A lovely wildcamping location just off the A85 alongside Loch Earn. For some reason they don’t see it as their job to take enforcement action – or rather I suspect they have been told by the Park’s senior management to do nothing. The people who chopped down trees should first have been prosecuted and second banned from ever being issued with a fishing permit again. Last Saturday, as part of a walk over hills east of Ben Vorlich, four of us walked through the South Loch Earn camping permit zone, the largest in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. I used to think alcohol bans were more justified than camping but now think this is another case of social injustice as there are already all the laws we need to deal with drunk and disorderly behaviour in public. Most were around Loch Earn, Loch Venachar and Loch Lubnaig. One cannot blame them – what a stupid rule! Very respectful of the bank fishers.
Many have been coming for years – there would have been a riot if the LLTNPA had tried to ban them – and the Ardvorlich Estate appears to support their presence, not least because of the income it derives from fishing permits. We heard from the campers that there had been one round of Ranger visits in the morning to check permits – that’s when some people applied for them online. From £7 per day for trout (£3 under 16s) – Boat hire 4hrs £21, 6hrs £26, 8hrs £31.
People were carrying felled off-cuts back down to the shore to burn.Now, I believe the way the provisions of the byelaws in respect of fires – collection of wood is an offence – is both wrong and is well nigh impossible for Rangers to enforce. Well, so would most people faced with the choice of a charge or a ban from staying in a place you have been visiting all your life. crossing from the East side in the dark two wild camp on the other side speeding boat don’t see me .I don’t know when I am goingI was planning to camp next weekend for the first time in loch earn in a good few years,after reading this I will be going elsewhere,I am a 53 year old seasoned camper and fisher and ALWAYS leave any site how I found it! – type police forces and the Park Ranger service should be allowed to return to its educational role, which should include leading by example. When out on the boat, mine own or Drummond fisheries, I’ve been shot at with pellet guns, had stones threw at me, abuse and threatened more often than not.
High on my priority list would be removal of litter – including Rangers encouraging campers and other visitors to take part in litter picks – and provision of wood for campfires. That doesn’t make the charge right – people are getting nothing for it except bureaucracy and intrusion – and of course what is likely to happen is that sometime in the next year or so a report goes up to the LLTNPA Board explaining openly for the first time the enormous enforcement costs and suggesting these should be recovered from campers. Loch and River Fishing in Central Scotland Enjoy fishing in The Trossachs, Loch Tay, Loch Achray, Loch Lubnaig, Loch Earn and Loch Venachar. Who would want to sleep right next door to the toilet tent?The most obvious failure in terms of enforcement however were campfires (as in photos above), which were everywhere, and in a number of cases clearly breached the byelaws.While a number of campers had brought their own wood, others were collecting it locally – an offence under the byelaws. Now, I am not disputing caravan parks meet a demand – the Leisure Park is enormous and it would appear more people go there than to camp – but in terms of connecting with nature, what offers the better experience, staying in a chalet or camping by the loch shore? The Park Ranger service drive by these signs, which are contrary to access rights and go beyond anything agreed by the byelaws, every day. It would be far better use of Rangers time to spend a small portion of it providing wood to campers than checking up on permits.When I am kayaking for 2 or 3 days and it get dark my life is now in danger on Loch Lomond . The campers had then received a visit from the water bailiff, checking that those fishing had fishing permits. Yes, there were a few beer bottles out – we were offered a couple after helping a child to swing from an old rope hanging off an oak tree – but people were fishing, using their ingenuity and natural materials to construct shelters, socialising, cooking on the camp fire, foraging for wood (a criminal offence now under the byelaws), taking a short walk up into the woods to find a place to have a crap, out for walks. An intrusion into our freedom to enjoy the outdoors, an attempt to bureaucratise the experience in the name of social control. I don’t envy the Rangers who are tasked with sending these people away.
