It has been interesting seeing the comments on ‘Looking for somewhere to lay my hat’. It seems that most people are leaning towards Scotland as a BOL.
I must confess I am actually torn between North Wales or Scotland, West, North or East as a BOL. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. My thoughts on the matter are as follows;
Scotland
- Less hordes after an event
- Less refugees in total
- Less locals (Excluding preppers)
- More wildlife, deer, fish
- Cheaper
Wales
- Closer to civilisation
- Easier to access materials to build
- Easier to access labour to build
- Lower latitude and thus warmer with better growing seasons
- More power from PV cells
Although there is nothing there that is an absolute clincher I personally chose North Wales for two specific reasons.
The first is it is close to my home and my work. It is only an hour away from both, about 50 miles. This means that I can make the trip easily by vehicle after an event and before the people start panicking and if I do need to make my way the hard way I can do so in a day or two. One tank of fuel is all I need. Going to Scotland is not a trek to take lightly and at 300 miles is a days drive. One tank but no return and no guarantees about what you will hit on the road. If it is in the middle of winter I may never make it.
The second is the slight improvement in latitude which gives extra warmth, longer growing seasons and improved output from solar panels. It may not be much but I feel it could make the difference between living and dying.
So there it is; A place close to home but far enough away to keep out of the way of refugees. A place I can store the preps that are needed to keep us alive and the land necessary to cultivate and grow our own food. With a bit of luck a place we can keep livestock and build some structures for living and storage.
So there you go, why North Wales is for me. Wish me luck.
Good Luck? Don’t forget the fire extinguisher! 🙂
Yes, Good Luck SD, And may your God go with you, to protect and watch over you. I do understand your choice. It makes sence where you live. For me, I have a great deal of uninhabited space around me and several places that I could use for survival. My preps are now begining to build up and making me feel good. Kenneth Eames.
The distance involved would be the main deciding factor for me. Far better to live 50 miles from your BOL than 300. I have a friend in the NE of Scotland who lives in a fantastic place for a BOL, almost impossible for people to stumble across accidentally now or in the future. We visit her when we can but even in summer it can be cold and very windy. More of an area to use wind generators than PV. Plus it’s 450 miles each way, with the last half hour on forest tracks so impractical for a weekend away. In your case Wales makes far more sense and I hope you find a suitable location that is affordable for you.
I like the north east with its declining population, huge open spaces in places like Durham and Northumberland, the geography is useful unlike much of Scotland and Wales where you have to live along the edges of in the few habitable valleys. much of this areas people live in the Tyne, Wear and tees deltas once you get inland it empties pretty fast. With the Yorkshire dales to the south, pennines and upp dales to the west and rural northumberland leading to the equally empty border region, then the east coast I’m pretty content to sit it out here. and of course though we never get water shortages we also dont get blighted by the incessant rain that affects Wales so often.
I’m not hardy enough to live in the remore areas of barren Scotland 🙂
Forgot to mention that government research done in the eighties reported that in the event of mass evacuation from the major cities most Londoners would head for south to central Wales and South West England, and the populations of Birmingham and Liverpool would head for central and north wales and places like Glostershire and Shropshire. Which suits me even more !!! 🙂
At least with England and Wales at least you have a more condusive environment and climate compared to upper Scotland, though Scotland has the edge on fishing, larger game , isolation etc but the natives are a definate concern !!!
We’re not natives , merely custodians :^D
I worked at Otterburn frequently in my younger days and love the area, especially the run up to the Carter Bar.
As to the natives north of the border there has been no better description of them since “The Last Of The McHancocks” aired in 1957, an episode of epic proportions!
Around Bellingham near Otterburn theres a few homesteaders, off gridders and preppers, equally heading slightly south I’m told there are more near Whitfield, and of course the wear and tees upper dales is rocking with houses thaty have solar, wind, livestock, wood burners etc. And the authorities are rarer than virgins in Merseyside
I stay in scotland, the easier to acesss materials to build, and labour to build in wales i dont understand what you mean ? Also i dont see wales as being closer to civilisation but of course that depends on what you mean by civilisation. in any event you may not be able to get to your BOL for whatever reason i guess plans must remain flexable ?
Slightly tongue in cheek I think mate.
As for access , materials etc…..dunno what thats aw about.
We’ve got nae problems getting our hands on decent timber , stone , slate….
Perthshire is practically one big gro-bag , with plenty of areas to hide and cultivate.
…on the plus side too , we’ve still got a few castles left somewher if you need to hold up for a while to escape these pesky sassenachs :^p
Learn to speak Welsh if you are thinking North Wales and especially if you are thinking Rural North Wales.
Learn to drink and fight if you are thinking Scotland , and especially if you are thinking anywhere north of Gretna. ;^D
Only problem i can see with north Wales (Anglesey)(which was my first choice as a Brummie ! ) is the nuclear power station, which could put a rather short life span on anybody living there ! I personally favoured there as being an island in it’s own right it would be possible (with help) to cut off completely, and depending on what type of collapse there was that may be important. Also as ‘The Local Ned’ said about Scotland there is a castle as a point for refuge / defence. So unless there is someone out there who can put me straight about the ways of preventing a meltdown i think i will have to join the rest and hesd for mid / south Wales ! Incidently a colleague of mine suggested Brownsea island Dorset exept the travelling time would prevent it unless you were in the area already.
Mind how you go.
Scotland is about to secede from the union, if they do, good luck with bugging out there, even if they don’t secede—-good luck anyway
As to the Welsh, they seem to like the English marginally less than the Scots.
Both nations have long memories about how they were treated by the English in previous times, The idea that streams of cars and whatever crossing the Severn bridge are going to find a welcome in the hillsides is taking naivety beyond belief.
It’s not only nation to nation, but also region to region. For example if the government tried to move a bunch of loud, ignorant Londoners into the marches (north-west Herefordshire and Welsh border area), then I can almost guarantee that the locals would turn up with 12 bore shotguns, rifles, chainsaws and just about anything else that could put a dent in someone from urbania who wasn’t happy unless they’d done their morning tofu exercises or whatever (you know the type). This is why a mass-movement into some communities would be impossible.