Dave, I'm caught between a rock and a hard place on this.
I'm a Scot; we have a legal right of responsible access; to me what you're doing sounds perfectly normal, with neither fuss or bother or anyone caused any grief; but, this is a UK wide forum, and I'm supposed to Mod it.
The official party line, since other members really have had huge issues with the subject, with all the concommitant stress and hassle, is to say, we cannot either condone or encourage illegal activity.
......and if it wasn't political, and also agin the rules, I would happily tell folks to get involved and change a system that's stagnant, even if only to access publically owned land.
I don't know the answer.
I'm going to flag this thread for Modding and Admin discussion. I think maybe the subject is ripe for some kind of overhaul.
The Sticky that Timboggle wrote is excellent (that's the link I posted above), and it's helpful, but the way things are here stifles discussion on the topic, tbh.
We'll see; that's not carte blanche to open up the can of worms.
cheers,
Mary