Where am I allowed to walk in the UK?

Access law in the UK is not one system but three or four, and they differ far more than people expect. Somebody who walks confidently across Scottish hills can be trespassing on an English one, and a definitive map in England records rights that simply have no equivalent in Northern Ireland. Knowing which system you are in tells you where you may go.

Step by step

1. Start with the rights of way system in England and Wales.A public right of way is a highway. Public footpaths are for walking. Bridleways add horses and cycles. Restricted byways add horse-drawn vehicles. Byways open to all traffic add motor vehicles. They are recorded on the definitive map held by the local highway authority, and shown on Ordnance Survey maps as green or pink dashes depending on the series.
2. Understand what a right of way entitles you to do.To pass and repass along the line of the route, with what the law calls the usual accompaniments — a dog under control, a pushchair, a rucksack. It does not entitle you to leave the line of the path, to camp, to light fires or to stop for extended periods.
3. Learn what CROW open access land is.The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 gave a right of access on foot to mapped areas of mountain, moor, heath, down and registered common land in England and Wales, plus some dedicated land and, separately, much of the coastal margin along the England Coast Path. It is shown on OS Explorer maps with a pale yellow-orange wash and a boundary line.
4. Check the restrictions that apply on access land.Access is on foot only — no cycling or horse riding without a separate right. Dogs must be on a short lead from 1 March to 31 July and near livestock at all times. Landowners may close access land for up to 28 days a year and for specified operational reasons, and closures are published on the Natural England or Natural Resources Wales open access site. Camping, fires, swimming in some waters, and organised events are generally excluded.
5. Understand Scotland's completely different position.The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 created a statutory right of responsible access to most land and inland water in Scotland, for walking, cycling, riding, canoeing and wild camping, exercised in accordance with the Scottish Outdoor Access Code. The right does not extend to houses and their immediate curtilage, gardens, growing crops, school grounds, building sites, quarries and certain other places.
6. Know Northern Ireland is different again.Northern Ireland has very few recorded public rights of way and access to the countryside is largely by permission, agreement or on land held by public bodies and the National Trust. Waymarked ways, forest parks and country parks provide most of the accessible walking.
7. Find out what exists where you are going.Ordnance Survey Explorer and Landranger maps show rights of way and access land. Most local authorities publish the definitive map online. Scotland's core paths plans are published by each council. Where a route is not shown, do not assume it does not exist — and equally, do not assume a path on the ground is a right of way.
8. Deal with an obstructed path correctly.You may remove enough obstruction to get past, or go round it on the minimum necessary detour. Report blocked, ploughed or overgrown rights of way to the highway authority's rights of way officer — that is what maintains the network, and it works.
9. Know what trespass actually is.In England and Wales, ordinary trespass is a civil matter, not a criminal one, and a landowner may ask you to leave by the shortest route. Some places are criminal to enter — railway land, military ranges, certain designated sites — and aggravated trespass is a criminal offence. In Scotland the concept barely applies to responsible access.
10. Follow the Countryside Code or the Scottish Outdoor Access Code.Both are published free, both are short, and both are the basis on which the rights described here are defended. Gates, litter, dogs, livestock, crops and fire are the recurring points.

Tips

• A path on the ground is not necessarily a right of way, and a right of way on the map is not necessarily visible on the ground. The definitive map is the authority.
• Permissive paths are provided by a landowner voluntarily and can be withdrawn. They are often signed as such and are not on the definitive map.
• Historic unrecorded rights of way in England and Wales have faced a series of proposed cut-off dates for recording. If you know of an old route, local footpath societies are the people who record them.
• Access land does not include the right to camp anywhere in England and Wales — that is the difference that catches people out most.
• In Scotland, responsible access does not mean anything goes: avoiding fields with growing crops or young livestock, taking care during shooting and stalking seasons, and camping in small numbers for short periods are all part of it.

Common mistakes

• Assuming Scottish access rules apply in England — They are completely different legal systems. What is a statutory right in the Highlands is trespass on an English hillside outside access land.
• Treating open access land as somewhere you can camp or cycle — CROW access is on foot only and does not include camping. Both need the landowner's permission.
• Walking round an obstruction across a growing crop unnecessarily — You may take the minimum necessary detour, and a farmer is required to reinstate a path across a crop. Report it rather than trampling a wider area.

Questions people ask