I do not really have a question but more a topic of discussion and that is dog walking.
I am fairly new in THS at this point but have discovered some differences of opinions as to what a walking “path” is.
I am from Canada. We would never even consider crossing private property to walk our dog. However, here in the UK, several of my sits do just that. Walking thru fields, woods and brush seems a common, legal and accepting thing to do.
I was neither prepared for the terrain, farm animals, difficult access or proper footwear.
Now I am asking in advance what type of terrain the walking paths might be.
In the UK, we have some land that is open access, where you have the right to openly roam.
Usually, people walk on designated public footpaths which can lead through farms, grounds or whatever. You can legally walk on those without restriction and the terrain can be anything from firm concrete, rough boulder strewn terrain or peat bogs!
Look on the Ordnance Survey website and if walking in the UK, i would recommend buying OS Explorer paper maps (1:2500 scale) which give an indication of the type of terrain you may face.
Hope that helps.
‘Public bridal ways’ are rights of way / footpaths that existed 100’s of years ago, if not 1000’s of years… yes 1000’s of years in the UK. So many stem from before land ownership was a thing. That’s how they exist.
You CAN’T randomly cross through fields, that’s trespassing. However, we have a lot of ‘public bridal ways’ through beautiful landscapes. They come with basic rules, don’t drop litter, don’t wander from the path, and it’s hugely important to shut any gates (given it’s farmland). As you wander to a fence/gate, there is sometimes a small coloured sign with an arrow to direct you as to where the footpath goes in the field you are about to cross, but not always.
Our sits are usually rural ones in the UK so we go on the below website before we arrive at a new sit, and take a screen shot showing the paths of the new place and the surrounding area, so we have it handy on our mobiles. In case there’s bad phone reception when out walking.
Footwear wise - it depends on the path but the majority are typically just trodden soil paths, not hardstanding footpaths, as that would mean destroying wildlife. So we always wear trainers (sneakers) and now we’re into autumn the wellington boots and hiking boots will come out.
So I have discovered. I was mostly just sharing as it was a new process for me for which I was sorely unprepared. There is no such thing where I am from. If you were caught crossing private property without permission, you would be arrested for trespassing or in some cases, shot at.
All news to me. I think it would help if hosts would indicate such to those new to the UK. Rural or not, allowed or not, crossing private property is a foreign concept to me, as is cats who have free outdoor reign.
I didn’t realise Canada didn’t until you mentioned it, so home owners may be the same, maybe they presume you know, because the USA has similar public rights of way or bridleways to the UK too. They’re historical too, indigenous etc.
TBH some home owners in the UK won’t know where there footpaths are that are close to their home unless they grew up in the same location or they’d look into it for dog walking.
Sometimes they can give you a quicker and prettier route to a cafe or pub, just depends where they are.
We probably use these rural type of pathways on every single dog sit we do. So we always check them out online beforehand.
Various countries and smaller jurisdictions have rights of way on private property. They’re often a condition imposed by historical access or because the government required it of the owner / developer when they sought permission to build. And in some coastal areas, rights of way can exist to protect the public’s access to some privately owned beachfronts, like in the U.S.
Because there are so many varied circumstances, it’s best to check with your hosts and/or to Google for something like (city, county, etc., + rights of way on private property). That’s because if there’s a public right of way on private properties, they’re often documented. That’s not exhaustively so, because there are many cases where there’s such, but the documentation is on paper because it’s so old and hasn’t been transferred to digital. Often, rights of way have signs posted onsite as well.
Most public footpaths in England are not used enough anymore. Few people walk to work/church/stores/pub nowadays, and it is mostly only dog owners that tread them.
Often the landowners like to keep people off their property, so the paths are very poorly maintained. Nettles and brambles may make it necessary to carry a stick or a machete. Sometimes the path is on a very narrow space between barbed wire and a ditch. The only thing many property owners invest in are elaborate gate constructions to keep cyclists out.
And if you happen to visit Scotland whilst in the UK we have a Right to Roam in the countryside (obviously not people’s private gardens!). But as previously mentioned care must be given by taking litter home, closing farm gates and just respecting the environment.
“The right to roam is set out in Section 1 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 and states that everyone in Scotland has the right to be on land for recreational purposes and to cross this land for said uses.”
Our footpaths and bridle paths you are an absolute treasure of the UK, and rights of way fiercely defended against landowners who mess with them, but I can understand they may have been a bit of a shock for you.
We take them for granted it doesn’t really occur to us that other countries don’t have them. No-ones going to shoot you, even if you accidentally stray off the right path.
You might find it helpful to Google The Countryside Code, which explains how to use the countryside.
Could you buy a cheap pair of wellies?
Another option is to look for local country parks and check their website for ‘accessible paths’ as these will normally be tarmaced or gravelled.
Gentle correction to advice above, leave gates as you find them. So if you open one, shut it properly behind you. But leave gates that are already open, open. (Exception - open gate on road with livestock in field as some berk obviously didn’t close it after themselves and animals are at risk of going on the road).
In the UK, we are blessed with Ordnance Survey (OS) maps of different degrees of detail. For walking, I prefer the Explorer range which look a bit like this. OS also do books of walks with information to help those who are not familiar with map reading - not everyone has learned this skill.
Our current sit is on the river Thames (U.K. ) there is a tow path* that runs through the bottom of the garden .
So we could potentially see walkers coming through the garden and they would have full permission to do so . The plus side for us is that we can walk the dogs along the Thames path right from the garden (walking this path was one of our 2024 goals )
The Thames path is 200 miles long and is a public right of way all the way along the river Thames . It goes from the source of the river through Oxford and Windsor and into London .
*tow path = A towpath is a path that runs along the side of a river or canal . It was originally used by people or horses to pull (tow ) boats of cargo .
When I sat in the Scottish Highlands my host mentioned to me upon arrive that
A) Their property included a 5000 year old stone circle and cache
and B) people had the right to roam upon those lands.
He said it was rare that people knew about that particular stone circle but people did stop by once in a while.
It was an amazing sit. Their house was a few hundred years old, their barn a few more hundreds on top of that and a ruin a thousand years old PLUS the stone circle still in tack. It was amazing. That sit was through Mind My House.
For sure. It certainly is a note for me going forward. I ask more questions now regarding walking areas. Personally, I am not in love with “off road walking” lol. I love quiet areas but they must be easy to traverse for me to feel safe and relaxed. Since most of my sits are solo, I am not happy in the woods or fields. If something happens to me like a fall or a twisted ankle, I am in a load of trouble.
This was a footpath near my sit close to Lambley near Nottingham. Quite narrow between the barbed-wire fence and the shrubs, with high weeds (Queen Anne’s lace I guess). A machete would have been useful to get rid of some tree branches.
But a very enjoyable landscape, with a lovely dog. He liked to run off, to chase hares or butterflies, and he always came back. So much fun. (And the less safe jungles are the urban ones.)
