Never mind all this roaming stuff. I'd rather the money had been spent prosecuting landowners who continue to sod up the existing public footpath network.
On a simple 6 mile wander along footpaths a few miles from home in Cheshire on "Freedom Sunday", we encountered 6 stretches of footpath totally obliterated by ploughing, ignored several "Bull Loose in Field" notices, had to swarm under three electric fences, and were chased by two mares in another field.
My wife ended up climbing over a fence to get away from them and we were then chased by the landowner. Apparently she didn't want people climbing her fence, and it was the horses' field anyway, so what did we expect?
Can't help feeling that a lot of people venturing out into the Great British Countryside for the first time as a result of all the attention are going to end up very, very disappointed.
The whole thing is underfunded, badly organised, and nothing more than a cheap stunt by Tony and pals. I'm even more upset because I seem to be agreeing with the Landowners which goes totally against the grain.
What does everybody else think?
Posted: 21/09/2004 at 20:13
