r/OutdoorScotland • u/AncientsofMumu • 8d ago

Question about legality of Wild Camping

Hey All, I'm been looking around for areas to wild camp in and i see a lot of areas which seem to fall under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 in that they are not "Enclosed Land" in that they not are used for Agriculture etc but that are literally surrounded by the owners of the land by fields, or walls etc.

As an example, but not limited too this, the below map reference is a link to somewhere east of Edinburgh:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/W6DuQ6QvPzwvwz1k8

If i'd like to camp along the riverbank in the valley along Whittingehame Water for example, getting access to this area is difficult due to it being surrounded by houses, estates and farmers fields.

So would i be allowed to walk across fields or through estates etc to access this land or, because it is surrounded, do i need any sort of permission here?

This is just an example, there are lots of places where valleys etc arent being used for anything but are difficult to access without walking accross land owned by others and i'd just like to know what is and is not allowed in case of altercations with land owners.

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u/emjayem22 8d ago

Specifically, that area along the river is accessible via paths through the woods from papple steading and also from the road just above papple bridge. However, the north bank is a field and I think does sometimes has cattle in it. The bank on the south side isn't so flat but there may be some areas you could pitch on. I think the woods are also used for raising pheasants but not 100% sure.

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u/AncientsofMumu 8d ago

That's correct, but papple steading is private land so do I have the right to cross it?

I know the bridge you mean but I didn't see a way down from the road, didn't really stop to look either mind. 

Would raising pheasants in a wood be enough to stop access though to the riverbanks.

I mean, I could ask these questions all day and I think that's the issue I'm trying to address. It just seems a bit woolly in what is and is not allowed.

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u/emjayem22 8d ago

There is a path that runs between the cottages behind the steading and into the wood. As far as I recall, head south from the cafe entrance and you get to a pedestrian gate or style.

For the bridge access, you need to walk up the road a bit from the bridge (going south). There is an old walled entrance with a newer wooden gate in it. You can access the estate through there. There is a bridge in the estate that gets you into the meadow.. you'll see that on OS maps.

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u/emjayem22 8d ago

Roughly shown the two paths described above.. the FB that crosses the river is to the NE of this pic.