Sorry, a bit thick maybe, but what does 'their land, my country mean'? Is 'their' to do with the landowner?
Bit difficult to capture in so few words a complex anomaly! But I think they do it rather well,
it is close to this "This Land is Our Land" aBook by Marion Shoard, though my version is "Their Land is in Our Country". The anomaly is that a very small, privileged minority dictates to the rest how we access our countryside, that minority corrupted the implementation of the legislation that was supposed to give us access and several generations later are in denial of that process.
Do those of us who use the access network question it's effectiveness, when Gunwharfman walked Glyndwr's Way was he walking the best route the terrain had to offer or was he channeled along those RoW's most convenient to provide a meandering route around that part of Wales.
Ilona
Ilona gives it a 'huh' and an 'undecided', but when she did her longest C2C she followed many canals, these filled in the absence of other RoWs, but if she were to try say; Lowestoft to Aberystwyth several counties RoW networks would force her onto the highway for very long distances. Even worse the best terrain would be denied to encourage others to follow this example.
Would this be an isolated case? Another forum member walked from the Wash to Welsh Coast but when they came to Shropshire they were not allowed to walk continuous country footpaths though, they was continuity of way shown on pre-1940 OS maps.
A dilemma, their land, our country. I always want to try the pass less travelled and often do so, I've never been challenged and often chat to hill farmers and they seem to enjoy seeing someone. I guess most walkers are respectful and leave no trace especially those who go off the beaten track.
Sloth is fortunate, it was the very image of a hill farmer, who verbally abused me for being on a RoW, he told me that it was to give traffic access to his farm, despite there being a footpath that continued in the direction I was travelling on the other side of his buildings. The waymarks had not been put up, had he dropped them in the waste paper basket along with his tax returns?
I was a rock climber before I started to walk for leisure, back then we tried to improve the routes that had been put up, was there a better start were there the features to improve the way to the destination, perhaps it is because I bring this to my walks that I question the way I am allowed to go, it gives me a lot more interest.
What has alarmed me, since being on a Local Access Forum is the hidden agenda of the landowner's of this country. The signs are as clear to read as a badger's footprints from it's latrine.
I remember standing on the top of the Malvern Hills and seeing the Black Mountains, a pure cross country walk between them is not possible and the reason is the parishes that refused to put the old ways onto the Definitive Map. In between the River Wye crosses the line of sight, the approach to the only non-urban bridge is compromised by the land of the landowner, who wrote the CLA's policy on access and this tells all landowner's that lostways have no relevance.
It is a midden I poke from time to time to see what odours come forth.