It's often a surprise to me which posts generate informed and useful additional feedback, comment, information, and so forth. My recent post about a public footpath, and what is allowed on there, was one that rather took off on Facebook. [link - original article]

Phil writes: I am certain that pushing a cycle on a public footpath is allowed, but riding a bike is not...

Robin writes: Perhaps you are allowed to carry your horse through. I think you need to distinguish between a private footpath with permission to use, communal access, right of way, and bridleway.Public right of way, ancient right of way, ancient public right of way, public footpath, roadway, motorway, waterway, highway, byway - this could ramble on. In some of these the landowner has to keep the path in good condition, may or may not be able to charge or restrict access, may not even be required to provide a paved area instead of simple unobstructed access, and god knows how any of that applies to someone not obliged to pave a public right of way who does so, then grumbles about liability for damage.

Nigel tweets: Not exactly matching yr q re cycle, but it's legal (case law) to wheel a cycle on footway, (pavement) so suggests same for footpath.

OK ... I limited my initial comments to "public footpath" because this would get to a really complex set of "if" and "but" and "except" statements if I tried to go wider, and would have provided more questions than answers.


To my understanding, a public footpath is the lowest (least rights allowed) form of access that's provided in the law by right to people.

• Landowners may provide - if they wish - a permissive path, choosing to let the public cross or walk on their land. I may have read somewhere that if such a permissive path is available every day for 40 years without any restriction, it becomes a public right of way - not sure on exactly how that works, but you find occasional things like a path that's closed on Christmas day - presumably to stop them becoming public. These "permissive paths" are a form of private footpath with permission to use.

• Communal access. Where the right to use a path, owned by one person or group, exists if you're (example) the owner of another property nearby of a member of the group. Paths at the end of a terrace of houses that allow access around the back are a good example.

• Bridleway adds the right to ride a horse. And (maybe) to herd sheep and other animals along.

• Byway adds further the right to take a motor vehicle, but does not add any duty of maintainance onto the landowner.

Let's leave the catalogue there - we're getting well away from public footpath.


Have you ever found a footpath in the countryside has been ploughed up or has a crop growing on it?

Another interesting question as to "what is the landowner oblidged to do"?". I understand there are different designations for different paths - some have to be restored to passable condition within a certail time, and others may be allowed to simply be "refound". Normal walking maps don't tell you which are which ... but this distinction may help to explain why some paths seem to be specially cut through crops and others are "push through" jobs, and why some ploughed fields have a strip carefully left / reset for the footpath where others don't. I used to think it was down to whther the landowner was public-friendly, but apparently there's more to it than that.

Open Access Land.

Under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CROW), the public can walk freely on mapped areas of mountain, moor, heath, downland and registered common land without having to stick to paths. See [here]. The new rights came into effect across all of England on 31 October 2005. In our immediate area, the maps show them to include Norrington Common, Broughton Gifford Common, and some land between the B3107 and the river Avon just to the west of Melksham.


Images all from my Whaddon walk - see [here] for more pictures.
(written 2011-04-04)

 Z301 - Current Affairs
  [3720] Melksham ATC - freedom of the town - (2012-05-05)
  [3646] Exploring Melksham with a film maker - (2012-03-09)
  [3467] Charities v Charitable. The cost of collecting your donation. - (2011-10-06)
  [3385] Do university courses teach the right things for life at work later on? - (2011-08-10)
  [3357] Business, priorities, and volunteering - (2011-07-14)
  [3347] The Anthony trial - Orange County, Florida. Thoughts on conclusion - (2011-07-06)
  [3282] The future of canal management and charities - Kennet and Avon Canal bias - (2011-05-08)
  [3265] Alternative Vote (AV) - cutting the crap - (2011-04-25)
  [3228] What can you take on a public footpath? Pram? Wheelbarrow? Dog? Shopping Trolley? Horse? Cycle? - (2011-04-03)
  [3183] Redevelopment on the banks of the Avon in Melksham - (2011-02-25)
  [3126] Car Parking in Melksham - thoughts on the proposed scheme, and wider thoughts too - (2011-01-09)
  [3030] Liquorice allsorts and Dolly Mixtures - (2010-11-05)
  [3028] VAT rise in January - it is really up 14% not just 2.5% - (2010-11-03)
  [2995] A river in Melksham is not just for boaters. - (2010-10-11)
  [2982] Travel, Transport and Tourism - A vision for Melksham, 2026 - (2010-10-03)
  [2904] Melksham Area Board meeting of last week - (2010-08-04)
  [2852] Atworth Village Fete - on the Melksham Community Area Partnership stand - (2010-07-04)
  [2776] Regional Spatial Strategy and the next 20 years - Whence Wiltshire under the new government? - (2010-05-22)
  [2666] Random thoughts on Melksham Town Planning and development - (2010-03-08)
  [2602] East of Melksham - Building Work Starts - (2010-01-28)
  [2574] Summary of Wiltshire Core Strategy responses - (2010-01-13)
  [2514] The road show has been - where now? - (2009-11-27)
  [2508] Community Area Partnership - inaugural AGM - (2009-11-20)
  [2289] pre-Inaugural briefing - Melksham Community Area Partnership - (2009-07-15)
  [2128] Wiltshire - where everybody matters - (2009-04-13)
  [2112] Whatever next ... the joys of being an employer - (2009-04-01)
  [1987] One Cheer for Local Democracy - Asda in Melksham - (2009-01-11)
  [1960] Christmas Survivors - (2008-12-25)
  [1275] Incident in Melksham - (2007-07-24)
  [1214] New Serieses for the summer on TV - (2007-06-02)
  [614] News in Ireland - (2006-02-20)
  [377] A Strengthened City - (2005-07-14)
  [33] 10 Years of experience - (2004-08-30)

Z531 - Cycling and Walking
  [3689] Can I cycle or ride my mobility scooter on the pavement? - (2012-04-07)
  [3580] Melksham Area - buses, trains, cycles, and roads. Meeting, 17.1.2012 - (2012-01-15)
  [3579] Transport in Cambridgeshire - seen by an outside observer. What can Wiltshire learn? - (2012-01-15)
  [2707] A walk on the Kennet and Avon - (2010-04-04)
  [2858] The healthy option - away from the private car - (2010-07-07)
  [2704] A walk within without - Melksham Without - (2010-04-02)
  [3216] Images of a Spring Walk - (2011-03-27)
  [2709] Old trackways and routes near Melksham - (2010-04-05)
  [2253] Walks in and around Melksham, Wiltshire - (2009-06-21)
  [3023] Autumn walk from Bowerhill - (2010-10-31)
  [1802] Motorcycles welcome at Well House Manor - (2008-09-19)
  [2958] What do these road markings mean? Could Confusion Kill? - (2010-09-17)
  [2490] Friendly Hotel in Melksham, near Bath - (2009-11-02)
  [3376] Kennet and Avon - Walk from Bedwyn to Pewsey. TransWilts day out. - (2011-08-01)
  [1640] Walking on The Wiltshire Downs - (2008-05-12)

Back to Whaddon - near us and yet so remote from us

Previous and next or Horse's mouth home

Forward to Around and about Melksham in more pictures

How we make our programming courses both time and cost effective
Your program - you just provide the filling in the sandwich
C / C++ Course Lunch - sitting out at the West End
Around and about Melksham in more pictures
Footpath, Bridleway, Byway, Road used as Public Path
Whaddon - near us and yet so remote from us
Coincidence, or naturally repeating event?
Her favourite store
A busy morning for railway announcements