Interesting article in today's Guardian.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th...mble-on-the-fight-to-save-forgotten-footpaths
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th...mble-on-the-fight-to-save-forgotten-footpaths
Rights of way.
- Thread starter GuestD
- Start date
I was involved in saving one footpath in Mayfield. We had to cut and remove barbed wire from the entrances every week for a couple of months. Replace styles, remove logs etc.
It should be said that no rambler ever 'messed up' any of the footpaths around Mayfield. No rubbish, nothing...
It should be said that no rambler ever 'messed up' any of the footpaths around Mayfield. No rubbish, nothing...
I've been involved in a few rather stupid ROW arguements. One involved a right of way that seemed to be incorrectly mapped. The ROW officer insisted it had to be as per the map as that was how it would have been historically but caved in when we pointed out the ancient dry stone wall and very steep bank that inhibited progress. He went back to the office and checked his maps and found that the one he had was superceded but the offical route was still not as shown on the updated maps. The land owner was happy for people to keep using the path down her driveway and through the existing gates as they always had but the officer wanted her to either pay to divert the ROW to that route or make the mapped route fully accessable. She smiled politely, agreed to cut weeds and keep the steep bank clear of trip hazards and everyone went back to walking down her driveway.
I have no problems with people using footpaths that cross my land and I even cut extra paths through the undergrowth in the new woodland and suggest they may prefer to walk them instead of through the long mowing grass in the fields.
I consider myself lucky in most cases that most people understand that even if the footpath goes diagonally through the field it is better to walk around the edge when there is a crop growing.
What does irritate me, is that people seem to be able to open gates but unable to close them afterwards!
One of my neighbours even have a stile the other side of the gate post, but they still insist on opening the gate and leaving it open, and have the cheek to complain when he chained and locked the gate!
I consider myself lucky in most cases that most people understand that even if the footpath goes diagonally through the field it is better to walk around the edge when there is a crop growing.
What does irritate me, is that people seem to be able to open gates but unable to close them afterwards!
One of my neighbours even have a stile the other side of the gate post, but they still insist on opening the gate and leaving it open, and have the cheek to complain when he chained and locked the gate!
Aye, when I lived on our hillfarm we got people using the right of way (not a problem) but some of them didn't bother closing the gate (problem).
I'm still all for rights of way being kept open.
A few years ago the brother of the Irish prime minister closed off all the rights of way across his land at a place called Corby Castle and when the council mentioned it he just said "Take me to court then" knowing he could afford better lawyers.
Anyway, a while later he died when his helicopter flew into some igneous cumulus so perhaps theres such a thing as Karma after all.
I was out walking with my daughter who was about 9 at the time. We were following a local footpath we had not been down before.
The signs and stiles just stopped at a field which had been divided into several small paddocks, some with horses in, some empty.
We had a map which indicated we had to cross the paddocks but we couldn't see any obvious exit from where we were, so we followed a little lane towards some stables to ask the way.
The 'lady' of the stables stomped over to us with a face of thunder and shouted at us to get of her land and that we were very lucky her dogs were not loose. Her attitude might have been justified if I have murdered her family and burnt her house down but under the circumstances it was a bit over the top!
After pointing out she had built several fences over the footpath and that she was as lucky as us that her dogs were not loose, she calmed down a bit and pointed us toward the footpath exit from her field - we had to climb over 3 fences.
I don't know the laws regarding rights of way but she must have been in the wrong. Was she? Last time I went that way nothing had changed except we didn't get the 3rd degree - and I was carrying a big stick. My daughter refusesto go that way now.
The signs and stiles just stopped at a field which had been divided into several small paddocks, some with horses in, some empty.
We had a map which indicated we had to cross the paddocks but we couldn't see any obvious exit from where we were, so we followed a little lane towards some stables to ask the way.
The 'lady' of the stables stomped over to us with a face of thunder and shouted at us to get of her land and that we were very lucky her dogs were not loose. Her attitude might have been justified if I have murdered her family and burnt her house down but under the circumstances it was a bit over the top!
After pointing out she had built several fences over the footpath and that she was as lucky as us that her dogs were not loose, she calmed down a bit and pointed us toward the footpath exit from her field - we had to climb over 3 fences.
I don't know the laws regarding rights of way but she must have been in the wrong. Was she? Last time I went that way nothing had changed except we didn't get the 3rd degree - and I was carrying a big stick. My daughter refusesto go that way now.
About 25 yrs ago I worked as a volunteer with BTCV. One of our jobs was to walk green lanes and find out what work needed doing to keep them up to scratch. One Lane became a permissive footpath across a property and the woman had decided to obliterate it by building a swimming pool right across the mapped path and enclose it with a large hedge behind a barbed wire fence. The path came to a complete stop at her fence. On knocking on her door to explain who we were and what we were about and ask why she had done what she had she denied any path had ever existed despite it appearing on maps going back to the 19 30s. She was pretty unpleasant and threatened us with the police if we didn't get off her property NOW!. I'm not sure what became of the case as it was still ongoing when I left btcv. Some people! 
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Sounds like you walked into a cartoon, pieinthesky. It'd be funny were it not for the fact that stuck out on their own with little to no, or at best repetitive company, people can that paranoid/angry 'horsewhip them with a horsewhip' type of threatening entitlement. Should offer to take the dear out for a drink, maybe meet some people. 
I feel life would be easier in the world in general if the scandianvian/scottish model of right to roam were the norm. Exhibiting some mutual responsibility for the custodianship of the land, people might not get so up their own jacksies about 'their' property.
Woody Girl's lady macbeth seems more readily explicable as criminal greed being caught out. I expect she was pretty worried about finding herself the subject of a BBC documentary with the MAil and Express following up. Those kinds of things are forgotten in seconds in the city. It is just entertainment, but a whiff of wrongery can linger about a person for decades in the countryside
I feel life would be easier in the world in general if the scandianvian/scottish model of right to roam were the norm. Exhibiting some mutual responsibility for the custodianship of the land, people might not get so up their own jacksies about 'their' property.
Woody Girl's lady macbeth seems more readily explicable as criminal greed being caught out. I expect she was pretty worried about finding herself the subject of a BBC documentary with the MAil and Express following up. Those kinds of things are forgotten in seconds in the city. It is just entertainment, but a whiff of wrongery can linger about a person for decades in the countryside
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People, specially foreign tourists, abuse the Scandinavian RTR a lot.
We discovered people sleeping in our garden in Norway two weeks ago. A friend was watching TV in his Rorbu, when he saw a couple of tourists stomping around his property, taking pictures and eventually peeping through his windows.....
Another friend had to install a lock on her boat 'garage' as people slept and defecated there.....
I can go on and on.
The rules are very clear in Norway. Lots of info about them.
We discovered people sleeping in our garden in Norway two weeks ago. A friend was watching TV in his Rorbu, when he saw a couple of tourists stomping around his property, taking pictures and eventually peeping through his windows.....
Another friend had to install a lock on her boat 'garage' as people slept and defecated there.....
I can go on and on.
The rules are very clear in Norway. Lots of info about them.
And that's the real problem. Only a minority of people actually respect the countryside and have consideration for the people that live and work there. You only have to look at some of the detritus that's left behind any public access points and especially the 'accessible' areas of Scotland to see what most people believe is acceptable behaviour.
I am all for keeping the rights of way open, including paths for walkers and green lanes for vehicles (but despair at the mess a minority of 4x4 drivers and bikers make) and I do some lane clearing etc., but, I regret that the majority of our over 60 million people in this cramped island just would not respect access over private property.
I am all for keeping the rights of way open, including paths for walkers and green lanes for vehicles (but despair at the mess a minority of 4x4 drivers and bikers make) and I do some lane clearing etc., but, I regret that the majority of our over 60 million people in this cramped island just would not respect access over private property.
The vast majority of our paths are relics from an age when people (especially land workers) walked to and from work, to and from their homes to villages, and to and from agricultural markets. They were never 'public' rights of way but convenient routes for those people that needed to get from A to B. It was only when they were mapped they were classified as 'footpaths' etc. and then designated as 'public'.
Of course, some paths lead up into the hills - many of the popular ones are now extremely eroded; and don't get me started on building cafes on top of mountain
I like how the term respect comes up, and it always amuses me how people can carry food products when full but are unable to carry the container once empty! I also wonder what goes through someones mind when they think it is a good idea to pick up there dogs mess in a little bag and then just hang it in the hedge, what do they think is going to happen to it? I have mentioned to a few that they are half way there, but have got the end resceptical wrong! they would be better off just kicking under the hedge.
As for the mess 4x4 drives make, I refer you to horse riders, I think they are comparable just the horse mess is not so visible, we as farmers take the cattle off the land when they are starting to tread it and make a mess, horse riders on bridle ways just think deep hoof marks and twisted ankles are fun for the rest of us.
As for the mess 4x4 drives make, I refer you to horse riders, I think they are comparable just the horse mess is not so visible, we as farmers take the cattle off the land when they are starting to tread it and make a mess, horse riders on bridle ways just think deep hoof marks and twisted ankles are fun for the rest of us.
Yes, some paths/tracks in remote parts of Scotland are old drovers tracks, and another purpose they were used for; "Bona-fide" travellers on Sundays.
https://pechorinsjournal.wordpress.com/2013/10/08/bona-fide-travellers/
Crossing from Fort William to Rannoch, there are recognised sheltered areas for overnight camping that were used by itinerant farm workers, and other travellers,crossing from West to East ( and back), but the landowners would encourage their staff to destroy any shelter.
Thanks for the history lessons.
We have nothing like that, at least not in the far west.
First Nations have their trails from winter camps to summer camps in their territories.
The summer camp is mostly for fishing for the hundreds and thousands of salmon needed for the year.
One trail goes through here, basically for hunting big game and little else.
Some of the bigger overland trails are trade routes that criss-cross the entire continent.
In fact, a 15 mile stretch of the Goat River Trail got cleaned up just a couple of weeks ago.
When the Europeans came, they used the big trails for gold exploration.
Leave no trace except for the smudge of your campfire and you can go any place you like these days.
The Fraser River valley bottom where I live is all flat clay, cleared and grassed for hay and livestock.
We have nothing like that, at least not in the far west.
First Nations have their trails from winter camps to summer camps in their territories.
The summer camp is mostly for fishing for the hundreds and thousands of salmon needed for the year.
One trail goes through here, basically for hunting big game and little else.
Some of the bigger overland trails are trade routes that criss-cross the entire continent.
In fact, a 15 mile stretch of the Goat River Trail got cleaned up just a couple of weeks ago.
When the Europeans came, they used the big trails for gold exploration.
Leave no trace except for the smudge of your campfire and you can go any place you like these days.
The Fraser River valley bottom where I live is all flat clay, cleared and grassed for hay and livestock.
If I pitch my tent in somebody’s garden in Canada, am I risking suffering lead poisoning like in the US?
Probably a shot across the bow. What a silly thing to do. There's nothing to see or do in the valley bottom.
I'm told it's really uncomfortable when you soil yourself so get some smarts and use the wilderness.
Outside of town (and there's a lot of "outside of town,")
There's no end of level gravel pits to camp in with nice cold mountain creeks for water.
A couple of places, you and 10 others could set up bell tents and be totally invisible from the road, 30m away.
It's obvious also that some guys have brought in a few handfuls of grass seed to make the camp site a little cleaner.
With evening air flow to the valley bottom, it will be damn cold.
You need to be up a kilometer or more so the night air flows down hill right past you.
I'm told it's really uncomfortable when you soil yourself so get some smarts and use the wilderness.
Outside of town (and there's a lot of "outside of town,")
There's no end of level gravel pits to camp in with nice cold mountain creeks for water.
A couple of places, you and 10 others could set up bell tents and be totally invisible from the road, 30m away.
It's obvious also that some guys have brought in a few handfuls of grass seed to make the camp site a little cleaner.
With evening air flow to the valley bottom, it will be damn cold.
You need to be up a kilometer or more so the night air flows down hill right past you.
