Moan and rant after several glasses of Vino!

[Bucephalas]

Today, I decided to take my little (and loved) Sevylor Amazon canoe out for a couple of hours on the Wye.

I was pretty P*$$ed off at the amount of "Private Land" signs I came across when I was trying to find a sneaky spot to launch.
Why are we surrounded by such

in this country?

By contrast, Sweden has an automatic right to roam "Any Land" or wilderness and they can light fires, camp, hunt etc.

I can get a return flight for £150! I wonder what the charge will be for my canoe and assorted kit?

 

[ex-member Raikey]

i feel for you in a way,....

but we live on an overpopulated island,...where pretty much all of the land is owned,..

on the same token, you have to put yourself in the landowners shoes, and ask if you'd like to have a favoured launch at the far end of your property.



just playing devils advocate here as i will be looking for nice launch pads shortly (i pick up my canoe sunday)

i know which direction i'll be headed in though

cheers

Stu

 

[Retired Member southey]

If this country had the same rights brought in now, it would be ruined, we just don't have the history of respect for our land, and to many peeps

 

[boatman]

If this country had the same rights brought in now, it would be ruined, we just don't have the history of respect for our land, and to many peeps

The Countryside Alliance would like us to think so. Scottish freedoms would do for a start. And why should anybody automatically have respect for the land they are severed from? When a gated garden was opened for the first time to the public in Manchester in the nineteenth century there were many doomsayers pedicting mayhem. After the crowds were gone one, yes one, flower stalk was crushed, that is all the damage. Treat people like animals and they will respond but treat them as reasonable humans and mostly they will also respond in a positive way.

 

[Robbi]

When a gated garden was opened for the first time to the public in Manchester in the nineteenth century

recently then !

 

[Mark W]

I 'spect you've seen the Environment Agency Guide to the Wye online in pdf (reprinted 2011) here
Good tips for land and launch points.

 

[Limaed]

Part of the reason I love living in Scotland despite being English. Less people, more wilder land (although it all still belongs to someone) and perhaps a different outlook.
'An Englishman's home is his castle' doesn't apply here.

 

[Shewie]

England and Wales are known for having issues with water access, there are agreed launching sites but it's far out weighed by red tape, you should head north to the land of the free.

 

[Retired Member southey]

The Countryside Alliance would like us to think so. Scottish freedoms would do for a start. And why should anybody automatically have respect for the land they are severed from? When a gated garden was opened for the first time to the public in Manchester in the nineteenth century there were many doomsayers pedicting mayhem. After the crowds were gone one, yes one, flower stalk was crushed, that is all the damage. Treat people like animals and they will respond but treat them as reasonable humans and mostly they will also respond in a positive way.

Hahahahahaha! Um, there are a few more people now than then, and dare i say it a very different behavioural set. also, I would think that Scotland is less densely populated than England.

 

[Bucephalas]

If this country had the same rights brought in now, it would be ruined, we just don't have the history of respect for our land, and to many peeps

Your not wrong my man.

I remember seeing the Ray Mears in Sweden series and he was joined by some old codger from Sweden who said that all children are taught repect for nature and the wilderness which is then re-inforced by their parents.

I doff my cap at all Swedish people (couldn't spell Swedes).

The Swedes call it ‘Allemansrätt’

If Ray's pronounciation is any good then it's 0.42

 

[The Big Lebowski]

The old codger is Lars Falt... I think uncle ray may have learned a thing or three from him

 

[MartiniDave]

You have to ask yourself, would you want some total stranger with a canoe walking through your garden as and when they felt like it? I suspect I know the answer to that one.

Dave

 

[Andy BB]

Yup. England is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe, and I'm guessing Scotland one of the least. So I don't buy into the logic of having the equivalent of the Scottish access rights here - it just wouldn't work. Scotland isn't without it's problems with abuse of this right (Loch Ness access was restricted in some areas as a result for example, I believe). Imagine how much worse the problem would be in England! You only have to see the problem with fly-tipping to see how it would all turn out.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

You've really got a thing for Sweden dude

 

[sasquatch]

I agree with the above sentiments, right to roam can't work in England, it would soon be a mess. Sometimes you gotta pay to play. That could be a trip to Wales or Scotland or a flight to somewhere Scandinavian. You'll love it I'm sure, something to really remember. That said, don't give up on the canoeing too easily either. I've managed to spend some time paddling a local river and the canals recently and it's been great. Still wildlife to see, it doesn't take long to feel your miles from town and when you are in town it's a completely different spin to what you normally see. Different to the Wye of course but still fun. Where there's a will there's a way! 'Bushcraft' to me is making the most of what you have wherever you're at...

 

[drewdunnrespect]

England and Wales are known for having issues with water access, there are agreed launching sites but it's far out weighed by red tape, you should head north to the land of the free.

lol love it shewie could not ave put it better the land of the free Scotland

 

[Tor helge]

You have to ask yourself, would you want some total stranger with a canoe walking through your garden as and when they felt like it? I suspect I know the answer to that one.

Dave

Even though we have the "allemannsretten" we are not alowed to walk trough someones garden with or without a canoe.

 

[sandbender]

Even though we have the "allemannsretten" we are not alowed to walk trough someones garden with or without a canoe.

You are not allowed to walk through someones garden in Scotland either.

 

[andybysea]

Its a bit wierd calling miles of private land in England someones Garden,no one in Scotland would want you walking through there actual garden just as much as they would'nt like it in England,Its what it say's Private land and i cant imagine the landowners in England wanting to give it up to the Masses.

Ps Im another Englishman living in Scotland.

 

[boatman]

The reason I mentioned the Manchester example was that the predictions of woe and disaster were much the same as the comments on the possibility of improving English land and water access,woe and woe again. There will be illegal countryside abuses of course but are there generally fist fights when you queue up at a checkout etc? Of course not, no more would there be mass invasions of moorland and Down or river. People are reasonable.