To just ask you all to either wear some proper wellies and walk on the footpath, or stick to the sodding pavements

[flamingflamingos]

This is my field. It's winter wheat - it's been ploughed and pressed and drilled and rolled and just as it's starting to grow into what will be harvested for flour to produce bread, the general public have trampled it into the ground.

I understand the need to get outside, absolutely I support this country's network of footpaths - we have 6km of footpaths on this farm which are maintained so that everyone can enjoy the countryside.

But this is taking the piss. If you don't want to walk in the mud, don't walk in the countryside in January. Please, stop this. We are all accountable for how we behave.

I don’t really understand. Nobody would choose to walk through mud if there is a footpath available. I live in a very rural area and there are no paths or pavements, I would love to walk on a path.

This shows the problem. April, who posted the above, is clearly clueless rather than malicious, and can’t compute the idea that a footpath could be muddy and a) still be a footpath and b) it not be the landowner’s fault or responsibility.
This thread demonstrates that there is widespread ignorance about rural footpaths and rights of way.
There’s no easy solution: Facebook posts; informative signage ... farmers and landowners have my sympathy.

I can’t wait until we’re Covid free and people can go back to whatever they used to do!

Best one was a meadow walk near me to a coffee shack. Only accessible by foot. On FB people sharing ways to drive there through private property as if that’s totally acceptable.

I've been running trail on the local rights of way for the past 6 years or so. We have heavy clay so unless I'm particularly in the mood for a mudfest, I reduce the frequency of trail running and become more selective about routes and avoid the most swampy, and divert off to gritted trails a short drive away.

It's been clear since the spring that footfall has been higher than usual. Paths have widened. Signs appeared on one landowner's land clarifying where paths are, where paths aren't and about putting dogs on leads. On one of my regular routes, by late November/ early December, it looked more churned up than I've seen it by the end of some rather squelchy winters.
I'm doing a lot more tedious local pavement pounding because I don't want to destroy the fields that I enjoy running through for most of the year, and my other winter routes are clogged up with all the extra people with nowhere else to go, not so much a problem in itself as the abundance of them that seem oblivious to the existence of other people and manage to walk in formation across the entire bloody path (probably a fair proportion of these causing OP's issues too.)

I hope for everyone's sakes that the land dries out quickly this spring and recovers, and farmers don't end up with excess damage from dog-worried livestock and trampled spring crops.

There is a section of society that is at best, ignorant about how to look after the land, and as last summer's weather showed, bloody feckless with it. Far too many beauty spots were trashed and treated like a freebie festival site (and they shouldn't be treated like a rubbish dump either)

This (hopefully photo works) was what a landowner pissed off with dogs going for his horses did near me. How many of you moaning that the OP should fence off her land would then complain about her ruining the countryside if this was to pop up?

It's not attractive, it's probably shit for the wildlife, but people just wouldn't stick to the footpaths or keep their dogs on leads.

@OhMsBeliever I've heard about something like this before. Absolutely horrific, that is a conflict gone too far.

I try to be patient and put my point across patiently and we've been very lucky that ignorance here has (so far) only extended to crop damage rather than a danger to our livestock.

I bet no one but no one enjoys that footpath. This should always be a rare exception rather than the rule

I bet that fence wasn't cheap.

that fence would cost a fortune.
however its clear that the photo was taken in summer with dry ground.
At this time of year its going to be an impassable med fest, like the bit of ground where the OPs original footpath runs.
which would mean it was impassible. And people wouldnt use it, they would use their common sense and walk elsewhere. which is really what should be happening now with any footpath thats bad. Except people dont seem to think that, they seem to think their right to march over peoples fields supercedes any damage to land and crops.

yes you have a right of way, but that comes with the responsibility to use it sensibly

Drives me nuts. Even if the Op fenced it off, I guarantee some idiots would rip it down. In a local field, the farmer kept replacing the stile then gave up when it was smashed down for the millionth time because some idiots wanted to ride their shitty dirt bikes through the stile gap. Shocking.

People presumably can't walk anywhere else as they're not allowed to go anywhere thats not local to them. Hence footpaths are particularly churned up this year.

Those two women being fined for driving 6 miles to a reservoir for a socially distanced walk and being accused of picnicing, even though their fines were reversed, won't have helped much either. Who wants to be quizzed by the police when you drive to a local park or forest trails to walk?

@Frenchdressing

I can’t wait until we’re Covid free and people can go back to whatever they used to do!

Best one was a meadow walk near me to a coffee shack. Only accessible by foot. On FB people sharing ways to drive there through private property as if that’s totally acceptable.

Me too. I feel for the puppies these idiots will have bought in lockdown though, having enjoyed their sumer walks and not having had the foresight to remember walking in winter is muddy.

I follow a lot of farmers on Twitter. Gates left open. Newly planted hedges trampled. Crops trampled. Sheep killed. And these are just from the 200 people I follow. We need a Government campaign.

It was only a week into the first lockdown that we went to one of our usual walk routes and there was a dead ram with a sign saying “A dog did this. KEEP THEM ON A LEAD”.
People were also wandering into fields to have picnics, leaving their rubbish behind, cutting through farmland because the public footpath rises sharply and they obviously can’t be arsed to get out of breath.
Lighting disposable bbqs in summer and fuck the delicate balance of the moorland they destroy.
We’ve given up going there now, too many idiots. Walked there for 20+ years, never seen anything like it.

A ram dead? Wow, those wee bastards are quite aggressive. Big dog methinks.

@lljkk

A ram dead? Wow, those wee bastards are quite aggressive. Big dog methinks.

Yep. Never seen that before in many years of walking there, although there’s always twats who think ‘Dog on lead’ doesn’t apply to them. It can walk perfectly to heel, can it? Brilliant - it won’t mind a loose slip lead draped across its shoulders then, will it?

Imagine going somewhere to enjoy the scenery and ambience trashing it for everyone else!

Neat where we live is a small beach, away from the big tourist beaches. Tricky to get to. Zero facilities. We walk there in the summer, through a tiny village. Usually deserted. This year......... packed. Cars parked all over the road, blocking people in, in front of field gates, dog shit bags and rubbish all Over. Camper vans parking overnight despite it saying no overnight parking. A lovely little cove totally trashed. And yes, we were there but we live there and have been going for years.

I feel annoyed for you! As a regular hiker I stick to footpaths using the ordnance survey app (aside from the very few occasions when I’ve become geographically misplaced!) and I am always so grateful for how well our footpaths are maintained. I thank anyone who makes my hiking possible! What I find really sad is that lockdown has forced many people out, into walking abs hiking and it’s not something they’re used to, they don’t respect the land, leaving gates open, litter everywhere abs ruining paths. I had hoped that the first lockdown would get people outside and show them the importance of respecting the environment, the world and each other but sadly it seems this is not so. I did read somewhere that offenders could be fined but I’m not sure how this would work. Sorry you’ve had to put up with this.

It’s an expense you shouldn’t have to go to but just fence the route off either side and keep the morons on the path itself

Electric fencing to keep the ejeets on the path

Frankly and sadly, in these times you have to put up bright coloured plastic boundary fencing in pin strands on the perimeter of your fields, otherwise you will lose a chunk of next years crop, good luck xx

You shouldn’t have to electric fences footpath in, energiser £100 - £300, hundred or more meters of wire and stakes then being arsed to charge the battery. And that’s if some twunt from nearby town / village doesn’t nick any of the above or zap their dog and rip it down.
Wellies only stick to the footpath. I’d buy some spray paint and just highlight it. Anyone seen outside of this will have it closed until better weather comes. I know legally you can’t buy I bloody would!

We've had the same here. Fences cut, human shit in hedges, stock disturbed, lots of litter. The very wet weather hasn't helped the ground.

If people want the countryside to look like the countryside, and not be forced down fenced routes, they need to respect and not abuse the footpath system.

Apologies for all above poor grammar and typos. I think my phone takes great pride in making me look totally illiterate and poorly educated.

We have done a lot of walking around fields on public paths during this past year and we have been very careful. We wear walking boots and make sure we keep to the sometimes very muddy paths. We also have sticks to keep us upright. On Sunday we noticed that tiny shoots were coming up in the field alongside the path where we walking and were shocked at the amount of footprints in the field and the number of downtrodden shoots. If we feel that the footpath is just too muddy, we just turn back, no matter how tempting the vegetative areas might be to get us to the next part of our walk. Farmers are the guardians of the countryside and we should help them in their work.

Try signage stating stick to the paths, crops growing. Acts as a reminder.

Also one of those easily moved electric fences in areas where there’s lots of mud or no clear direction.

Just realised how expensive electric fencing is!

Good signage to remind people to stay on path and those footpath arrows regularly placed