is there an issue with going for a long walk in the countryside?

[EricaNernie]

that is remote and accessible on foot?

why should this be for an hour?

If you walk outside, please choose a park and avoid farms

We especially need farmers at this time to stay healthy and keep producing half of our food

The other half is imported and may be reduced if some exporting countries need to keep more for themselves - which has already started

The right to roam is a damn sight less important than keeping up our domestic food supply

I've lived most of my life rurally and people over the years seem to have lost respect for the land and farm animals

Shocking amounts of litter and too many out of control dogs

Nah it’s the precious farmers

Yeah there has definitely been a change in attitude. People are far more entitled and less understanding

I might block the footpath outside my house. All these people walking in the pavements with their children, their dogs and their scooters.

🙄

Yeah there has definitely been a change in attitude. People are far more entitled and less understanding

Everywhere. Towns and countryside.

Public footpaths are just that. Farmers have plenty of space and the footpaths are there for people to use.

Unless they are actively endangering any animals you might own, then that would probably be unreasonable destroyer

Footpaths are there for people to use responsibly.

We’re talking about walking public footpaths in the countryside.

Unreasonable behaviour is unreasonable wherever it is. It’s not worse just because it’s in the countryside.

Footpaths are there for people to use responsibly.

I agree

The Welsh regs stipulate an hour. That the English and Scottish ones don't allows, clearly, for some discretion. Follow what you feel is right. Mumsnet is the last place you should be consulting.

If it's accessible on foot then it's clearly locsl and doesn't require a drive.

We're regularly walking in a nature reserve. Only because it pretty much backs onto our house

It's particularly bad because it can endanger animals and damage people's livelihoods. And also these are just normal people being thoughtless and stupid rather than deliberately dangerous, so there's more of them!

I have to say, I think farmers putting up blocks and barriers cause people to go off track in search of the footpath (that they were actually on, but think they’ve taken the wrong turn).

I would normally be very anti farmers blocking footpaths, but I can't have people leaving the gate open. Can't move dhorse for a couple of weeks. When I can move him into his other field I'll take the padlock off.

This is regulation 6. It would be better if people read the actual law and not the garbled, misunderstood versions run out here on thread after thread. www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/350/regulation/6/made

Someone posted last week that farmers don’t have any hand washing facilities so they’re worried about catching coronavirus on people touching their gates etc. (Posted on MN a few days ago. They’re a farmer I think. I’m not being rude)

But it does sound like there’s also a risk of catching it from a farmer (who has no hand washing facilities)....

(Not being disrespectful - just pointing out the obvious)

My advice is - go for your walk, enjoy but try not to touch gates etc have fun!

Tonyaster, if you've blocked a legal right of way people will just climb over. Or come back with wirecutters. How utterly childish.

This was in response to people who were either woefully ignorant or merely didn't give a shit who left a gate open. Which is worse than 'childish' fgs. If someone doesn't understand why gates must be closed, then maybe they shouldn't be out in the countryside.

I'm not a farmer, I'm a walker. I'd be pissed off if I came across a blocked off public right of way but at the moment I'd save my ire for eejits who don't understand that their right to use footpaths must be balanced by their responsibility not to endanger stock. Close gates, keep dogs under close control (which for most people including me means on a lead if there's animals in the field)

But for the OP who I'm sure knows how to walk sensibly, and isn't in one of the places being swarmed over, there doesn't seem any good reason not to walk for hours.

I will concede that I've seen an increase in dogshit in the nature reserve, as well as local footpaths. Some people are just filthy.

I have to say, I think farmers putting up blocks and barriers cause people to go off track in search of the footpath (that they were actually on, but think they’ve taken the wrong turn).

So what is your solution if people are leaving gates open?

This virus lives on surfaces for 24-72 hours and is spreading that way. When you touch gates and styles then another walker does and another it can and is spreading that way. Please do go for your walk and enjoy it but bear that in mind and minimise contact with any items and take gel or wipes if you can. Act as if you have it, act as if others have it. Enjoy your walk and stay safe. Don’t let it scare you but do let it make you be prepared and cautious.

That depends destroyer if people using the footpath outside your house were regularly diverting to play football in your house, wrecking equipment vital to your work and reducing your income, feeding your dog chocolate, letting your dc onto the road, parking on your lawn, shitting in your flowerbeds and meandering around your house claiming they thought it was part of the footpath then I'd also completely agree with you blocking the footpath.

So what is your solution if people are leaving gates open?

Style by the gate. Kissing gate. Self closing ates on springs. Steps over wall by the gate etc

There are plenty of solutions

Yes, none of which i can implement at the moment. We will put a stile next to the gate when things get back to normal and i can get someone out to do it.

Public footpaths are just that. Farmers have plenty of space and the footpaths are there for people to use.

Farmers own the footpaths and the land they cross through. The public have a right to use them to move from A to B, no other reason.

What exactly do you mean by 'farmers have plenty of space'? It's not like having a big garden, every single acre has a purpose and is being used in some way even if it's not obvious to a non farming person.

For example, that nice green empty field is where we are letting grass grow for sheep and twin lambs to move into next week. It's not a big empty playground for your dog and children to have a run around.

Can you imagine the outrage if someone suggested that the next door neighbour has plenty of space in their garden so they should unilaterally budge over and share it with all the people down the road who don't have a big garden?