Wild camping in North Germany?

Anybody have experience doing this?

I've done the odd day here in England/Wales, and of course slept rough in train stations across Europe, but never had a bike and bivi-tent set up. Planning on the cycling to Berlin, and ideally (wild) camping to save cash.

Online says it's kind of illegal, but hit and miss depending on area.

I'll be using a super-small setup on a road bike, so not cx/mtb/touring for cycling across fields/forests.

I wild camped while cycling along the Danube and a few other places in Germany. It was fine, but we tried really hard to make sure no one spotted us. Not sure what they'd have done if they had found us. Probably given us a polite telling off.

We'd drag or manhandle our bikes and gear into forests or somewhere well covered.

§ 36 Landesrecht Schleswig-Holstein
Zelten und Aufstellen von beweglichen Unterkünften

(1) Zelte oder sonstige bewegliche Unterkünfte (Wohnwagen) dürfen nur auf einem Zelt- und Campingplatz aufgestellt und benutzt werden.

(2) Nicht motorisierte Wanderer dürfen abseits von Zelt- und Campingplätzen einmal in Zelten übernachten, wenn sie privatrechtlich dazu befugt sind und keine besonderen Schutzvorschriften entgegenstehen. Auf Grundstücken, die zum engeren Wohnbereich gehören, dürfen Zelte und nach dem Straßenverkehrsrecht zugelassene Wohnwagen zur ausschließlich privaten Benutzung aufgestellt werden, längstens jedoch für einen Zeitraum von 6 Wochen. Durch Satzung der Gemeinde kann zur Wahrung der Wohnruhe, der Belange des Fremdenverkehrs oder des Orts- und Landschaftsbildes der Zeitraum eingeschränkt werden."

Above is for one federal state only, so it seems to vary. What thgey're saying is that on private grounds, as long as there's no special restrictions, you can pitch for a night if the land owner/leaseholder agrees.

http://board.gulli.com/thread/791095-strafen-fuer-wildes-campen-in-deutschland/

They say the worst case scenario is a 20 euro fine and that you have to pack up and move on.
Also that there's often public sites in the forest, usually with fireplace and a sign with a number to call for permission etc.

I've wild camped around North Germany, I live in Berlin. Never had a problem, though I'd always chosen locations that were remote anyway, woods for example... so pretty unlikely to be discovered by anyone who would care anyway... I can only really see there being an issue if you were in a really obvious place, private land, or making a mess...

Thanks. I'm trying to decide on serious audax/enduro wild-sleeping for a few hours and cycling through the night/morning, or just asking to couchsurf and save on weight.

Same experience here last year, spent three days traversing south through South West Germany and never had any hassle. Even camped stupidly under a wind turbine one night on a 20 degree slope in a more inhabitated and visible area than I would have liked...