Why Wild Camping from a Canoe Deserves Extra Care

There is a particular kind of quiet that comes from pulling your boat up a shingle beach at dusk, somewhere no road can reach. It is also, often, the most fragile kind of place: a loch shore, a sandbank on a slow river, an island in the middle of a broad. These are small, self-contained habitats, and they heal slowly from a boot print, a fire scar or a scatter of food. Leave No Trace isn't about denying yourself a good night's sleep. It is about planning the pitch as carefully as you plan the tide or the portage, so the next paddler finds the same place untouched.

Know Where You Are Allowed to Pitch

Rules vary across the UK, and a little homework saves awkward conversations.

• Scotland: under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 and the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, lightweight wild camping is a right on most unenclosed land, including loch shores, provided you stay small, stay brief and leave no trace. Camping management zones around Loch Lomond and the Trossachs require a permit between March and September, and some areas ban fires outright.
• England and Wales: there is no general right to wild camp. On most rivers and lakes, pitch only with the landowner's permission or use a proper campsite. Asking a farmer politely at the end of the day works better than you might expect.
• Canals, navigations and broads: mooring overnight is not the same as camping. Check the relevant navigation authority's byelaws before you unroll a bivvy bag on the towpath.
• Parks and reserves: many have their own bylaws and seasonal restrictions. Read the signage and check tide tables before committing to a sandbank.

Choosing a Discreet Pitch That Recovers by Morning

Camp on ground that is already bare, hard or well drained: gravel, shingle, rock or well-worn ground. Grass and moss take years to bounce back, and fragile habitats — machair, dunes, blanket bog, saltmarsh, reedbeds — are easily wrecked by a single tent. Pitch above the high-water mark and well back from the edge, where banks are less likely to crumble and a sudden rise in river levels won't catch you out. Keep the group small, stay one night, and avoid anywhere that looks tended. Don't dig drainage trenches, don't move stones to make a flat spot, and don't break branches for a groundsheet. Islands deserve special caution: many are nesting sites, and some are reserves where landing is discouraged entirely. If you can see houses, roads or other campers, look elsewhere.

Waste, Water and Washing Up

Everything you bring, you carry out — including the things that don't feel like rubbish.

• Human waste: the best option is to carry it out in a sealed bag or a purpose-made solid waste bag. Where that isn't possible, dig a small hole 15–20cm deep, at least 30 metres from any water and well away from paths, then bury it. Carry out the toilet paper: burning it is a fire risk and rarely works.
• Washing: do it 30 metres back from the water, in a bowl, using as little biodegradable soap as you can. Strain the water and put the food bits in your rubbish bag rather than tipping them into the loch.
• Rubbish: double-bag it and take the small stuff too — bottle tops, tea bag tags, orange peel, fishing line, torn corners of packets. Orange peel can take years to break down and is not "natural" in a fragile habitat.
• Food storage: seal food overnight. Otters, pine martens, mice and gulls are inventive, and a raided bag becomes scattered litter.

Fires, Stoves and Leaving No Scars

A stove is almost always the better choice: fast, controllable and leaving nothing behind. If you do have a fire, use an established ring, keep it small, burn only dead and fallen wood, and check for fire bans first — they are common in dry spells and in some managed zones. Never cut live wood, never ring a fire with stones prised from a riverbank, and never leave it unattended. Before you sleep and before you leave, douse it with water, stir the ashes and feel the ground with the back of your hand. If it's warm, it isn't out. Take the ash away with your rubbish where you can. Where fires are forbidden, don't improvise with a disposable barbecue — the scorch mark outlives the trip.

Wildlife, Biosecurity and the Final Sweep

Give animals room. Nesting birds, otters with cubs, seals hauled out on a sandbank and moulting geese are all easily disturbed, particularly at dawn and dusk. Keep your distance, keep voices low, and never land on an island that is clearly busy with birds. Don't feed anything, and don't leave scraps that draw predators towards nests.

Before moving to a new river or loch, check, clean, dry your boat, paddles, boots and anything else that has been in the water. Invasive species such as signal crayfish, killer shrimp and Himalayan balsam travel on damp kit, and a single day's paddling can move them into a new catchment. Then, before you push off, do a slow sweep of the pitch: a lap of the tent area, the fire site and the waterline, looking for pegs, litter, hair bands and forgotten spaghetti. Leave the place so that the only clue you were there is a flattened patch of gravel that the next rain will wash clean.