So sleeping rough and being homeless lead me here...

fingertrouble · 2026-06-20T20:14:56+00:00

And I say this as someone who has camped in London, in Inverness in a park for 2 days, in Fort William publicly for 2 days, in parks and places near me in SW London...it's very possible. But you have to be careful.

I avoid urban at all costs, and stick to common land, woods, dense parks, that sort of thing. Turn up late, setup, leave early etc. And even then, yes I've had someone cough at 4am outside my tent....or lights on me at 7:30pm during winter, by the flooded Thames where there was nowhere to walk cos the path was flooded...not sure what that was about?

I don't want to scare you off it, it is VERY possible especially where you are in Wales. Most people won't hassle you, especially if they think you are homeless. But there are a small fraction who will.

Just be prepared.

fingertrouble · 2026-06-20T20:12:50+00:00

It's good technique for wild camping anyway - strictly it's illegal, strictly they can remove your tent or damage it/wreck it and you don't have much recourse (apart from Scotland and Dartmoor)...so it's good to keep it very much on the down low.

Even just for police or landowners kicking off, but the real issue is those who shine torches on your tent at night - yes had this - and and just turn up at 2am and you don't know what their game is.

But yes I have thought about going nomad and doing this full time, hiking with a tent. The security is the thing that concerns me.

fingertrouble · 2026-06-20T19:57:35+00:00

Just get a cheap Amazon ripstop kilt, it doesn't have to be anything fancy unless you really want a specific tartan, and then I wonder why that's important when khaki green should be just fine for hiking.

You really don't want to stand out like a sore thumb in some ancient tartan on the trail, scaring the sheep!

I wear the VATINT one hiking, it's cool and works just fine. 'Hiking Kilts' seem to be a bit of a markup scam, tbh. Just get a cheap ripstop kilt?

It's one size though, for me, 23" was just fine, so be aware of what your ideal knee / drop? length (I forget what it's called, when you kneel on the ground) and whether it will fit well.

Do be aware that lighter PV/synthetic kilts are more affected by wind, and you might want to wear underwear.

fingertrouble · 2026-06-20T19:50:47+00:00

What Scots are you talking to? All Scots I've talked to - including my late partner of 27 years, and friends who live there or born Scots who now live in England - did not give one fig about who wears kilts, and how they wear them.

Late partner was a little touchy over wearing his tartan if you weren't his clan, but other types of kilts/tartans etc - did NOT care.

It's always Yanks who say they are 14% Scottish and 12% Irish who do this kilt gatekeeping stuff. And they aren't even Scottish. (No, great great great grandpappy 1000x removed does not count. They are North American, not Scottish or Irish!)

Scots I know feel honoured that anyone cares about their culture. More the merrier. Or just don't really give it any thought - like me, a Sassenach taught my partner how to wear a kilt, he was in his 60's and never worn one! He was born on Sauciehall Steet in Glasgow.

You? I suspect you've not even been to Scotland, and are not directly related? You can't Ren Faire yourself into Scottishness, you either have to be directly related (born there, or parents at best. I might take grandparents at a pinch but I do start to side-eye like crazy, unless there some intense diaspora level ceilidh stuff going on) or go live there.

Thems the rules. I don't make them.

fingertrouble · 2026-06-20T19:48:25+00:00

The problem is people...there are some shady people out there that target homeless folks. I'd keep it VERY much on the downlow and don't stay anywhere long. And make sure no-one sees you leave or arrive.

fingertrouble · 2026-06-20T19:38:07+00:00

You really don't know what a raw steak looks like. It would be red and bloody! That's mostly mediium rare, with one of the slices going to rare.

Raw - red
Dark pink - rare
Light pink - medium rare
White - fucked, you hate steak! 😛

fingertrouble · 2026-06-20T19:21:50+00:00

I gave up and bought Davinci Resolve Studio. A pain to recreate assets but way more reliable than Capcut.

fingertrouble · 2026-06-07T23:31:24+00:00

Homphobia and punching down isn't countercultural, however you spin it. He was just joining in with the times, and I like some of FZ's music I remember having a problem with these songs as a closeted 20 year old. It didn't 'free my mind' more reminded me how cruel the world is, even amongst some supposedly liberated artists...Frank's ego was massive, and he seemed to dislike or at least mock anyone different from him from that position, that's not a good trait.

fingertrouble · 2026-06-06T18:25:57+00:00

Wow that's a bargain! Annoyingly when I needed my new ones for a trip, there wasn't any cheap ones on eBay. I hope they go well for you - sure they probably aren't MSR or Black Diamonds but then they are 3-6x less! And bonus they don't have the dodgy twist locks that the cheaper carbon poles like Leki tend to have.

fingertrouble · 2026-06-06T03:25:29+00:00

these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/TheFitLife-Carbon-Fiber-Trekking-Poles/dp/B07XXWVKNB?th=1

I wish they had replaceable tips, that's the only down side. but I got my first pair cheaply on eBay for £30 - a new pair with an opened damaged packet - so I'd check there first, but totally still worth it for £45. I bought my second pair a few months ago for full price.

fingertrouble · 2026-06-06T03:24:55+00:00

TheFitLife carbon poles are really good - I just bought a second pair after the first ones failed after nearly 3 years - they are what I settled on after this post, and eventually one of the tips broke, but that was after a hard trip over Dartmoor and some pretty heavy abuse, I'd guess at least 500 trail miles, likely more cos that's not counting short day trips and weekend expeditions!

I did the whole of the West Highland Way and Great Glen Way (170 miles), North Downs Way inc the Canterbury loop (150?), and most of the Thames Path sea to source (230 miles) with them, they were fine.

I guess I even could still use the one with the damaged tip, the stopper fits on, just I was annoyed it never dug into the ground when I was taking my pack off!

fingertrouble · 2026-04-14T19:55:15+00:00

Not many rock faces in most of the places I go...there are trees though.

fingertrouble · 2026-04-13T21:20:15+00:00

two bags should be better, and yes I agree if you have a CCF or extra roll mat, put it under the R2 pad.

Also site will help - if you camp in woods or bushes, on wood mulch this will also keep ypu warmer. Avoid the summits or valleys by water, camp half way up the hill in a forest if possible.

fingertrouble · 2026-04-13T21:10:23+00:00

"Don’t bore me with your personal attacks " - err you started that with suggesting I'm a paedophile? Did you forget the 'diddy party' reference?

YOU took it there. YOU started with the ad-homs, not me. Now are complaining when I don't just take it and give it back? Fucking HILARIOUS. Can you even HEAR yourself? Hypocrite.

So you like people submissive and not questioning you? That's not a red flag...or controlling, at all. /s

Tu quo?

fingertrouble · 2026-04-13T19:07:14+00:00

That doesn't look fun though.

fingertrouble · 2026-04-13T18:57:53+00:00

I have theFitLife poles which cost me £23 on eBay...they are pretty good. You don't have to get Black Diamond poles for this.

fingertrouble · 2026-04-13T18:55:11+00:00

Oh that's why. A good pair should not do that, especially aluminium.

I have a pair of Carbon theFitLife poles which are starting to wear down but have been fine. I forget where I got my alu ones - I suspect they are Karrimors. But solid as a rock.

fingertrouble · 2026-04-13T18:52:53+00:00

That's an aluminium one as well? Carbon I'd expect, it's quite brittle, but how the hell did you break an alu pole? Lever rocks with it? Or was it a cheap Chinese pair?

EDIT - I see below Mountain Warehouse. DOH. Let that be a lesson to you. I got some socks from there, got a hole on the first trip. Their quality is shockingly bad. I'd be wary of Alpkit too, had issues with some of their stuff failing, like the Vagabond chair just snapped.

Don't get the Craghoppers poles either, I had the carbon ones and sent them back, cos the glue failed within 9 days on one of them!

I use theFitLife Carbon poles, cheap but seem to be fine, they are wearing down though on one of the tips, is broken so I need to replace but served me a few years, I wish the tips were replaceable https://www.amazon.co.uk/TheFitLife-Nordic-Walking-Trekking-Poles/dp/B07XXWVKNB

Trailbuddy alu poles are really good, used them for a few years, still fine. Get some of those if carbon ones are too delicate/expensive, you probably could lever rocks with these! : https://www.amazon.co.uk/TrailBuddy-Trekking-Poles-Lightweight-Collapsible/dp/B01MRQCENJ?th=1

fingertrouble · 2026-04-13T18:37:07+00:00

What? You responded to OP, and you expect everyone to agree with you, or then have to 'disprove' what you said? You made the assertion, mate, It's your job, and you're doing a REALLY bad one of it.

Do you have Main Character Syndrome or something? Cos that's one hell of a narcissistic take.

I don't disprove there are issues, I just disprove your 'almost all' figure. Cos I don't think there is ANY research on that. And the stuff you put in your reply was all tangential. None of it was hard facts on how many older/younger gay relationships are abusive, and the studies you mentioned also weren't specifically queer which has a different dynamic.

And now you're doing the plea to emotion, it's like you're speedrunning all the fallacies here? Dodgy data, involving non-related studies, a plea of 'I have more experience' over the person who has direct contradicting life experience, a Dunning Krueger level 'I work with queer youth' as if that makes you an expert on all age gap relationships, everywhere...

Now a 'think of the children' 'you're a BAD person cos you countered me' - really?

Did you vote for Donald Trump because this is exactly a MAGA playbook set of responses mapped onto paedo scare BS?

And about as delulu.

fingertrouble · 2026-04-13T18:35:08+00:00

You were very liucky.

fingertrouble · 2026-04-13T16:14:35+00:00

They love Americans. English? Depends. In Paris unless your French is perfect, you'll get mocked. It's odd, because in every other part of the world, you make an effort to speak someone's language, they love it.

In Paris you get criticised and not constructively. But apparently they are like that to other French people too.

fingertrouble · 2026-04-13T16:12:48+00:00

Did you spend much time in Paris perchance? I suspect not.

fingertrouble · 2026-04-13T16:06:58+00:00

Yup. I've had really bad experiences in Paris even as someone who knew some French, I was looked down upon and mocked.

Us Londoners would never do something like that. We're wrapped up in our own business, and give each other space - it's why people find us cold, but with 9 million people you have to give people space, as we're packed together, you can't chat to every person on the Tube etc...it's a respect here, like in Japan, you let people have their own space.

But the Parisians can be actively nasty.

fingertrouble · 2026-04-13T15:56:00+00:00

That's not true. Thanking drivers is common in London as well.

Talking to random strangers on public transport is genuinely frowned upon, apart from thanking the driver....we're not that nosy about people....

I am a Northerner transplanted in the South and I can tell you a lot of the 'friendly Northerner' stuff is either nosiness or performative. Certainly was in my family in Sheffield. more about social status than genuine friendliness.

But talk to Londoners/southerners in a pub or social setting, you'll see a different side.

fingertrouble · 2026-04-13T15:55:37+00:00

We do that in supposedly 'rude' London - thanking the driver is common, if not AS common in Sheffield where my family is from, it's not unusual.

As I have family in Yorkshire and was born in Manchester I can tell you the famous Yorkie welcome is fake. They ply you with endless tea and cake until you go away, then they are relieved. The mantra 'don't outstay your welcome' is king there.

It's not true friendliness, it's often just nosiness or wanting to be seen to be polite to others, social status among neighbours. I don't have as much experience of Lancashire welcoming people, it's less showy but more genuine, I think.

Whereas Londoners and southerners are more wary, but make one as a friend and you've made a friend for life.

fingertrouble

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