Troglodyte lifestyle

[daoji]

Is it possible anywhere in the British isles to live totally off the land with nothing more than rudimentary tools in such a secluded place that you may achieve your biblical three score and ten with no intervention from the modern world?
Never be discovered, live fully independently in total isolation as our ancient ancestors did?
Assuming you have Ray Mears level of bush craft or you're SAS trained to survive behind enemy lines...

[DTCwordfan]

Rockall? And do us a favour and keep the Ruskies out......

[The Builder]

For years, I've had this idea of writing a book about ............ sitting in the middle of the road .......... and chronicling all the laws I would eventually be breaking......... I'd sit ther until they all eventually turned up ............. Council tax, income tax, tv licence, road tax, insurances, jury service etc etc ............ there's no such thing as a free country ;o)

[daoji]

A book :o)
This question may qualify as preliminary research for an idea I've had depending on the answers I get...

The location would not have to be too inhospitable, a year round supply of food, fresh water, very remote.

[boxtops]

The total isolation versus continuous supply of food might be difficult to attain?

[daoji]

Hence my question, would it be possible anywhere in the British Isles?

[seadogg]

You are describing the life of a Scottish Crofter using the sea for protein, a strip of cultivable land for potatoes etc and having sheep for clothing. Our ancient ancestors got all the "easy land" which now is well populated, generally by clearing the forest.

[daoji]

Amassing a cache of fruits, berries, mushrooms, nuts and various other roots and plants, drying them out preserving them for the winter months as our ancestors did.
Presumably they'd still be some woodland animals and fish you could catch or snare even in the darkest depths of winter.

[daoji]

Sorry seadog, I didn't see your post.
The scenario here is for and individual rather than a community to adapt and survive, so could it be done?

[daoji]

Too much work for one person, not feasible. O.K, back to the drawing board then.

[jake-the-peg]

TV license Builder? Where were you planning to plug that in?

Council tax? What band does "middle of the road" fall into?

I think they would have you for Jury duty though - Oh hang on I don't think they call the insane and sitting in the middle of the road....well...

:c)

[daoji]

Some jokey replies, ha ha.
Seriously though, is there any place in the British Isles that could support an individual recluse that would go unnoticed by society, in terms of remoteness, water- food availability. Would that person need to roam a sizeable area or be able remain static in such a place?
Preferably not a God forsaken and desolate windswept mountain range.

[daoji]

Fictional character feasibility study.

[joko]

id say some of the tiny islands in the outer hebrides etc might be suitable...

some are only accessible by boat so assuming no one visits you would be totally alone...but then you cannot exactly stop anyone coming there...
maybe if there were a place like that but it also had some sort of rocky enclosure that circles an area that no-one would know it was there unless they climbed it...or found the entrance through a set of small caves and tunnels...

try perhaps google maps? may spot something that you can look into further...

[NazNomad]

If your happy on a diet of mutton, birds, rabbit, berries and leaves, I can find you countless places where you could go undetected around here.

[daoji]

Thanks joko, I've taken a look at those Islands and there's a good reason why they're uninhabitable. A lump of rock, some grass, a few gorse bushes, nothing edible.
No indigenous life that would constitute food, apart from the migrating sea-birds that nest there in the summer.

[daoji]

Mainland Britain.

[Answerprancer]

Hi Daoji.
You'd be lucky. Every square inch of this overpopulated, overgoverned country is 'owned' by some f***er.
However, I share this interest. I would consider the remotest parts of Scotland (possibly Wales, north York moors or Dartmoor) but even then if you managed to base yourself somewhere as remote as possible, miles from the nearest road and sussed out how to live off the land, it would only be a matter of time before some nosey interfering prod-nose stumbled upon you.
I think the only solution re "never be discovered" is to be nomadic - ie. on the move all the time, whatever that would take.
I'll be checking in on this because it fascinates me.

You have my total approval and blessings re this subject matter.

[joko]

but if its for a fictional character just invent an area, like the one i suggested, as a reason they manage to remain undiscovered...

few people would check and few owuld be able to truly dismiss it...

[daoji]

Yes joko, a fictitious character but I would much prefer to use a real location - if one exists.
I suppose any suitable area populated with sufficiently diverse resources would have seen human settlers many millennia ago, although there are examples in pre-history where a growing community has outstripped available resources - and unable to support a large number - have simply moved on.
Maybe such a remote an abandoned a site, even today, would still provide the opportunity for an individual to eke out a meagre subsistence?
Perhaps I'm clutching at straws and no viable location exists, in which case I will have to reluctantly invent somewhere.

[Tweed]

It is possible in theory if no one knows and that's not easy. You'll always have someone come along telling you that you're on their land and to give them money/get orf my land etc. One the state catches on you'll never be left alone. You'd probably be breaking some legistation or other. Look into "freeman on the land" which attempts to revert back to natural law as opposed to statute (merchant) law. Basically, natural law gives you rights and statute "law" takes them away.