Open Access Arrives This Weekend

The Right To Roam finally becomes a reality this Sunday 19 September - or at least it does in a swathe of the Derbyshire Peak District, Lancashire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, most of Lancashire and parts of Yorkshire as well as areas in the south east.

The first part of the phased introduction of the long-awaited Countryside and Rights of Way Acr (CRoW) will open up approximately 100 square miles of land in the Peak District National Park for example, more than doubling the area available to walkers.

It'll mean that walkers will be able to explore open moorland away from paths in areas which have been designated as open access land. But how do you know what's open and what isn't? In the Peak Park some 400 new gates and styles have been installed along with 250 new signs wherever the open country is accessible and the areas should be marked on new OS maps.

Right now though, you can find plenty of information available on line at www.peakdistrict.org/crow/intro.htm which includes a map showing the 'Conclusive Open Country' available to walkers from this Sunday. For really detailed, searchable and zoomable maps, you want the Countryside Agency Open Access maps at www.openaccess.gov.uk .

So can you just wander off anywhere? Er, not quite. First, the area has to be open under the new legislation - see maps, signs etc - and you must be a walker, not a mountain biker or rider, though obviously existing rights of way are still valid for these. You cannot walk through people's gardens - particularly Madonna's - or through crops, dogs must be kept on a lead between March 1 and July 31 and at any time near livestock. You can't light fires, camp, or bathe in non-tidal waters without the landowner's permission and landowners can close the land for up to 28 days per year for any reason.

'Gate to Freedom' in today's Society Guardian - society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,,1304224,00.html

and for general walking information, the Ramblers' Association web site: www.ramblers.org.uk