u/Slow_Environment_595

Water is heavy. On my first one-night bivi run a few weeks ago, I panic-packed 3L of water. Hitting the first incline with an extra 3kg of dead weight made me realize my strategy needed a serious rethink.

I see people online boasting about carrying a single 1L bottle and filtering from streams as they go. That’s viable for the peaks or Wales, but down here in South Croydon, backcountry streams are non-existent. I want the freedom of a multi-day trip without carrying a crushing fluid load, which brought me to an old piece of outdoor lore:

“Most historic churches have active, publicly accessible outdoor taps so mourners can water graves.”

If this lore is actually reliable, it’s a game-changer for reducing carrying capacity on local routes.

Since my day job has me traveling all over the south of the country anyway, I’ve set myself a challenge to physically survey these sites. I had a walk around a parish on my break today, and Spot #1 is a confirmed success.

It nearly caught me out, though—there is a prominent tap right on the side of the church that is completely dead. But after surveying the perimeter, I found a live, high-flow tap hidden in the garden feeding a trough. I’ve logged the data and uploaded the verified coordinates directly to OpenStreetMap to ensure the data is open-source for local hikers and bikepackers.

A few questions for the community:
Has anyone here actively relied on churchyard taps to supplement their water strategy on UK trails?

How are you sourcing water while on on the trail?

Any other regional "urban-wilderness hybrid" resource hacks worth testing out on my travels?

I’ve put together a live project tracker and data board for these verification runs if anyone wants to track the coordinates as I log them: https://thereisamaninthewoods.co.uk/2026/07/01/the-tap-search/