I havent found Spain good for wild camping of any kind. I have found quiet places, but the ground is always bumpy, stony and difficult for pitching a tent.

There is a warning above about security in "Aires", especially in the South, which is worth remembering, of course. However, in my experience, I've never known a problem. But I'm always out of sight, and I use an infra red movement alarm near the tent - but it has never gone off. The aires in north and central France are more wooded than those further south.

If you prefer, use wild camping off the road. If you look for your hidden campsite about 1 hour before sunset, that should be enough. I'm sure you have developed an eye for this in Norway.

If you MUST pay for accommodation, the cheapest is usually Formule 1, a chain of cheapie motel things. Around 30 Euros for a room of 3 beds. But I'm sure you'd rather put that money towards petrol.

Bonne route!

I received the "Motormännens Europa Vägatlas" i ordered, and it looks very good. It covers all of europe, but still its not a big heavy book, and it shows lots of camp sites just like I was looking for. It's a 2008 edition so it should be up to date...
The scale is 1:800000.

in france the "air de répos" is a good idea, at least in northern & central france though a municipal campsite will probably only charge you 8 - 10€ a night which you'd spend in autoroute tolls anyway, + the cafés & shops on the "air" are 25% more expensive (even for a sandwich) than a supermarket.
add to that that the riding is booring as hell...

if you're coming through burgundy, let me know, i've a space at work you can camp overnight in for free.

:thumbup1:

Hi. If I might ask a question close to the subject. Does anyone know of any decent areas for wild camping along the south coast - Genova to Marseilles? Ideally, I'd like to get as near to the sea as possible and completely veg out for a few days, cooking my own stuff, etc. I'm doing it all on the cheap, driving an old car, hitting Lidl and markets along the way. In other words, bumming it.:thumbup1:

Wooded areas is good, as I've got a hammock as well as a tent and a tarp. I could bivvy on the beach? Is this allowed?

"le camping sauvage" is forbidden in france.

I'm not saying you won't get away with it but is is technically illegal, so I would say be descreet & don't have an open fire, the south coast is prone to arson & big bush & forest fires during the summer months so they're a wee bit paranoid about fire...

security wise, as with most other countries, stay away from the big cities.

Today I'm setting off, and in a few hours I will hopefully be on the ferry to Denmark and on my way to a couple of weeks on the bike. I guess the first night will be in Denmark, but from there I realy haven't decided on where to go, the options are south east or south west. Guess I'll go wherere ever the weather is nice...

It would help if you said what your route was going to be .

In Denmark you cannot just put your tent up anywhere.

There is Freecamping in Denmark, which is a totally different thing. Local councils and organisations erect wooden shelters where you can stay for free.

A lot of our churches have toilets and hot water in their grounds. They open at about 9 and close at about 5pm.

Danhostel is our hostel association, but is not cheap.

There are plenty of campsites but most are seasonal.

It is getting quite cold here now, autumn is certainly on the way.

You need to look at Couchsurfers.com, it is great and I have used it myself this year in France. Great to get a free bed, meet great people and learn something about the areas you are visiting.

Steve

Lots of things are forbidden everywhere. France is a fine country for wild camping....

Caminando - off topic but...you mentoned an infra red movement alarm in an earlier thread, could you provide details of that please?

In September to November 2002 I wild camped alone entirely through Italy France and Spain. I was a bit smelly by the end of it...
I never had any troubles with people visiting me at night and sometimes I built fires if I was very isolated.
Italy was a little difficult at times because most areas were fenced completely.
France was good on the whole.
Lots of space in Spain, a few times the clay ground was a little too hard.

I usually started to look for a place to camp around 4;30pm and was always set-up by dark.
I always travelled minor roads though never autoroutes and air de répos!!!

Enjoy.
N

Nothing's off topic for me - this is a battery operated device, fits in the hand. It detects any movement inside 3-4 metres and makes an alarm sound (100 decibels-ish). Cost me around 12 pounds. You can also get alarms which operate if anyone breaks a beam. I've got that one too. Same price-ish.

This is actually old tech which has been made to operate by battery rather than by mains.

I forget where I got these, but it's B&Q or the like.

Apart from my camping spots, I also used it in my room in a cheap hotel in Morocco - I heard it go off in the street as I left. I ran back up - no-one around! I think it was the hotel staff sniffing around. But the noise was enough to put them off!!! It's 'orrible......

I recently rode up from Nice through the 'Gorge de Verdon' Excellent area. Caminados advice is good. I use the aires for overnight stays. Unless you are an idiot and upset people with bad behaviour you will be welcomed. Most bigger aires have free toilets, showers and washing facilities. It is true that it may not be strictly legal, but teh french police and gendarmes are concerned with road safety, not getting brownie points. The aires exist for tired drivers to rest. Clearly a motorcyclist needs a tent to sleep so park you bike close to your tent. Set up before it gets dark and inspect the ground for anything sharp or ex dog :(

Open fires in wooded areas is often banned. Generally if it is easy to gather dry wood, it is illegal to set fire to it. ( for risk of forest fires).

oh! and before emulating a Hindu bathing in teh Ganges, just test the temperture of that lovely blue water in teh streams and rivers first :)
I have been known to use sections of Peage just for teh campsite :) Most have grassed areas surrounded by trees at the rear of teh aire, really intended for camper vans to overnight.

I never said it wasn't a good idea! i just think that it's worth knowing in advance what the law says before ignoring it...:thumbup1:

You have to understand this. The English have a legalistic mindset. The French have legislation for everything and have long ago learned to work around it. Basically you can do anything you like so long as you do not impair anyone elses enjoyment of life. If you do then they will start to apply the mass of bureaucracy that exists.

Erm... sort of off topic but, I've been living & riding in france for the last 15 years, & have not found this to be the case. There used to be a lot of "tolerence" whereby your statement would be correct, but I have seen this "tolerence" dissappear slowly over the last 5 ish years. Now this maybe only the case in my area (burgundy) but from the french websites I frequent (le repaire des motards, motards bourguignon, etc) the general impression is that things are tightening up, starting with drink driving, speeding & other traffic offences but filtering down through the whole spectrum of "social legislation".

maybe someone living in the midi kinows better about that specific area?