h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

and the resultant manure/droppings etc...

Well it is now thought that this can be quite dangerous and that one shouldn't camp in a field which has been used for grazing in the last 2 weeks (4 weeks, 1 week, guidelines vary). One reason given is ecoli, others are things like the fact that some animal faeces contain bacteria which can cause blindness in humans.

Whatever, it's really really important to wash your hands before and after going to the loo and before meals - so make sure that your site has plenty of washing water, even if you have to take it yourself.

AE

I agree with what you say about general hygiene but we've been camping in fields for 20 years and don't know anyone who's suffered. Is this a real risk or a hypothetical?

The biggest danger faced was having a sheep try to walk through our tent - not in the door but through the walls. Nerve wracking at 2 am.

There have been noted links with cows grazing in fields, lots of rain and e-coli - but the people affected were mainly youngish boys and it's questionable whether they washed their hands properly.

Personally, I'd be more concerned about campers' personal hygiene than the field, providing there aren't masses of cow pats etc around (mainly cos I don't like the smell)

For a number of years I was a member of The English Civil War Society (For non-brits this is a battle re-enactment society) and it was practically de-rigeur that whatever field we were offered for camping had recently been populated by an entire herd of looseboweled quadruped. We had every injury from broken limbs to food poisoning, but I never heard anything about e-coli. I did get salmonella poisoning from a pasty, but thats another story.

- personal hygiene doesn't cut in until they discover girls.

When I said that no-one had ever suffered I sort of glossed over food poisoning. I'd always put that down to the peculiar foods and unusual cooking techniques.