Be careful just "camping" where you feel like it. ....
Fully agree. It has been a while since the last time I set up a tent anywhere. Last time I slept in a sleeping bag (outdoors, that is, not counting my camper van) was in a snow cave last May.
Here wild camping is forbidden basically everywhere. In the mountains you can usually set up a tent just for overnight if you are above Xm (sea level reference) and more than Yh away from a mountain hut. And the tent must be dismantled or at least poles removed to let it sit flat during daytime.
Given that we don't have wilderness areas as big as in the US, there is no real need to sleep outside a hut. Unless you want to save approach time for certain climbs or set up a base camp for several days in the same spot. Since all of this happens well above tree line, there is no wood to be burnt, so you have to rely on stoves (gas canisters or liquid fuel).
This is by the book. Truth is that if you are discrete setting up your tent and you are actually there for climbing, chances are you are the only one arround and none is going to come and bother you. Not even the rangers.
MY big problem now is where to park the van for sleeping overnight. As long as I don't ocuppy any more room than an equivalent cargo van, what I do or don't do inside is none elses bussiness, as I am officially PARKED and not CAMPING. However, some cities see us camper-van / motorhome users as people who breath their air and ocuppy parking spots BUT does not spend money on hotels/hostels, neither restaurants. So sometimes local police is asked to "invite" drivers to haul ass and move to campings ($) or out of the city. Some parkings near the most populated beaches are installing height limiiting bars, so anything over 180 cm tall cannot enter. This rules out basically any van of any kind, along with some lifted 4x4 vehicles or those who haul a roof rack.
France, on the other hand, has perfectly understood that the way is not the restriction... but the regulation. And they have specific parking spots for camper vans in areas called "Campingcars" which are free or very cheap (per night) and have facilities to dump waste water, water taps and sometimes even electricity. Others even include shuttle bus tickets to the nearby town so if you don't have bikes or another medium of transport, you can still get there and enjoy the visit.
Sorry for the rant!
Mikel