UKC

I've got a few days off later in the month, and am thinking of spending some days bouldering in the Peak district if the weather is tolerable. Current plan is to take my newly pimped out Renault Kangoo, and sleep over (the drive from Cambridge is a bitch).

I heard recently that the Park authorities are getting quite strict with moving people on from overnight parking spots. As I seriously can't be arsed having to wake up and drive somewhere new after some person shines a flashlight in my eyes, I'm wondering what the best spots for overnighting it are?

I don't mind paying a pound or two (but not much more) and have no issue sleeping in towns, as then I can go to the pub before bed. 

All tips appreciated. 

Support the local economy and book a space for your van at a caravan park/ campsite.

I've often parked up in a pub car park - go in, say you'll be having a few drinks (maybe some food) and ask if you can park up overnight in the corner of their carpark.  Never been refused yet.  Alternatively, make your way to the Quiet Woman (Earl Sterndale) for fine beer and a camping field for a few quid.

Plenty of pubs will let you sleep in their parking lot in exchange for buying a meal. I see this as a win win because you get a decent meal and a cheeky pint (or two) of the good stuff AND it pays for a trouble free night all in one go. Can't go wrong! 

Think about it!

Now I may have my own favourite spots,so I'll share them on a public forum so that said park authorities can check and it will save them driving around at random

I would tell but you said PEAKS

Peak.

Is your Kangoo pimped out in a 'stealth' style - I mean when it's parked up and you're tucked up in bed is it obvious that you're sleeping inside, or does it just look like a van?

I don't think paying a pound or two is really an option, as you're clearly paying to camp then.  I would guess you'd either have to pay more, or nothing. (Though as you mentioned the pub, you could look into the Three Stags Heads at Wardlow Mires, which has a very basic semi-detached campsite - if you have a search on here you'll find lots of rave reviews as well as a few warnings.)

There are lots of roadside laybys on major roads where you're unlikely to be disturbed (except perhaps by some traffic, as there will be the odd car or lorry going by all night).  The A57 around Ladybower is one example, and you could perhaps retreat a little way up the Derwent valley road to get out of earshot of the A57.  (Where you would still be in walking distance, just about, of a couple of pubs.)

I'm sure you're not the only one thinking that way.  It's a lot like coming on here asking for suggestions for a good bothy, bivvy or wild campsite. 

There are some good, free pull ins in the Burbage area if you are wanting to get up to the gritstone areas. I totally support your right to park up free. Don't pay for parking!

Burbage North on Ringinglow Road (upper Burbage)

Just dont open the door if you get a knock. Simple

Thanks all.

To those saying "support the local economy" - fair enough, and I've paid to camp next to the Three Stags Heads umpteen times, when I used to have to sleep in a tent. That's always an option, but thought I'd like to change it up and explore a bit. Eating at a pub and asking to stay in their car park sounds like a good alternative. I'd rather not pay to stay in a campsite because part of the motivation for shelling out on the Kangoo was to not have to pay to stay in campsites anymore.

To those ridiculing me for asking them to give away their top illegal parking spots - I obviously meant "can people tell me where you're ALLOWED to park overnight". The whole point being that I want to eliminate the risk of getting caught. I mean, I thought that was pretty obvious, but never skip the chance to have a dig at somebody on the internet, eh. Sigh.

Hey no ridicule originally intended

mind you you did open yourself to it buying a kangoo

Really, where did you hear this? What 'park authorities' are these then?

There a plenty of spots in the Peaks for stealthing, but finding them is part of the fun, so not telling, lol.

(I live in the PDNP)

And you still say "Peaks".  Shame on you. :-P

I do, I always have. 

Norfolk arms at ringinglow, Mike is ok even better if buying a pint or two.

Not quite in the Peak but only 2 minutes from Burbage. 

I have used one of the carparks next to Ladybower a few times, along with others. A friend had always used it trouble free, just get up early and free up parking for visitors. The wardens who pass in the morning heading to the visitor's centre seemed to be okay with that. But last year I pulled up after midnight, having driven back from Font, and had a warden banging on the van early doors telling me it wasn't a campsite and I should move.

Maybe just a grumpy warden, but maybe a change of attitude or policy. Not sure really, don't feel comfortable trying there again.

Kinda half funny story.... Mate of mine stuck his tent up very lazily by a popular car park near hathersage after arriving very late in his car (I was nicely asleep in my van). In the morning he told us (i'd slept through, but i sleep through most things), that he had been woken up in the most bizarre manner. He said he slowly cam round to the sound of someone softly saying his full name, repeatedly, getting louder each time. It totally weirded him out, sat up in his tent thinking who the hell is outside and how do they know my name, and sheepishly he opened the tent. Turned out to be a ranger who had read his name from a campsite tag he'd left on one of his tent poles....

It was funnier when he told the story to us though...

Surely you just park somewhere safe and out of the way on a back road and, if challenged, you claim you've been drinking and aren't going to risk driving over the limit?

A good place for suggestions   is   the overnight camping group on facebook 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/139976009506064/

Really?  Has it improved lately, as a pub?  I was about to reply to the post above about roadside pull-ins for Burbage that the nearest pub to either end of the valley (Norfolk Arms & Fox House respectively) is distinctly uninspiring.

If I was going to recommend a Sheffield pub just outside the Peak Park boundary, the Norfolk Arms would come a long way below the Nags Head.  I wouldn't want to spend the night in their carpark much though, admittedly (there is some scope for stealthing nearby around Damflask reservoir) and for local bouldering action Agden Rocher is unlikely to appeal either.
(You might be surprised how good some of the routes are though.)

I'll second the campsites at the 3 Staggs Heads and the Quiet Women , both make for excellent night for a bargain price with a great pub! You cant really get a "meal" at either of them mind , just great beer and surroundings.

Field at the 3 Staggs can be shut when the weather isn't great.

Another one I've over nighted at is the Millstone Inn near Hathersage , mentioned to the owners I was looking for a place to kip and they said I could pitch my tent in the beer garden for free!

As other posters have said a sneaky over nighter is okay if your van doesn't look more than a van! Slept in the village at Flash before too.

For the Roaches and surrounding areas we've had decent (cheap and plentiful) food and beer with free overnight parking at The Winking Man. They've got an outside loo and even hookups if you need that sort of thing.

I think you have to be careful as it's not just the authorities you have to worry about.

There's a picnic area on the way to Raven Tor (turn L out of Litton and it's on the L just before a series of bends). A friend of mine was staying there many years ago when they were visited by a bunch of Hells Angels in the middle of the night. They had to flee but not before dishing out some damage to the bikers who ended up coming out of it much worse off they did.

Raven Tor itself might not be a bad place to stay as there's very little traffic that passes there, it's flat and quiet. Also the parking place for Darlton 2 is possibly OK, again being on a road that doesn't go anywhere, though the main road might not be far enough away to eliminate traffic noise.

As long as you are not on the public highway. If someone is arsey enough to ask you to move on they will have no problem phoning the old bill if you claim you are drunk. 

Kangoo. Or as my friend Shaun calls it: Paul's Popemobile.

Only 23 years so far as a resident, so a long way from being a local (ie never).

Am making sure my kids always use Peaks of course. 

You're clearly evil, but I'm not sure how to picture you. 
Help me out - do you have a fluffy white cat or are you more of a top hat and cape moustache twirling kind of a guy?

This

Just remember boys, keep off the moors. Stick to the roads, and the best of luck.

There's a really useful Facebook group that's worth joining:  campervan overnight parking

Ask in there and you'll have options pretty quickly.  Some really helpful people and information in the group.

Except it's the other way round. The roads are the dangerous places these days.

The first section of car park at the Fox House pub, the bit behind the bus stop, belongs to Sheffield council. There is parking opposite the Norfolk Arms at Ringinglow.

As someone else mentioned, the Millstone will let you park overnight and also possibly the Grouse near Froggatt.

It's a bit off the point, perhaps, but my experience on a 6 week van trip around Norway and Sweden (only spending 3 nights on campsites) was that the only place where we weren't on our own was when, on the off-chance, we went down a narrow little dead end road to the north facing beach where we wanted to watch the midnight sun. There were 6 vans already there. One was a Brit, and he wanted to know how we'd found out about it. We said we'd looked at the map. He'd used some website or Facebook page. So don't say you haven't been warned.

I’ve stayed in both the Fox House and Millstone car parks with no issues.

I remember once kipping in my car at Fox House whilst a mate chucked his bivvy bag over the wall and snuggled in.  Another guy turned up later and hopped over the wall for a piss.  I was woken up by a cry of "shiiiit!!!" as the guy was confronted by green shape slowly rising from just along the wall.  Someone zipped into a bivvy bag looks pretty scary in gloomy mist when they suddenly rise up from nowhere.  I thought it was funny, anyway.

Google maps satellite view is one of the best modern innovations for vanlife. Drive till you fancy a stop, then look around you for quiet road with a view to wake up to.

Despite the amount of resorts along the coast, I've found some amazing, isolated beach spots in Catalonia that way - and if you do find another traveler there, they're likely to be after a pleasant chat followed by peace and quiet to enjoy the surroundings too

move to Sheffield. It’s great.

They let you sleep in the car park at the Derwentwater Arms in Calver . Good beer and right under the edges . If you're after somewhere more secluded , i've slept on the side of tracks up past the Barrel at Bretton . Pubs a bit pricey mind.

If you don't mind parking in a town, Sheffield has a lot of nice pubs.  It's a city, but close enough.  

The Norfolk Arms car park is huge and the food isn't bad (6 or 7 out of ten?) having said that.

I live in Sheffield, I love Sheffield but to think that parking there is a better option than parking in the Peak is mental.

There's some really good pub grub in the Peak too, but The Norfolk Arms is Not one of them. 

It was more I was thinking that given how far it is from Cambridge, the 20 mins from Sheffield to the east of the Peak is only a spit. 

Ive stayed in Hathersage on the roads just down from Scotsmans pack, meal in pub, move off just after FL.