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Boat of Garten camping??

I have just phoned Boat of Garten camp site to try to book for one night and been told that they are fully booked till October! I explained about the TGO Challenge and that I only wanted one night, and was curtly told again that they are fully booked till October. Has anyone else had this experience? Anyone know of any good wild camping spots within a couple of miles of B of G?

Re: Boat of Garten camping??

Hi Kirsten! Not sure about wild camping round there, there's a lot of farms and crofts so quite a lot of farm stock. You could try along the Speyside Way through the woods, but it's a busy (dog) walking area, so likely not peaceful. There's The Lazy Duck hostel/campsite at Nethy Bridge a little further on. There's a reasonable wild camp at Sluggan Bridge too, but that might be too early/not on your route. The hostel at Boat is also unavailable, closed for their holidays, I already tried (cheek I thought).
Someone else may know better.

Re: Boat of Garten camping??

Hi Louise,

Many thanks for this information. I know the area reasonably well and so the shortage of discrete wild camping spots. I'm coming through Sluggan, which would be a bit early to stop, and guess I'll have to push on to camp at the Lazy Duck. I'm needing to leave a food parcel for myself (and will need a decent shower by then) so I have sent the Lazy Duck and enquiry. Thanks for your suggestions.

Re: Boat of Garten camping??

Sound to me like that is a lot of Hors d'oeuvres (Horse ****) and they just don't want any smelly old Challengers making their campsite untidy.

I could of course be wrong, but I have NEVER heard of a campsite being booked every day for 6 months.

I bet if you turned up in a posh car they'd find you a pitch.

According to their site they have

Tent pitches 37 £7.00-£11.00

So, every one of those pitches is booked every day from may to October!

Really?

Re: Boat of Garten camping??

That's just why I posted the news; totally ridiculous to think they are fully booked for camping till October and I didn't say anything about the TGOC at first pass, just asked if they had space for me for that one night. I was also interested to hear if any other challengers had used the site, had planned to go there this year, etc.

Re: Boat of Garten camping??

Hi Kirsten,
I stayed there once about five years ago. It is a huge site, mainly caravans, but quite a large area for tents. There are no fixed pitches, so I find it difficult to understand how they could say they were full - never mind for six months! When I was there, the couple in front of me at check in had problems trying to get through to the lady at the desk that they were camping - she was convinced they wanted a residential caravan. Maybe you suffered a similar misunderstanding?
Anyway, I think it is definitely a blessing in disguise - the Lazy Duck is a MUCH nicer place and the people there are just lovely.

Re: Boat of Garten camping??

I agree that the Lazy Duck is a great place but they do limit the number of tents they accept in order to reduce the impact on the grass so you may be well-advised to book in advance. That said, I just turned up on the middle Saturday in 2012 and when they realised that I'd walked in they said that they would always find space for a non-car-camper..... and then they brought me a pot of mint tea and some dates!

Nice place.

Re: Boat of Garten camping??

Kirsten Paterson
Hi Louise,

Many thanks for this information. I know the area reasonably well and so the shortage of discrete wild camping spots. I'm coming through Sluggan, which would be a bit early to stop, and guess I'll have to push on to camp at the Lazy Duck. I'm needing to leave a food parcel for myself (and will need a decent shower by then) so I have sent the Lazy Duck and enquiry. Thanks for your suggestions.

I think we could be bumping in to each other...10% disc. for walking in to the Lazy Duck 😁

Re: Boat of Garten camping??

Kirsten,

Was last at the site on a pre-Challenge warm up two years ago. Even then the provisions for camping were pretty poor. The site had largely been turned into a touring and static caravan park but I was told at the time that part of their permit to operate the site obliged them to maintain a specific number of tent pitches. That said it was a question of scratching around to find a reasonable spot between caravans and on poor ground and all in all not nice, unlike on several previous occasions when it was fine with a dedicated tent area. For a wild pitch you could try the open ground on the Spey Way where they(SSE?) have been removing electricity pylons which used to do a 90 degree turn at roughly NH970195. Not exactly a very private area and you will have to take water there with you.

regards,

Colin

Re: Boat of Garten camping??

Many thanks, Colin, Emma and Judith for your replies. I've now booked a space at the Lazy Duck and they are willing to accept a food box from me next week as well. It sounds much nicer and was recommended to me by someone else as well.