Tag: camping

September 29, 2023 Nick Kempe 25 comments

On Saturday I was involved in a demonstration organised by the Right to Roam campaign at Scots Dyke, constructed in 1552 to delineate the border between Scotland and England.  As one activist straddling the border put it, this foot has a right to be here, the other one doesn’t.  The differences in access laws between…

June 26, 2023 Nick Kempe 2 comments

A significant row has developed in Glenmore, the most popular place for visitors in the Cairngorms, and various interests are now trying to stampede the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) into initiating measures to ban camping there.  This post argues that primary responsibility for the problems in Glenmore lie with Forest and Land Scotland and…

February 12, 2023 Geoff Riddington 3 comments

Introduction In a previous post (see here) I commented how the inaction of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park (LLTNP) on helping define the route of the A82 between Tarbet and Inverarnan was worrying. There appeared to be an unwillingness on the part of the LLTNP to do anything positive to ensure appropriate use…

February 2, 2023 Dave Morris 10 comments

The Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Parks are part of the UK family of national parks. The experience gained in any one of these national parks may therefore be of relevance to other parks within the family and more generally as regards the enjoyment, management and protection of land and water in the…

July 4, 2022 Nick Kempe 4 comments

Just two months after Forestry England (FE) and Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) bought back the Camping in The Forest (CiCF) business from the Camping and Caravanning Club (see here), all 16 campsites are all being outsourced again.  FLS is currently advertising 15 year leases, through a company called CDLH, for Cobleland in the Trossachs,…

March 8, 2022 Nick Kempe 1 comment

On 25th February Forestry and Land Scotland and Forestry England issued a joint news release (see here) announcing that they had acquired the Camping and Caravanning Club (CCC)’s majority stake in Camping in the Forest (CITF) which manages three campsites in prime locations in Scotland’s National Parks: at Glenmore in the Cairngorms; Cashel on Loch…

April 20, 2021 Nick Kempe 3 comments

Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement last week  that the restrictions on travel within Scotland for outdoor recreation would be relaxed on 16th April, ten days earlier than scheduled, took most people by surprise. The legal restrictions on travel which were first introduced on 27th November remain in place, meaning that you still can only travel outside your…

April 9, 2021 Nick Kempe 7 comments

After its Board Meeting, which approved a large increase of expenditure on  visitor management (see here), the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority held a pre-season Stakeholder Briefing Session on 26th March to tell people about their plans “to manage visitor pressures when lockdown restrictions begin to ease”.  Too late for genuine consultation, it…

March 29, 2021 Nick Kempe 5 comments

The Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authorities (NPAs) were both awarded significant increases in funding in the Scottish Government’s budget (see here), a significant turn-around in fortunes. In September the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) reported a significant hole in their finances, with a projected deficit – after yet…

November 27, 2020 Nick Kempe 9 comments

Signs in the countryside form part of the narrative about access and help shape public understanding about what the right to roam in Scotland means.  Even if ignored by many,  I find it hard to pass signs without taking a photo.  Six weeks ago, on spotting a cluster of signs behind a Welcome to the…

September 9, 2020 Nick Kempe 6 comments

The Scottish Parliament this afternoon debates a motion (see here) by Murdo Fraser on Dirty Camping, just the second members’ debate since the start of the corona crisis.  While the Scottish Parliament increasingly appears to have little real power, what is said today could still be very important for framing any debate on camping and campervanning…