Walk This Way

The missus touches on this in her evil blog, but to my American understanding of property rights, the idea of the 'public footpath' seems foreign.

Basically, the gist of this is that Great Britain has a great heritage of walking. Part of that legacy is the right for anyone to use footpaths that have traditionally criss-crossed the countryside. While you're driving down the A49 to Ross-On-Wye, just past Llandinabo, you might see a sign on the edge of a farmer's field proclaiming a public footpath. This sign marks one end of a path to somewhere -- it doesn't necessarily tell you where -- and you have protected rights to take that path as you wish. Your rights to do so are the same as your rights to use the 'Queen's Highways' (the normal roads) with the one exception that you must be on foot. In fact, if the path crosses a farmer's field and his crops (or anything else, for that matter) get in your way, you have the right to walk over it or move it. If something you can't get around or move blocks your path, you can report it and some sort of 'path officer' will investigate and clear the path. They seem to take this pretty seriously. Some of the paths go through pastures with livestock in them. They have come up with various means to allow people but not animals free access to the paths, like the 'stile' shown here. To get an idea of the walking obsession, take a look at a few of the 13000+ different walks that are described here.

But even this wasn't enough to satiate the English and Welsh thirst for walking. In October 2005, new laws were enacted that grant the "Right to Roam" to more areas that aren't marked as footpaths. Now, mapped areas of unfarmed, open countryside (including mountain, moor, heath, and down) are available for the walking in both England and Wales. I think this means if isn't farmed, it's open land, and it's on a map, Boo and company can probably mosey on through.

Needless to say, if you come to visit, bring your walking shoes!