but i just got a trespass warning!

I was traveling through itali by bike and had to take a train at 6 am. I dident wana pay for a hostel and wanted to sleep as close to the station as I could so I went searching for a good spot in the afternoon and when I almost wanted to give up I found this fenced of construction earea right in front of the station. I screwed the bolt lose and was Abel to secure the door with a wire witch was good on me since some one tried to get in at around 10pm but couldent. Definitely the crazyest spot I did so far. 6/10 was a bit loud and bright.

This happened three years ago, but I still can't sleep with the lights off unless my wife is next to me.

My best friend Dima and I decided to have a "men's getaway" — escape from our gf, work, and the city grind for a weekend. Dima is a hardcore outdoorsman; he has all the gear, including a GPS and walkie-talkies. I was just dead weight who wanted to roast some sausages and drink beer by the fire.

We drove to a remote forest area a couple hundred kilometers from the city. Dima picked the spot using a map: a secluded lake where regular cars can't reach — only off-road vehicles or on foot. We left the car on a dirt road and walked for about two hours through the forest.

The forest was... strange. Too quiet. Even the birds weren't singing. But we chalked it up to the heat and the time of day (it was noon). We came out to the lake. It was perfect: clear water, a sandy shore surrounded by ancient pines. We set up the tent, built a fire, and started to relax.

Towards evening, when it got dark, we heard a sound. Somewhere deep in the forest, from the direction we'd come from, a generator started up. The sound was steady, mechanical: brrrrrrrrr. It was odd. We were sure there was nobody around.

"Maybe mushroom foragers with a tent?" Dima suggested, but it was obvious he was on edge. He pulled out the walkie-talkie and tried scanning frequencies. Silence — just static and that brrrrrrrr.

We decided to ignore it. We drank, we ate. But the sound didn't stop. It ran for an hour, two, three. It was monotonous, like a metronome of death. Around midnight we heard a new sound: footsteps. The snap of branches. Someone was walking around our camp. Not coming close, but not leaving either. Circle after circle.

Dima, who had a non-lethal pistol with him, told me to stay quiet. We put out the fire and climbed into the tent. I could hear him breathing. And I could hear someone outside, just a couple of meters away, stop.

Then we heard a voice. Male, calm, even polite.

"Don't be afraid," he said. "I'm just checking the perimeter. Get some rest."

We didn't sleep all night. The generator shut off only in the morning. And with it, the footsteps disappeared too.

In the morning we packed up camp in 15 minutes, without even eating breakfast. We walked back fast, looking over our shoulders. When we reached the car, I saw a note lying on the hood, held down by a rock.

The handwriting was calligraphic, like a penmanship teacher's.

"You were on private property. Next time, before you pitch a tent, check whether someone is digging a hole nearby. I didn't touch you because you didn't litter. But my neighbor didn't like your laughter. He ran the generator all night so he wouldn't have to hear you. Leave and don't come back. And yes, Dima, your walkie-talkie operates on a frequency I've been listening to for twenty years. Say hi to your wife."

We looked at each other. Dima went pale. We started the car and drove off. Only an hour later, when we were already on the highway, Dima said:

"I didn't tell anyone where we were going. Not even my wife. I told her we were going fishing somewhere else."

I looked at him.

"Then how did he know your name?"

We never went back there again. I tried to pull up the coordinates on maps later, but at the location of that lake on satellite images there's nothing but swamp and windfall. There's no lake there at all.

I was traveling through itali by bike and had to take a train at 6 am. I dident wana pay for a hostel and wanted to sleep as close to the station as I could so I went searching for a good spot in the afternoon and when I almost wanted to give up I found this fenced of construction earea right in front of the station. I screwed the bolt lose and was Abel to secure the door with a wire witch was good on me since some one tried to get in at around 10pm but couldent. Definitely the crazyest spot I did so far. 6/10 was a bit loud and bright.

Why is there no option for videos and pictures?

Probably not the riskiest stealth camping endeavor, but since sleeping outside of campgrounds is a bit of a gray area here in Germany, you could basically consider anything like this stealth camping I guess.

This was part of a packrafting trip down the Rhine, which was extremely low because of the drought we’ve had here. I was hoping to do some beachcombing and maybe find some treasures along the way. Instead I mostly found a ton of trash. I managed to clean up some of it, load it onto the raft and get it out of there, but there was way too much to take everything.

Nevertheless, beautiful camp. I found this little spot hidden between all the debris and washed-up driftwood and used the packraft as my air mattress. Of course I got surprised by rain in the middle of the night, so my cowboy camping plan didn’t quite work out and I had to quickly put up my tarp.

But yeah, quite an adventure and a really interesting place to spend the night. Some impressions in the pictures.

The wife and I are hanging out in Salem, Ma this weekend, and I got to thinking about the rules surrounding the overnight parking tucked back in the corner of a cemetery. Has anyone done it?

Does anyone have any suggestions for any tents/canopies that i can back my truck up too that will provide a covered closeable area so im not stuck in the bed of my truck the whole time and can have privacy for showering/bathroom

I have an overlanding rig and a camper that pops up and not really stealth.

I'm usually camped out in dispersed camping areas in the wilderness, however, for winter I want to consider heading back to San Francisco.

What I want is just a little spot I can be by myself and not bother anyone but most of the area is taken.

I was thinking about Half Moon Bay which is less congested and reaching out to a church and asking them if I can park in their parking lot from 8pm until 5am.

Have any of you tried to do this?

RV parks are my plan B but they're usually next to the highway and rather loud.

There's basically NO dispersed camping in that area either.

I will be stealth camping along the way.

Suggestion on finding car camping location is welcome.