I hope you do not give up on walking because of your health problems, your professional experience may be invaluable here. The inadequacies of the access network would make me weep, except my personal skills in the art of trespass give me the knowledge of how the freedom of our countryside is sadly curtailed for the more timid.
Your opening post hints at a dissatisfaction, with the RA's lobbying, which has failed so often. The CLA run rings around them with policies that are so weak in intellect that they are probably thought up in the manor's playroom, no that may be too generous, nanny's creche.
Sadly our county councils cannot grasp the fact that the access network is a national asset, which could be creating far more wealth for the nation and all citizens both financially and socially, but it is treated as a liability on the nation's balance sheet.
Anyway I hope you find the true cause of your health issues and can start to enjoy your retirement, freely in our 'Oh so' interesting countryside, be it on the top of mountains or our so often obstructed rights of way. A criticism that is not directed at your past employment, nor even public spending, but driven as accurately as an Alastair Cook on drive at large freeholders, who think the own our countryside.