I'm having a rant............

about irresponsible wild campers!

I was walking from Auchallater back to Braemar after a spectacularly good walk up to Loch Phadruig. I'll post a report on this walk later - but for now I'm just horrified at what I saw!

The area beside the river on the A93 just out of Braemar on the way to Glenshee has been used as long as I can remember for wild camping. Not generally by backpackers but more often by car campers and motor caravans. I'm sure the litter was left by only a minority of these but it makes quite a big impact on the area.

I had only just been reading about the recent camping ban beside Loch Lomond and wondering how long it would be before other areas of Scotland were included. The right to responsible wild camping is enshrined in the Scottish Access Laws. It would be terrible if these rights were taken away because of the actions of a selfish minority.

The key to this is obviously the word 'responsible' and leaving any trace of your stay is contrary to this.

{Floating in the ditch....}

{A pile of rubbish}

Some of the rubbish I saw was too dreadful to describe but as you can see from the photos there was also more mundane stuff left behind. All along the river bank and in the water itself were plastic bottles, bags, tubs, boxes, and several old camping chairs.