A new member for Munich/GER

PaulMZB · Jul 29, 2015

Hello and "Servus" from Bavaria.

My name is Paul and I life with my wife Silvia and our daugther Leonie near Munich / Bavaria / Germany.
I´m a member of the German Internet-Community "Caliboard.de" and on this way (?), I got your adress from one of our (and your) user.
I hope to get some Information about "free pitches" in South England, Wales and Scotland - is it allowed, were are some nice places etc.pp.
We will arrive GB via Calais / Dover and wish to stay in your wonderful country from Aug. 04th to Aug. 30th.

Orientation to my person: I am 49 J. old and I work at the Federal Police Helicopter Squadron as a Crew member (FLIR- / Winch- and Cargosling-Operator). My typeratings are EC 135, EC 155 and AS 332 SuperPuma.
If there is a britisch Police Officer with aviation background in this community, I would be very happy, if there is a possibility to visit their squadron.
:thumb

By the way - I´m looking Forward visiting your Country.

Paul and family

Hotel California · Jul 29, 2015

Hi and welcome from Belgium....

PaulMZB · Jul 29, 2015

hotel california T5 said:
Hi and welcome from Belgium....

Thx, but I thought, this was a british community

Greetings...

Hotel California · Jul 29, 2015

Nope , members from whole Europe and abroad....

CaliforniaDAN · Jul 29, 2015

Hi and welcome to this forum.

When you do come to visit the UK, Please take a look at this website which will give you details of all the air bases in areas you will be travelling. I am sure if you make contact, arrangements can be made for you to visit.

www.npas.police.uk/

I will let others on this forum give you info on free pitches or wild camping as we refer to it!

PaulMZB · Jul 29, 2015

CaliforniaDAN said:
Hi and welcome to this forum.

When you do come to visit the UK, Please take a look at this website which will give you details of all the air bases in areas you will be travelling. I am sure if you make contact, arrangements can be made for you to visit.

www.npas.police.uk/

I will let others on this forum give you info on free pitches or wild camping as we refer to it!

Hey, "CaliforniaDAN"!

Thx, for the great Information about the NPAS. That´s it, I´m looking for.

And for your info: we don´t want to do "wild camping" (more than 1 night), we normally just want to stay for one night, to refresh the driver.

Bramco · Jul 29, 2015

Paul welcome.

From your original post I'm not sure specifically where you intend to go in the UK but I'm sure you'll find many interesting places to visit. If you take a look at some of the posts in the sections that cover places to visit there are lots of ideas.

Specifically on your request on free places to stay, you should look at the website for wildcamping. They have an app that gives specific locations.

But you should also try to get a copy of Britstops - these are mainly pubs in rural locations where you can park overnight. It's not only pubs though, there's a vinyard in the south east, farm shops and many other types of location.

Maybe a bit too late as you'll be on your vacation in a few days but for future reference.....

Hope you enjoy your visit to the UK.

BerndRos · Jul 29, 2015

Lol....

Just beware of the 65 million or SO 'thought police' that will try to object to you getting a free night and label you a 'traveller'....only in the UK.....

motacyclist · Jul 29, 2015

Hi Paul and family, I hope you enjoy your visit, please post up your adventures and pictures on here for us, we look forward to seeing them.

And welcome to the forum, as others say it is not just for UK Cali enthusiasts.

Colin

PaulMZB · Jul 30, 2015

Hey guys,
thank you for the warm und helpful "welcome"!
I will post a few pics, if I arrive some pretty places.

Buy the way: If anyone of you visit Munich in September/Oktober for...

...call me and we will find a pitch for you and your Cali near the Oktoberfest "Wiesn".

Prost (Cheers),

Paul

PaulMZB · Jul 30, 2015

Bramco said:
Specifically on your request on free places to stay, you should look at the website for wildcamping. They have an app that gives specific locations.

Have you a web-adress for the wildcamping-site?

Our first way will go to the area of St.Ives...

bvddobb · Jul 30, 2015

Hi Paul,

Welcome here, from The Netherlands as well...

We saw your post on the German Cali forum, and the answer directing you here as well, an lo, here you are! These forums get more and more international!

The last times we visited the UK we also came via Dover, late in the evening. If that is the case with you as well, we have used two camp sites 15 - 20 mins from the ferry that we liked, that you could use for your first night:
Little Satmar in Capel-le-Ferne (15 min walk from there to the cliffs...!)
Romney Farm, in the direction of Dungeness from Dover

For the rest we have no specific camp site suggestions for you. When in the UK we do as always: when we feel like it is the end of a driving day, we use Google Maps on our telephone to find a campsite to our liking nearby, and drive there. Never had an issue finding a place, not even in busy times like the May Bank Holiday weekend etc.

For nice routes to drive, we DO have a suggestion for you: try to buy this book, we quite liked the drives and scenery:

51BYkcqm%2BnL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

And, ehhh...: we might just want to use your Oktoberfest pitch offer!

bvddobb · Jul 30, 2015

Oh, and you really don't need the fancy and expensive stickers to adjust your headlights for the left side traffic. Just cut two pieces of duct tape in roughly the same shape as the stickers, and stick them on your headlights in the same spots as you would the fancy stickers. Effect is the same, and much cheaper.
If you are not sure where to stick them, park in front of a blank wall and put on your headlights. Experiment with a piece of paper roughly the size of the sticker where to hold it so that the top side part of your headlight beam is covered and no longer shines on the wall. That is where the sticker should go.

Bramco · Jul 30, 2015

Paul, oddly enough it's http://www.wildcamping.co.uk!!

I guess searching from Germany confuses our favourite search engine... I know from my own experience finding web sites in Germany or the Netherlands can be quite hard from the UK. I've found adding the web address postfix to the search can help, so you might try searching with xyz .uk to find a web site in the UK.

As others have already said, hope you really enjoy your visit to the UK. Post some photos of your favourite places.

Californiaman · Jul 30, 2015

As above, many places tend to frown upon 'wild camping' but there are plenty of places where you can stay overnight if you need to. We certainly aren't as well geared up for it as on the continent. Many service stations on the motorways etc will let you stop overnight for a small fee - also some supermarkets etc. It may be worth investing in http://www.britstops.com/ I am not a member but hear very good things about them.

Scotland looks much more favourably on wild camping and there are plenty of amazing places to stop.

http://www.wildcamping.co.uk/ is a great resource for finding places to stop.

If you find yourself in or around Oxford / Woodstock (stay at Bladon and visit Blenheim Palace!) then you could contact Eurocopter. They design engineers are all based at Oxford airport. I'm not sure how approachable they are for a visit but it might be interesting to you.

TwentyOneThirtyFive · Jul 31, 2015

Hello,

My Cali spent it's first 20 years in Munich. We wanted to take it for a visit home, but we're not allowed in the Umwelte zone

Anyway, the wildcamping.co.uk advice is good, we often use the information there. Not only do you get wildcamp locations in various formats (Satnav, Google Earth, iOS and Android apps), but also toilet and water tap locations. It also includes some pubs and a number of places in France.

There's also plenty out there in the public domain. If you are looking for somewhere near Dover for your arrival or prior to heading home, have a look for the Dover Patrol memorial, that is popular. At Cantebury the 'Park and Ride' can be used for a small fee. Further along the coast there is easy wildcamping at Dungeness by the old lighthouse - I was camped next to a German Cali there a couple of weeks ago.

Have a great trip und tschuss!
dan