Bivouacking at Rutland Water

I have fond memories from when I was little of going on holiday with my parents and turning up at small campsites in a field, pitching the tents and eventually meeting the campsite owner who would happily greet us, check us in and then disappear. It seems that kind of campsite is gradually dying off.

Every year I try to get out to somewhere new for a camping or bivouacking trip, enjoying the feeling of being somewhere new and exploring something different. England is currently having a hot dry spell (in June 2024) and so I decided to go up to Rutland Water for a mini holiday one weekend.

I spent a while looking for local campsites near Rutland Water and eventually had to give up. Rutland Water Campsite is next to the sailing club and does not have any facilities so you must be a member of the club to stay there (and use the club facilities). There is also the similarly named Rutland Water Camping which is apparently a back to basics farm campsite on the peninsula but the phone number was disconnected and no response to email. I found another number online and he directed me to the sailing club campsite. Other campsites were either Camping and Caravanning Club or Glamping experiences. I eventually gave up and decided to bivouac instead.

I left early on Saturday and spent the morning walking around Rutland Water Nature Reserve and the nearby Lyndon Nature Reserve (both owned by Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust). It’s famous amongst bird watchers as being a reliable place to spot Ospreys nesting. The reservoir is home to the first Ospreys to breed in England in over 150 years.

It’s quite difficult to bivouac in England as there tend to be a lot of people around, most of which will just look at you funny for lying out in the open in a giant bag. But some of them may report you to the police or a landowner and so its best to camp late and leave early. I wanted to find somewhere to settle by 7pm so had 3 hours to wander about the reservoir for somewhere out of the way but nice to sleep. Rutland Water is one of the largest reservoirs in Western Europe, with a 26mile long path around the edge and so plenty of good access but also plenty of people walking about. I was already at the western edge and so decided to walk around the peninsula until I found a nice ash tree right by the waters edge.

The weather was so warm that I didn’t need the bivvy bag in the end, instead using it to protect my camping mat and lying on top of it in my sleeping bag. There wasn’t any rain forecasted and the ash tree protected me from the dew. I lay there watching the sun set over the reservoir and the occasional cry or splash of an Osprey diving into the lake for food.

Mornings are both a joy and a disadvantage of bivouacking. You get woken up at the crack of dawn which tends to be at about 5am in June but that is accompanied by a beautiful sunrise. The other disadvantage of camping next to water is that invariably a fisherman finds you. I was bundled up inside my sleeping bag but I heard him walk past with a exclamation of surprise when he stumbled upon me.

I had packed my bicycle into the car for this trip, so on Sunday I did the full 26 mile track running around the reservoir. About half of it was ideal for cycling with a road bike, but a few stretches were gravel and hard going. About half way around the reservoir is Normanton Church, a tranquil looking building that sticks out into the water. The church was built in the 18th century and was at risk of being demolished when the reservoir was built 1975. Instead, they filled it with a layer of rubble and raised up the floor level to above the waterline, and created a causeway to the shore.