Is there any true wilderness left in the UK, where one can camp/build a cabin, fish, and hunt animals? If not, what's the closest place to Britain where one can do those things?
>>2095 Not the UK, but last time I checked the Canadians were still offering settlement grants for the Yukon. They were quite generous and it would literally be a case of throwing up a cabin and living in it.
That whole region west of Lyon in southern France (with the volcanoes and that) is almost completely devoid of people, you could walk dozens of miles and not see any sign of recent human activity.
With more and more young people from the region moving to the cities, the French government even pay people to move there and use the land.
Though you won't have electricity or internet or running water.
i'm serious, there's nothing. i've looked into this extensively. i've even considered moving to fucking pripyat, for the masses of empty buildings and surprisingly abundant wildlife.
just take a look at the satellite view of the uk, on google maps, there's naff all, anywhere. just the same old towns, cities, and tiny woodland areas, most if not all of which are either filled with hikers and dog walkers, and insufficiently laden with foodages to sustain human life.
you're gonna do that 9-5 for life, unless you bugger off to somewhere with masses of unoccupied and natural space, like Canada, Russia, China.
besides, it's illegal to hunt, illegal to piss/shit in a public place, illegal to erect any manner of shelter without the local authority's permission, and you need a cockload of knowledge about the local flora, in order to avoid snuffing yourself on something toxic.
there's one place i was semi-intrigued by, it's in scotland, has caves to live in, is by the sea... rich with limpets, crabs, seaweed and other nommable goodies, but i can't remember the name. Apple-something. applewood? applecreek? iuno.
If you wanna 'get off the grid' and escape the lifetime of cubicle slavery, you're gonna have to naff off somewhere outside of our piddly little island.
i did read about one dude who refuses to have anything to do with money. he lives in a caravan which he got for free, works on a farm 2 days a week in exchange for food, and seems very happy with his hippy-esque lifestyle... but i'm gonna guess that he's single, and will be for a long time. oh, and he's fucked when he's too old to look after himself.
No, and it's a good thing. If there was, every disenchanted 20-something in the south of England would trek up there with £40 worth of awful camping gear, an SAS survival manual, their copy of into the wild and walden and it'd be wrecked within 6 months. All the animals would be dead or limping around with cheap pistol crossbow bolts sticking out of them, the forest would be filled full of dismal, sub-Sudanese standard hovels, rubbish and poorly buried shitty toilet paper, and the rescue services would have a full time job saving idiots, who, like mccandless, don't have a fucking clue what they're doing.
Really, you're going to have a hard time finding "wilderness" where you can actually live properly anywhere. The planet is a very crowded place, and there's usually very good reasons why some places don't have people living there, i.e, it's fucking horrible and life there is unbearable for almost everyone.
I don't think I should start a new thread, so I will just ask here. Where can I go in the UK to see the real sky at night? Without the light pollution, etc.
>>2108 Scottish Northern Isles if you have both the means and fortitude to get there. Failing that,I've seen some fantastic night sky's in the l district, especially in the fells at night if you are into that sort of thing.
>>2103 Alaska is good in the summer, but hostile to life in the winter. They have about 3 roads or something in a state as large as the mainland US. They all own those little singe engine prop planes that land on water to get a about.
The US gov will pay residents a few thousand dollars to stay over winter. Otherwise everyone would just fuck off to California when the tourist season finishes (most do anyway).
>>2108 If you're not an astronomer, pretty much anywhere. I live rurally and I came down to uni and my housemate says 'the stars here are gorgeous', there's fucking nothing there. He's lived in central london his entire life though.
For the casual observer a few miles out of a city is all you need.
>>2111 I own a small telescope which I use for a bit of star gazing. Sometimes I'll drive 10 minutes out of town and the sky is infinitely clearer. Only if there's a special event on, like a meteor shower, which isn't at 4am in the bloody morning.
I also use my telescope to observe goings on in my neighbourhood.
Not to hijack, but if anyone can direct me to information about land/settlement grants in Alaska/Canada/anywhere Northern and snowy I'd greatly appreciate it.
Something like that would basically make my life plans about a decade or two of work lighter.
Apparently, the level of light pollution there is so low, the only way you can get any darker is by being in a cave or something. So it's brilliant for stargazers
Being realistic is miserable? I've been to supposed wilderness in Canada and the states, and it was full of rubbish, maniacs shooting stuff and half-arsed shelters.
And the point stands, if it's uninhabited and not privately owned or state land like a national park, there's usually a very good reason why no-one lives there.
While I can't say anything for the UK, I can suggest one location that has beautiful night skies that are almost untainted by city lights: The heart of rural Texas.
It's a thing of beauty, I will say that much.
Cheers from the other side of the pond, by the way.
I was shocked how inexpensive some private islands are to buy. The type with no sewage, electricity etc. can cost less than a house. It's still very far out of my league. I'm not sure there are mortgages for things like that.
I remember reading about it in a book about the most polluted place in the world. There are some squatters living there and it's so under-occupied some environmental groups have released a rare type of reindeer to live and breed there. (or something, that's from memory but wildlife definitely is thriving.)
My parents live near Elgin which is inbetween Aberdeen and Inverness but at least an hour's drive from either. You could see stars incredibly clearly there. I used to go for a walk for about an hour a night and see a shooting star most nights.
Quite an old bump but I've seen the Yukon brought up again recently. While I've found news articles regarding settlement grants I've never found any further information on how much is offered, or how people apply. Where do you check?
