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It's an awesome right. As a Finn I always find it really weird when visiting places outside Nordic Countries that for them most of the country is unaccessible

It's an awesome right. As a Finn I always find it really weird when visiting places outside Nordic Countries that for them most of the country is unaccessible.

k__ 12y ago
In Germany we don't got this right, but seldom I have been prohibited from "roaming" the landside. But we aren't allowed to put a tent anywhere and sleep in it, which is rather sad. A friend of mine went on a hiking holiday in Scotland and he told me, he just walked till he was tired, put his tent up on the next green spot and slept there.
- arethuza 12y ago
  As an aside, here in Scotland you quite often don't even need to put up a tent - there are houses/huts in a lot of wild locations, known as bothies, that are completely free to use: http://www.mountainbothies.org.uk/ http://www.mountainbothies.org.uk/
- sliverstorm 12y ago
  we aren't allowed to put a tent anywhere and sleep in it, which is rather sad Probably connected to the risk that squatter's rights poses to the land owner... not that pitching a tent for a night is a serious risk, but squatter's rights really encourages that kind of culture.
  - k__ 12y ago
    Yes, owning land is a big problem in all countries.
  - jakobsen 12y ago
    Not knowing anything about squatter's rights (or law in general), shouldn't it be possible to just create a law putting whatever limits we want on camping WITHOUT the need for it to be completely forbidden? I am just now in a place where free camping is not allowed, but the local authorities interpret the law as: "no tents between dawn and dusk". I wish that was put into a written law.
    - sliverstorm 12y ago
      The key item of squatter's rights is that if a squatter occupies land with the land-owner's knowledge for a number of years, the land now legally belongs to the squatter. One night of camping is not years, but squatter's rights certainly encourages land-owners to be ever-strict about visitors to their land.
jakobsen 12y ago
Only 7% of the land in Finland and Sweden is Agricultural land, compared to 70% in the UK, so it's no wonder that the countryside is much more inaccessible. That being said, there's a lot more that could be done, such as allowing kayaks into rivers and lakes without so many unreasonable limitations and/or paperwork.

It's an awesome right. As a Finn I always find it really weird when visiting places outside Nordic Countries that for them most of the country is unaccessible.

k__ 12y ago

In Germany we don't got this right, but seldom I have been prohibited from "roaming" the landside. But we aren't allowed to put a tent anywhere and sleep in it, which is rather sad. A friend of mine went on a hiking holiday in Scotland and he told me, he just walked till he was tired, put his tent up on the next green spot and slept there.

arethuza 12y ago
As an aside, here in Scotland you quite often don't even need to put up a tent - there are houses/huts in a lot of wild locations, known as bothies, that are completely free to use: http://www.mountainbothies.org.uk/ http://www.mountainbothies.org.uk/
sliverstorm 12y ago
we aren't allowed to put a tent anywhere and sleep in it, which is rather sad Probably connected to the risk that squatter's rights poses to the land owner... not that pitching a tent for a night is a serious risk, but squatter's rights really encourages that kind of culture.
- k__ 12y ago
  Yes, owning land is a big problem in all countries.
- jakobsen 12y ago
  Not knowing anything about squatter's rights (or law in general), shouldn't it be possible to just create a law putting whatever limits we want on camping WITHOUT the need for it to be completely forbidden? I am just now in a place where free camping is not allowed, but the local authorities interpret the law as: "no tents between dawn and dusk". I wish that was put into a written law.
  - sliverstorm 12y ago
    The key item of squatter's rights is that if a squatter occupies land with the land-owner's knowledge for a number of years, the land now legally belongs to the squatter. One night of camping is not years, but squatter's rights certainly encourages land-owners to be ever-strict about visitors to their land.

jakobsen 12y ago

Only 7% of the land in Finland and Sweden is Agricultural land, compared to 70% in the UK, so it's no wonder that the countryside is much more inaccessible. That being said, there's a lot more that could be done, such as allowing kayaks into rivers and lakes without so many unreasonable limitations and/or paperwork.