Neale - Camping by the Waterside

For Mum and Dad & Deb and Romi

Adlard Coles Nautical, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP, UK

1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA

www.bloomsbury.com

www.adlardcoles.com

This electronic edition published in 2017 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

ADLARD COLES, ADLARD COLES NAUTICAL and the Buoy logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

First published 2013

This second edition published 2017

Stephen Neale 2017

Stephen Neale has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.

All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. All information about individual campsites is as accurate and up to date as possible as this book goes to press. Readers are advised to verify any important details before setting off.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication data has been applied for.

ISBN: 978-1-4729-4330-9 (PB)
ISBN: 978-1-4729-4331-6 (eBook)
ISBN: 978-1-4729-4332-3 (ePDF)

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Acknowledgements

Photos in show the following sites (left to right, top to bottom):

Wexford.

All photos Stephen Neale / Romi Neale except:

Thomas Marshall.

Photos on Shutterstock

Special thanks

To Martin Dalton and Mark Cleveland for photographic guidance, especially Martin for his editing and filing advice; all the excellent photographers who so kindly offered pictures that sadly did not make it into these pages; Martin Dorey for so generously writing the Foreword and motivating me to get writing; John Kelly for his superb Song of the Paddle forum, and lastly, Terry Abraham, the blogger and film maker, who constantly shares his knowledge and passion for the outdoors with the rest of us.

contents

foreword

Stephens premise for finding a good campsite is spot on. What more could you ask than to cast your line or launch your kayak from right outside your tent or camper van? For me, as a surfer, campervanner and coast lover, finding places where you can pitch up at the edge of the water really is the Holy Grail. Its what we dream of. To be able to roll out of bed and into the surf is what its all about. Thats proper camping. The best start to any day. Then, once the waves or the fish or the rays have been caught, you can pop the kettle on, cook up your catch or just take it easy, right there at the very edge, where the sea meets the land, where it matters.

Its not that easy to come across campsites that are right on the water, with the right kind of facilities and the right kind of vibe. So its absolutely brilliant that Stephen is willing and able to share the fruits of his long quest to find the very best of them in this book. Ive been to a few of them myself and can understand why hed want to write them all down. These are the places that make you go Wow!

Stephen has taken the hard work out of locating your own pitch in paradise. And when I say paradise I dont mean just a hop, skip and a jump away, or even just a stones throw from paradise, I mean right there. Thats what its all about.

I only wish Id thought of it first.

Martin Dorey

Martin Dorey is a Devon-based writer. His most recent title, The Camper Van Bible (2016), was widely praised everywhere from The Sunday Times to BBC Countryfile Magazine enormously informative lively, clear and entertaining while his Camper Van Cookbook (2010) was hailed as a modern outdoor classic, inspiring the BBC2 TV series One Man and His Campervan. Martins second book, The Camper Van Coast (2012), featured Stephens list of the ten best campsites on water.

preface

Here we are, a second edition.

Still learning. Still finding new and amazing campsites beside water.

Can you imagine this? he said as he packed up his gear. Sliding a canoe into the river from right next to your own tent. Jumping into the sea from the bonnet of your camper van. Or how about casting a fishing line into the lake from inside your caravan awning?

So I started looking.

part

laying the groundwork

getting ready

Ill tell you a secret. These islands are the best in the world to go camping. Its not a Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown-style revelation. But it does involve multiples of the number three. Britain and Ireland are an archipelago of 6,000 islands divided and surrounded by six seas, 600 rivers and canals and 30,000 lakes. They are home to more campsites-by-water per square mile than anywhere else on earth. Only no one realised, or if they did, theyve kept it quiet.

Why? Ive no idea, because these regions also enjoy the mildest seasons found anywhere (neither hot nor cold posh people call it temperate). So mild, in fact, that the three largest camping organisations in the world are based here, with a total membership of almost six million. Those who should know better still stop me and ask whats so special about a pitch by the water. They might describe a wonderful campsite in the Yorkshire Dales, the New Forest or Snowdonia, several miles from a river or lake, but stunningly beautiful. Well, yeah, I whisper. Maybe when the suns out. What about when it rains every day for a week?

Demystifying the myths about camping and caravanning in a damp corner of the northern hemisphere is a challenge. Its not all good, Ill grant you. Pitched up at the foot of the Dales in a three-day downpour surrounded by grazing Fresians, puddles and damp ditches can be depressing. But the combination of lake, wetsuit, boats, fishing rods and campsite amounts to fun in any weather. Canoeing, sailing, surfing, swimming and snorkelling dont rely on sunshine they rely on access to a beach or riverbank. And thats what the campsites in this book have. They get you out there.