Stealth Camp Secrets Along South Downs Way (UK) Wild Camping Tips

In this video, I challenge the wild camping ban on the South Downs Way (UK) and share some stealth camping secrets and tips. I also show you some of my watercolour artworks and the gear I used for this 3-day adventure.

The South Downs Way is a 100-mile trail that runs through the South Downs National Park in the UK. It offers stunning views of the countryside, but also strict rules about camping. Many posts online say you can’t or shouldn’t wild camp on the South Downs Way, but I decided to test this out and see if I could do it without getting caught.

I walked from Cocking to Botolphs in West Sussex, 27 miles over three days, and had an amazing experience. I explored the neolithic Chanctonbury Ring, ran over a motorway, had some creepy visitors in the night, and did some artwork at last – two watercolour pieces to show you what I am supposed to be doing.

I think as long as you leave no trace, you should be able to camp anywhere, so this was as much a crusade as a personal thing for me. We need a right to roam and a right to camp as long as no damage is caused in the UK.

There will be a more in-depth future video about my plein air art hiking gear I take, and more about those two pieces.

I mentioned the Fire Maple XK6 silicon lid melting to Fire Maple via their official Aliexpress shop where I bought it from. Their response was a classic ‘why does it do that?’ – err I was asking YOU! Otherwise a great pot, just beware!

If you enjoyed this video, please like, comment, and subscribe to my channel. You can also support me by donating or buying some of my artworks. Here are some links to my other platforms and sources:

Website: [https://www.tjbaker.co.uk/]
Instagram: [https://www.instagram.com/fingertrouble/]
Donation: [https://ko-fi.com/tjbarts]
Podcast: [https://anchor.fm/jaunt]

Gear mentioned or used in the video – all bought with my own money, I’ve never had a freebie or promotion, my reviews are 100% independent, but I do get a little from any Amazon purchases, but usually highlight where else you can buy these if cheaper…if that helps, please tip me some of what you saved!

TheFitLife Carbon Trekking Poles – this link supports the channel https://amzn.to/3Rme5aP but are cheaper on eBay in the UK https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?&_nkw=TheFitLife%27+Carbon+Fibre+Trekking+Poles

Fire Maple ‘Great But My Lid TOTALLY Melts’ XK6: https://amzn.to/3TldLvn

Asta Gear tent https://www.aliexpress.us/item/1005006253791267.htm

Lanshan 2 tent – https://amzn.to/3tf2z93 – might be cheaper direct via Aliexpress, or wait for sales – go for the 4 season in the UK unless only summer hiking. They are quite often not branded as 3FUL or Lanshan, but totally are if you look at the photos

Kelty Coyote 80 backpack – reviews – https://www.trailspace.com/gear/kelty/coyote-80/

DIY Caldera Cone and stand – see here how to make one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9ko0H7bGjw

Ordnance Survey map – I had the codes from the paper map, saving a subscription. https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/apps/os-maps-subscriptions/#app

Speedster alcohol burner – 50ml https://speedsterstoves.co.uk/alcohol/meths-burners/60ml-spll-proof-meths/alcohol-burrner.html and simmer ring https://speedsterstoves.co.uk/burners/simmer-ring/choke-for-60ml-spill-proof-burner.html

Saucony Peregrine 12s.

#southdownsway #wildcamping #stealthcamping #watercolour #pleinair #hiking #backpacking #art #adventure

A bit like, you know, you’re not going to be murdered in the woods, apparently. So somebody has something hanging down there last night, okay? [woah] This is gusting way more than that You’re supposed to cross this. This is ridiculous. [Music]

Hello from Guildford, which we start our trip to Eastbourne, really. Via Cocking on the South Downs Way, but yeah, it’s not all as beautiful as this. I grew up in this area. It’s a real mixture of the Surrey Vernacular, but it’s more…

And here we have the jewel in Guildford’s crown, the bus station, and The Friary. /s Can you withhold your excitement? /s We’re at Cocking. It’s about two o’clock. We head off shortly towards South Downs Way. Yeah, it’s a very nice place called the Cadence Clubhouse at Cocking.

I came here with my dad actually, and I was like, “Ooh, it’s a good place to start walking from.” And I’m going to head towards Eastbourne, which probably takes me several days. And we’ll see how we go. And the weather is a bit… …shite, although it’s not raining.

It’s going to be three degrees tonight, so we’ll see how we go with that. The rest of the week is going to be a lot warmer than that, and dry, hopefully.

It seems like the cold snap that’s supposed to happen at the weekend, if the match is correct, is not happening. Well, there are problems. You can’t really use the poles while you’re doing selfie stick. This is the issue of a modern hiking YouTuber Yeah, #firstworldproblems.

I’m walking away from Cocking. I have a very nice sandwich. They have gluten-free sandwiches there. We’re seeing how leaky it is. I took a photograph of the sign saying, “No Wild Camping.” And so we’ll see. I’d rather not be in a field.

I might be rudely awaken at five in the morning, like cows or… …Irate. OI GET OFF MY LAND! I’d prefer to be in a down or common land. Or National Trust, or something like that.

The Cadence clubhouses, which are mostly about cycling, but they serve walkers as well. And they have gluten-free bread, which is brilliant. And water taps outside. There’s another one about five, six miles from here. I might drop into depending where I C-A-M-P tonight.

Because I didn’t really fill you in on the issues around that. Because people listening. I mean, we have sheep listening, but they weren’t blab. It’s not just a case of, you know, what’s supposed to. What I’m doing is actually very hard.

I don’t know why I chose such a hard one, but it’s because it’s nearest to me. That’s the one where I wanted to walk. People have done it. It’s difficult. And the difficulty will be, even though South Downs is a national park,

and one of the newest, I think the newest maybe, a lot of land around here is private, even though it’s in the park. So it’s kind of a weird combination of more….they grouse or pheasants? They make a hell of a noise. Arms are getting tired from holding this.

It’s quite hard to do. To do this Selfies I can see why people have drones now. I don’t want to recreate what happened last time. Trying to find a site after dark is not fun. I’m glad I got some food and bought food – coffee

It’s not cheap though. More of a tax. I should have really charged my phone for those prices But I will do it again. The tent’s up. It’s about five o’clock. And I’m only putting this light on because I am in a hollow.

Hopefully it won’t attract anyone. I’m near Graffham Down I’ve not seen a soul. I’ve not seen anyone. for hours. Not even a dog walker or anything. I’m rather too near another track. Not the South Downs, but another track.

But I’m in a bole or a little, I think I suspect a neolithic Because there’s lots of neolithics around here. Flint quarry. Apart from the odd owl, hardly any bird life here. I’ll show you the dip in the morning. when there’s light. Frying sausages.

Truffle oil. Olive oil, Truffle olive oil. we’ll see. That’s the view. That was a… OK night. I had the Sea To Summit [liner] And the base layers on. And the sleeping bag. It was all way, way, way too hot.

And I took it all off. And it was better, but then I got cold. And then I put on a t-shirt. Because well I needed a wicking layer. That helped. And I put it all back on again. Not the Sea To Summit.

But it was supposed to be like three degrees. And yes, like the musical band. And it wasn’t. Or if it was, this little dip. Was a bit insulated. And… You know, it was fine. Everything is packed up.

Just in case we get the early morning dog walkers. It’s about seven. Just after seven. And there we are. I’ll show you in this dip. And this is Graffham Down. A place called The Scrubs. I think I mentioned last night.

Whereas now I can just be a early morning hiker that’s having some breakfast. I don’t know if I can find them. But there was these really scary… I think they’re caterpillars. I’m not totally sure. Really big, kind of, like that size. Or that size, really big, very…

Or sort of furry black thing, I saw one A little bit like slugs, but they were… Obviously not slugs. And yeah, they were sort of invading the tent at night. Especially, they seem to attracted to the light. Or maybe the warmth of the tent. So anyway.

Along with the curious deer or whatever it was. And I also saw a mouse, I think, that night. Or something. In my red light, and it skipped away. A vole or something. You can see there, look. Deer track. those track up there. That wasn’t me.

So somebody or something came down there. Last night. Okaaaaay. It’s the quietness that gets me. Weirdly. The rush of the trees, that stuff. Wonderful. But it’s really quiet. That’s where it starts to, like, hear everything in the forest.

And it’s like, “uhuhuh.” [Scared noise] But it’s not… Yeah, it’s fine. It’s fine. I’m getting used to it. It’s the humans, as I say, I’m bothered by. I think that was deer. Yeah, it’s scuffed at the bottom. So something came down there.

Maybe it was… I had something like a cat last night. I mean, it wasn’t a cat as in, like, a domestic cat. It was like, “rarrrr.” It was like, “What the hell’s that?” But we don’t have wild cats here, so…

I’m not totally sure what that was about. It just melted onto my bandana. Well, I was the neck gaiter, and it was too hot. So I was like, “Oh, I’ll use that as a thing.” And it’s like, “Hmm, that’s the orange plastic.”

So yeah, I was warned that those plastic lids can sort of melt. That’s not so great. This is the life. Uhh, though I didn’t put enough fuel in the stove. So these were a bit cold. They kind of water was lukewarm, then.

Well, something I found with the alcohol stove is it’s very kind of raughty, very hot to begin with, and then it sort of tails off. So quite quickly, especially as the fuel sort of starts to run out.

So not when it’s run out, but it sort of gets a lot colder. So if you leave food in there, you think, “Oh, it’s still getting hot and cooking.” Now, it’s going cold with it, which is what happened with this. Apart from the strange caterpillars,

and I think that’s a slow worm. I don’t know enough about all of these pesties to know what they are. I don’t want to know much about them. I hope they aren’t in my rucksack on my tent.

I might check out some of this Neolithic shizzle, which is coming up. Oh, that looks very silly. Now with black with trims of orange plastic. Yeah. It looks like a beautiful day. I knew it was going to be a beautiful day.

That’s one of the reasons why I rushed out to do this trip. Because I thought it was the last window before Christmas, probably, before it starts to get cold. I think people should be allowed to get out to nature.

I always think they should be taught to leave no trace and take all their crap with them and not leave mess. That was part of the problem during the lockdown, as a lot of people went out on to Dartmoor and other places.

There is taking the piss and there is leaving barbecues and starting fires and things like that. There is this kind of thing where no one knew I was here. I have not seen anyone, no one has gone by. It must be 7.30 or 8.

This time, to avoid being spotted, I did it an hour before when the birds started singing. That’s when I was like, “Okay, fine.” When the birds started singing, we exit the tent. That’s a good time because it gives you time to get the tent down.

It was still a light enough to see me, I suppose, but it was early enough that people weren’t going to be wandering by. Also, I’m slow at pointing my tent down. I am really slow. I’m not the fastest person. Especially folding up a Lanshan

It’s the same thing with those silly mattresses. Why don’t they put them in a proper stretchy Lycra bag or something that compresses it down? Why does it have to be in a sort of silnylon bag that doesn’t stretch

and then the seams are all bulging because you are pushing it in there? That’s the only thing I don’t like. I describe camping and hiking as putting things in bags. Endlessly putting things in bags. It’s always like, “Take things out of bags? Putthing things in bags.

Take them out of bags? Putting them in bags.” And rolling things up. This is the first time I’ve ever done this proper hiking, as I call it, because I used to say I’m a bad hiker because I base camp hike. I camp somewhere and then walk around.

I don’t usually do this. I might do some artwork actually. I might stop along the way somewhere. But yeah, that’s what I also want to do, is show you my plein air gear. And I might do a video about that actually, explaining how I do my

art hiking. Well, it’s weird because this became an end to do that, and then it’s become an end to itself when I’m trying to bring it back in again. Because the hiking channel took off, and so I started doing more stuff around just hiking.

And the art stuff got left behind, which is a bit sad. So I want to bring it back in because that’s kind of partly why I’m doing this. I have got the gear with me this time. I actually remember to bring the paper.

It’s a privilege to not have to worry about your next bit of gear. I’m thinking, “Oh, well, we have to sell something to fund that.” And I’m sure a lot of people are in my boat, and it’s a lot of hiking YouTube

and a lot of the hiking industry is very much around expecting people to be eternally, have the money for this stuff and just charge high prices. And it’s crap because there’s a lot of people like me who like, “Well, yeah, I really love a Therm-a-rest Xtherm NXT.

I would really love one, but I can’t spend 250 quid.” “I really would love the Durston X-Mid, but I can’t.” There was that big thing on Backpacking UK’s channel about the Asta Gear, which I still get promotional stuff from Aliexpress pushing at me.

It’s like, “Asta Gear, Asta Gear.” They’re doing a lot of advertising. There was a big kickoff about that. I say, “Oh, buy the original.” It’s like, “Yeah, I don’t have 400 quid to spend on a tent.” It was about 100 quid special on Amazon for the Lanshan 2.

Then it was 50 quid for the four season inner. Even that was a big ask for me. I was before my economic situation changed, and so I meant that actually I probably shouldn’t have bought that tent. Anyway, that’s enough of that. Just over there is Dimmer Reserve,

and I think that the rest of this is going to be more difficult than this. Bronze Age Barrows. Yeah, I knew there was tumuli and barrows here. Oh, I might have seen a dormouse. It looks a bit bigger, big for a dormouse, actually. Bronze Age Earthworks.

All kinds of shizzle, while I was like saying, “Oh, I was wondering if that was a flint quarry.” Seems like Cadence apparently isn’t open today, at Upwaltham. So this is the view. It’s an amazing view. I forgot the advice, which is usually to travel cold.

You start walking, and you’d best do it when you’re a bit cold, because what happens is you just end up shedding it all. I might have to put another layer on, a little bit cold at the moment. We’ll see how we go. Mud, obviously.

It’s November, you have these little paths going off, which are very useful and leaky. But it’s 9.30am, maybe getting on for 10. I’ve not seen a single soul Eugh! Oh good. /s That’s why I’m very glad to have my trekking poles with me.

Alleviate a lot of stress when it comes to falling over, as I fell over on Jaunt 4. This is one benefit we have, of using these poles. These are TheFitLife poles. Again, not sponsoring me. These are the replacements I got for the Craghoppers.

We’ll find out on the 8th day whether they are worthy of being better than Craghoppers. It was at the 8th to 9th day when the other ones failed being pulled out of the pack. They hadn’t been stuck together properly.

But these, since we’re holding up, they’ve held up the tent, they’ve had to be used a few times. I used them on the wild camp the first time. Ergh! Oh, great. I was muddy already, so… It’s fine. squelch, squelch, squelch.

And yes, there’s a water tap. This is bizarre. This is the one we first came to with my dad. That’s why I didn’t recognise the other one. This one is Upwaltham, not Cocking. There’s a map of all their clubhouses. I’m going to head to Amberley.

That’s interesting, there’s no… There’s no Cadence things until Litlington is really Eastbourne. Interesting, there’s no water marked on the map between those two. I’m sure we’ll find something. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Not my best work but yeah you can see what I do. I have to wait for this to dry probably. Had a lovely lunch at the hill overlooking Bignor villa, I don’t know what the hill is called.

Had a talk to a guy called Mark before then he was also a hiker and has a place that was sharing some information. How’s this for a view?. Apparently we drop down to Amberley and get some water.

I’ve worked out I need to go about 10-12 miles a day to do the time and maybe I’ll do more if I feel like it but then if I stop to do artworks. So I have to work out that balance really

between the two and also battery power is another limitation. If I run out of battery power I’ll probably just you know, route march it. Such a posh bridge. I did some kind of carbuncle for the local estate and it turns out

a very posh bridge for walkers. Nearly at Amberley. There is actually apparently a bunkhouse at Amberley. I’m very tempted because a lot of the area is like this. Estate farmland. There’s not many places to hide to wild camp. There’s a few little bits but

All a bit too exposed from my liking. So I’m tempted to get to head up up there. I think is where I can see on the map there’s all this sort of an edge.

I’m going to try there and if that fails either do what I rather not do which is go to a bunkhouse or campsite or by the path somewhere or by farm because it’s not a good idea.

It’s really visible. You have to be very very quiet. No lights or anything. So we’ll see. More of this please. Taps. Taps. A free 24 hour open tap. And also we have a [railway] station in Amberley. As you can guess from the light

getting a bit worried about time. It’s really hot. We’ll see what we can find. So far it hasn’t been good. So everyone might have been talking about this part as being difficult. Still think that edge. It’s marked yellow. Orangey yellow on the OS map. I don’t know what that means.

It certainly looks like a place that could be possible. This is supposed to be [28] mile an hour or 10 to 20 depending on who you believe. This is gusting way more than that. Oh dear. Gonna be very long night. The delta ground anchors are working.

They’re holding fine. The biggest problem I have is this stuff. Bramble. I had to clear a lot and worried about ripping my tent. It’s 6.40am and just getting out of dodge because early than usual because I don’t really trust the

good burghers of Amberley not to stumble on me with their dogs and have a go. And also it is windy. It’s going to get the tent down. In the quickest time possible and find shelter somewhere else. I also have a bad sweat rash

and leg pain. It’s been not a great night. I did sleep. This is on Rackham Hill. It would have been on Rackham Hill. Everything else is a bit too near the path and a bit too far. It’s 7 o’clock. It’s barely light and it’s like I wasn’t even there.

I was thinking about leaving no trace and how the people who leave a mess and do naughty things and do leave a trace. But they don’t see the good people so they think that all wild campers just

leave a mess. But they don’t see the good ones because we’re off before they see us. That’s the irony of stigmatising wild camping. The good people you’d never know they were there

because would you know I was there? I’d had a bit of a hard night because of the wind so it wasn’t too bad. But I knew the tent could take it and actually all of my stakes all held, apart from

ironically, one of the delta anchors went. But because I’d securely pegged down the other stuff it didn’t affect anything. It was snagged up in undergrowth anyway. Next time try and find somewhere that’s a little bit better. Though it’s not a bad place.

As people like Chase Mountains explain I always go for undertrees. You’ve got the leaf canopy [bed] to keep you warm. It’s warmer there and you’ve got some shelter from the elements. It’s a shame it was

the wind direction and where it is. It was a little too exposed even though there’s kind of a lot of brush behind. It’s a bit too gusty. We didn’t get all of I could hear it in the trees and I’m a bit

worried about the rest of the trip. One app says 40 miles an hour gusts, Met just goes “It’ll be fine, be fine.” 10, 15, 20. The other one says 10 meters a second. I don’t know who to trust between

Met, Accuweather and CARROT. I’ve got no idea who to trust. Certainly if it gets worse than that then I’m bailing. [wind blowing] I’m down to a last dribble of water. Do what I usually do which is I dither and

stop and take photographs. Which is what I’m doing now. But you know that scenery. But I have been route marching here and you know I’m hoping to get to Chanctonbury Ring today and then

depending on how long that takes I’ll take a view and also whether this biting wind just gets lost especially on the hills. If that’s here to stay I might bail and call that a day because

that’s pretty good going Cocking to Chanctonbury. I’d like to make it to Lewes. Lewes? That’s always kind of my entry point if I wasn’t going to be Eastbourne. But according to Google I’ll take me nine

hours. I’ve obviously stopped a few times but you know it would be a while before yeah that would be like six o’clock seven o’clock. Wouldn’t git me time back home to get any dinner.

What are those cows doing? Probably complaining about the wind which is a fair comment. So I’d better move on I’m getting cold. Yeah too much wind. You’re getting the cow chorus as well. There’s too much wind.

Yeah I’m glad to be out of that wind. Yeah to clarify. I don’t mind hiking in this weather. You know I’ve done cliff walking and you know I’m used to a breeze or two but I don’t like camping in this weather. You know if I find somewhere that’s really

sheltered fine but unfortunately all of the bits I found so far you could camp on. Have all been you know on the top of hills. Coppices on the top of hills. That kind of thing. Yay a tap.

There seems to be one every seven miles. The next one is seven miles of a bottle which is where I’m heading so I might bail before then. That’s brilliant. I didn’t know about the water taps

every seven miles or so. Maybe a false sense of security though. I’m still getting a whole load of water just in case I’m still getting two litres in case I change your mind about camping.

South Downs Way it says. Looking in the map I was like oh I you know there’s this big this is the A26 [actually A24] I think and oh there must be a tunnel. No you’re supposed to crosss this.

No tunnel no bridge. Remember that posh bridge at Amberley why can’t there be a posh bridge here? This is ridiculous. Ridiculous. This is a motorway. It should not be the South Downs Way crossing a motorway without a tunnel or a bridge.

I know in this part of the world they tend to call them A roads like the A3 there’s a motorway now they would name. Avoiding the A24. Well I just haven’t avoided A24. I would have loved

to avoid the A24. It wasn’t obvious how you were supposed to do that and although you’re avoiding A24 you just saw how someone just zoomed through here. It looks like there might have

been a different way. Maybe the way that I saw the path going off but there was no sign. You know at the OS map and the signs directing you down and you’re having to know about the

bridge further up. Well some other alternate route I didn’t know about. There’s nothing like having a merry scamper across a motorway. Yeah I forgot to mention it’s really strange. I asked a guy coming into Washington coming down the hill

where there was a tap and he was all dolled up because I wouldn’t ask a dog walker this question because dog walkers there are a lot of dog walkers along that route and there’s lots of dog

shit as well sadly. Well the cow shit you expect dog shit less so and people driving to walk their dogs which I find really bizarre concept. As you might have guessed I’m not a massive fan

of drivers and cars. This is the reason why I do these things. It’s the reason why I camp. The reason why because at some places it’s fairly hard to get to without camping or hiking. So that’s how I’ve gotten to hiking really. Without a car you can’t just drive there.

The drivers often have no concept of geography I’ve found. So this guy who’s you know he’s got the he’s got the hiking poles he’s got all the gear on. I asked him at the tap and he said

he didn’t know. Literally I’ll say about a mile later, a mile and a half later that’s where I hit the very very visible and signed tap. He’d driven there, not come along the actual South Downs Way had had come probably from the car park somewhere else from Washington

and come another route. I’ve not seen that because there’s anyone that’s hiking the South Downs Way they would know that he was there because they would have passed it and go oh yeah

there’s a tap there. So yeah I think a car hiker. There’s tunnels here. I’m sure you can’t camp in them. But yeah I’m not really doing urbex but yeah looks like most of them. Someone had blocked it up somewhere.

But yeah I’ve checked on the map and there’s two outs and given the weather it’s started to rain as well. It’s something else that wasn’t in the forecast! But it turns out that as I bus into

Worthing from this one, not only wonderful A24, I said A26 – A24. There is a another out at a place that’s got the South Downs Munchbox or something. Well yeah it’s a cabin

open to both. I don’t know if I’ll get there in time but the by there there’s another bus stop going into Shoreham-By-Sea so probably hid for that one. We’re on to the bit I actually

really want to do which is Chanctonbury Ring. I always wanted to visit and so I’m walking up it’s about well 1.4 miles from Washington. A lot of that seems to be uphill, a mile uphill.

A lot more people, a lot more hikers in this bit. I did actually go into Washington. I did a recce on the pub. The pub looks really good. I don’t really stock for pub meals which I can’t

record it but it’s very tempting and you’ve been camping out for a couple of days but at the end of the day I’m here to walk. Can’t afford it and it would take me several hours because the service is never that quick in those places. Always some reason why

your chips take half an hour or something. Yes but with views like this who needs food? I don’t know how many [miles I] have done today, must be at least five. That’s only my day but

and this pack is killing me. I think I’ll be come back here anyway. The landscape is so amazing but maybe on a day when it’s not gusting like 30 miles an hour and freezing cold. That might be a good idea. We’re at Chanctonbury Ring. There we are behind me hopefully.

We see why I don’t want to camp in this wind. A good job for stabilisation! It’s actually tilting the camera. It’s actually tilting this. There’s a tilt function. It’s so windy. It’s tilting it. That’s fine it’s going lopsided.

Yeah I think I made the right call. Not to camp right here. Not to camp. Yeah this is more like 40[mph]. This is more like 40. But such an amazing day. If this camera doesn’t blow away. Never mind, it’s only my phone!

The things I do for you lot. Well I probably do anyway. Seriously. Maybe there’s some shelter inside the ring. That’s mad. That’s mad isn’t it? How calm it is in here. I mean it’s… Those trees shouldn’t be enough shelter. Now this place has an interesting history.

Neolithic earthwork. Apparently Roman temple. Even someone tried to build to me on here and it didn’t last. Several ages of occupation or religious use. And yeah I can kind of see why it’s a special place. It’s nice to be out on wind.

I love Neolithic sites. I love what they stand for. The history and the old gods. And you know in another life I think if I’d been more of a believer I would be more pagan.

Bit too much of an atheist for that. You know it’s the old gods for me or none at all. So I feel a sort of kinship with these places. But yeah I’m not… I have a my moments but I’m generally I’m not interested in

jumping at shadows as I used to call them. But yeah I wouldn’t camp here. Even though you could or you can’t. You can’t officially but yeah. It’s a little ground you could. You might find how much things go bump in the night here.

Apparently weather changes are a big thing here as well. Sudden weather changes. Mist coming down. Rain coming down. There was… when I was walking on the chalk track I was like oh please don’t get

murdered because there was a murder here. Unsolved murder. I won the chalk roads of an old man. You know it’s kind of… there’s enough spooky stuff but… so although I don’t ascribe to any of it. I wouldn’t test my chances. That scenery.

But it’s a high likelihood this is all going to go wrong. There is a history of electronic devices not working here. [Music] [ART INTENSIFIES] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

Back in the garden what did I learn from my trip? Well the reason for the trip was to answer the question is it possible to wild camp on the South Downs Way and the answer was yes though it depends on

when and where you choose. The area around Cocking and Upwaltham, Graffham Down and that sort of area. Loads of choices you will not see anyone in November. I can’t guarantee that the rest of the time

but wonderfully quiet. I suspect you could actually wild camp there for days moving around and no one would see you. It was wonderfully quiet and remote whereas the area around Amberley or Botolphs and

you know that sort of area is less so, more farmland. You’d have to camp by the path which I always think is a bit cheesy, a bit dangerous. If anyone sees you you’d more like to be seen and

You do as a last resort. And you know there was little bits around Chanctonbury Ring, little coppices so but that leads me to the second point weather is random even if you do your research

and you check up on it they all disagree on wind strength and he was definitely gusting 40-50mph up in Chanctonbury Ring and as a lot of the places that I could wild camp were on hills it meant a lot of

windy flappy nights so I wasn’t really looking forward to that and I feel bad for bailing after two or three days, two nights but it got seriously cold waiting for the bus to Shoreham-By-Sea which

was my out point. I was going to record a video in the station but there’s loads of people and usual train chaos and everything so I decided that was not a good idea and today it’s apparently

going down to zero and I don’t have the kind of gear to go certainly not sub zero you know depending on place it could sometimes go lower than that and my gear is supposed to be for about five [degrees C]

and so I was pushing it at three [Centigrade] I was fine at three weirdly on the hill on Rackham Hill even with all that wind I was actually quite warm so I could probably go a bit lower but the

wind was the problem the wind strength and supposedly the one is do research. I did some research uh beforehand I knew about some people saying you know don’t wild camp on the south down so I

found at least a blog post saying that and a few other people saying that so I was like hmm let’s let’s go and test that I knew there were videos I think I watched briefly one of them uh about

actually doing it so I knew some people had done it so I wasn’t breaking virgin territory but it you know it was like can I do it and also you know what why are you people saying don’t do this

it wasn’t spotted on any of the on any of my camps but it’s perfectly possible I would say it’s more of a autumn spring or if you’re hard enough and pick your weather good enough or you have a bivvy

or something [in winter] that doesn’t require worrying about the wind I think summer might be a bit too crowded with people but you know maybe I’ll test that but I’m going to go back and go from

Shoreham-By-Sea Botolphs onwards to Eastbourne because that looks like a great walk and also the reverse from Cocking so I’ll go back to Cocking and do the Winchester bit but I think maybe in but whether that

isn’t uh so windy I could cope with the cold but that wind was just like no this is pushing what a Lanshan 2 can do Lanshan 2 is a great tent but they’re not good in high winds

they’re not what I’d recommend for high wind so maybe I might take my little Highlander or something although it’s a bit it’s heavier so you know I don’t know but if that warmer mattress turns up

from china and um maybe again I’ve got something else a lighter backpack which is in you know in a similar ‘we haven’t got it in stock yet’ hell so I don’t know if I’ll ever turn up but if that

does that will also help uh because having the big rucksack maybe very visibly hikerish and which didn’t help in places like Amberley it would be nice to have a backpack that’s lighter um that

would save some weight which I can then have more art gear! The other one is make sure you’ve got your camera or your phone charged up before you start this because this is the second re-record

I will probably edit from one to the other because the battery ran out I was walking down the hill towards Botolphs I was coming up to the what I called the pig prison pig stalag 17 there’s this pig farm

there and it stinks and also it’s all got these sort of electric fences and the little Nissen hut things it looks like something from a world war two film but looks like animal farm we’ll start

there uh yeah I ran out of battery power so that wasn’t great also I learned there are water taps every six seven miles releasing the stretch I was in although I couldn’t find the Botolphs one there

was apparently supposed to be a tap according to the one in Washington they’re supposed to be a tap but Botolphs but I couldn’t find it so a big help and I could have carried less water although

you know the problem is he’s knowing about these things obviously it’s not marked on the Ordnance Survey map and it’s not marked on and I’ve got a recent you know I was using the digital

app which doesn’t have a scale by the way that was part of the reason why I wasn’t sure how long I think it was too ambitious to just try and do Cocking to Eastbourne I did have a flexible end time

I’d set myself for sunday you know that was silly I don’t know why I thought I could do that but I thought it was 50 miles it must be more because I did about 26 I think under one and a half mile

detour into Amberley is something like that I need to kind of try and properly measure out the map it’s hard to measure the signs were saying 40 miles to Eastbourne so yeah it would have taken me

quite a few extra days and I could have gone onwards and done that and that was kind of planning I think I could have measured the distance a bit better I mean I had proprietary earlier

out points of Lewes and Falmer but I looked at google and it said oh you take nine hours to to walk that and I said well I can’t do that in one day so I could have I could have done Lewes

Eastbourne was too much of a push and also you know the weather made that impossible anyway as my other half is saying to go for like two day trips but I wanted to do longer trips but I

think it was too ambitious to try and do Cocking to Eastbourne as my first ever long trip it was just too far I think it would have been possible without that wind I was having problems with

sweat rashes and my shoulder so I think it was a good thing to stop it would have been a struggle so I think I do need to work up to the level I want to go for so next time three nights

you know I think that’s that’s wise I think I was being a bit over ambitious but I’m proud of what I did you know three days apparently doing a very hard place to wild camp and successfully doing so

for two nights and I think that’ll be the last trip of this year unless the weather gets a bit warmer or something like that it’s going to probably going to get colder I think in December

it’s getting colder I might have a little return to a secret location or something like that before then but otherwise I think I will call it a day until next year it’s supposed to be enjoying it

and I don’t think I would enjoy sub zero / zero camping at the moment so anyway I hope you enjoyed this I enjoyed this video and like and subscribe and I’ll see you in the next one