HH I know you know what you meant but I'm going to be a little bit nerdy and pedantic because sometime in the future someone else will read this thread and may misinterpret it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Highland Haggis
But everyone is entitled to travel and roam as long as they clean up and abide by the rules sometimes they just forget or just don’t care attitude then this forces locals and councils to take harsher measures which impacts on everyone.
HH
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I think actually the problem is not forgetting or not caring - its selectively picking the bits of the access code that suit and ignoring the bits they don't like. e.g. The right to responsible access across access land (and freshwater over access land) do not extend to motorised transport; The provision in the access code, for "wild camping" is for "lightweight camping" as part of exercising access rights - so its not about driving to a layby camping next to your car and driving off the next day; its also not about campervans nor the sort of camping that involves carrying slabs of beer to and from the car, or generators and gheto blasters and the access code says camp away from roads and buildings.
Importantly for anyone organising trips like this in the future, whilst one or two boats and one or two tents are likely to be fine in lots of places groups of half a dozen boats and similar numbers of tents are likely to find it harder to find suitable spots and risk being told to move along unless pre-agreed as HH has done. There's also the possibility that you turn up and there's already a bunch of walkers, cyclists, kayakers in that spot and you might want a contingency plan.
The Scottish Government have made it easier for council's and landowners to make temporary arrangements for campsites and "aires" for campervans. FCS (the Forestry Commission)
have taken a sensible approach to campervan parking in their car parks but unfortunately, we haven't seen many new provisions being made outside Highland Council area. I think that's a real shame, but not really a surprise from my interactions with local authorities who are using Covid as an excuse not to do things, rather than a reason to do things differently.
Of course whilst some might welcome tourists (especially tourists that spend money!) others are still wary as The Gurnard highlighted. I had some really encouraging chats with people in very remote places last week who were much more open than they were reported to be the year before because of vaccinations - but these are areas where (1) an influx of even responsible tourists causes problems with accessing basic local facilities - a three-week delay to book a ferry journey from some of the islands to the mainland; parking problems for old people going to the shops; erosion on paths/tracks that they maintain; (2) the nearest hospital is several hours away; (3) for 6-9 months of the year weather etc make it a though life and the tourists aren't swarming in then.
It requires some give and take and common sense - and talk of "entitlement" is probably not helpful for rebuilding the trust in remote communities about the downsides visitors bring.
Finally, just a little plea for those of you coming from south of the border*... mask-wearing is pretty much still a normal thing up here in any enclosed public space. Compliance on the CalMac Ferry last weekend was pretty variable, with some people putting them on when specifically told to do so by staff (apparently all the signs and tannoy announcements had gone unnoticed!) but removing them once the staff were out of sight. The large family from Reading who loudly proclaimed that "I thought we had got rid of this nonsense" and "well I'll just eat the whole journey so I don't need to" and "the children [teenagers] don't have to wear them at school anymore" (FYI they do in Scotland!) did little for cross border relations or indeed tourist-local relations last week! They might not work, they may be a sweaty hassle, but if it's making Old Mrs MacIver feel slightly more comfortable for her weekly trip to the shops or her first trip back to the mainland - shut up and cooperate.
*I may be wrongly assuming that this was linked to a difference in rules between Scotland and England, and it was just a coincidence that the unmasked accents I hear were from the South. I'm under no illusions that mask compliance in the rougher parts of Scotland is not perfect either - and the same thoughts apply if you are going to rural areas with an older population with few options to avoid you.
