Just had an email from the OS with information on cycle route planning. They have advice on how to plan where to ride, so far so good, but there is this graphic



Followed by this explanation

Bridleways, recreational routes and B roads are the best to cycle on. Open access land is also great for mountain biking. Go premium with OS Maps and you'll be able to see all of these features and plot routes on the 1:25k Explorer mapping layer.

No mention that the recreational route also needs to be a bridleway or highway so it seems to be suggesting that I can ride them even if they are footpaths? Also, mountain biking on open access land, is this allowed?

Have I been missing out all these years by only riding on bridleways or have the OS just sent the masses of new cyclists off to upset the red sock brigade?

LOLs from...

Oh. Never mind.

As far as I was aware there's no entitlement to ride across access land. I'm sure it even says such on OS maps ... maybe something's changed?

I thought that something odd had happened when I (with hindsight) realised that I'd linked some bridleways with a recreational route on a bike ride that I plotted on the app. It never used to be allowed to plot a bike ride on what is ostensibly a footpath, but I'll check this later.

From the OS website:

Open access land (England & Wales)

On our 1:25000 maps for England and Wales, some areas are shaded in yellow. This is open access land and within this area, you are free to roam. On 1:50000 Landranger mapping this is shown with a purple banding which includes symbols to differentiate between land owned by the National Trust, Forest Commission and Natural Resources Wales. Although there are footpaths and trails running across this land, you do not have to stick to them if you don’t want to.


There's no definition of the word "roam", whether that's on foot, bike or horseback.

https://www.gov.uk/right-of-way-open-ac ... ht-to-roam

What you can and cannot do
You can use access land for walking, running, watching wildlife and climbing.

There are certain activities you cannot usually do on open access land, including:

horse-riding
cycling
camping
taking animals other than dogs on to the land
driving a vehicle (except mobility scooters and powered wheelchairs)
water sports
But you can use access land for horse-riding and cycling if:

the landowner allows it
public bridleways or byways cross the land – horse riders and cyclists can ride along these
there are local traditions, or rights, of access

Yes, and No - from Gov.uk re: Open Access land:

"What you can and cannot do
You can use access land for walking, running, watching wildlife and climbing.

There are certain activities you cannot usually do on open access land, including:

horse-riding
cycling
camping
taking animals other than dogs on to the land
driving a vehicle (except mobility scooters and powered wheelchairs)
water sports
But you can use access land for horse-riding and cycling if:

the landowner allows it
public bridleways or byways cross the land – horse riders and cyclists can ride along these
there are local traditions, or rights, of access"

Stop gloating Colin..... EDIT - I meant re access, but you're welcome to gloat about beating me to the quotes.....

That was my understanding Colin.

The Cumbrian wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2020 1:27 pm From the OS website:

Open access land (England & Wales)

On our 1:25000 maps for England and Wales, some areas are shaded in yellow. This is open access land and within this area, you are free to roam. On 1:50000 Landranger mapping this is shown with a purple banding which includes symbols to differentiate between land owned by the National Trust, Forest Commission and Natural Resources Wales. Although there are footpaths and trails running across this land, you do not have to stick to them if you don’t want to.


There's no definition of the word "roam", whether that's on foot, bike or horseback.

Maybe someone in OS has had enough of govt and 'The Rules' and decided to reinterpret them... Maybe we're at the beginning of a revolution ...

Personally giving mtbers open access to all the trails including walking paths is just a recipe for disaster as some of our fellow colleague cyclists dont really think whats round the corner do they (bloomin idiots)...

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2020 1:59 pm
Personally giving mtbers open access to all the trails including walking paths is just a recipe for disaster as some of our fellow colleague cyclists dont really think whats round the corner do they (bloomin idiots)...

If only there was somewhere we could see such a right in operation in order to assess the extent of the problem.

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2020 2:04 pm

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2020 1:59 pm
Personally giving mtbers open access to all the trails including walking paths is just a recipe for disaster as some of our fellow colleague cyclists dont really think whats round the corner do they (bloomin idiots)...

If only there was somewhere we could see such a right in operation in order to assess the extent of the problem.

Scotland?? my test is based on 1 square mile .. I take your point

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2020 2:04 pm If only there was somewhere we could see such a right in operation in order to assess the extent of the problem.

Yes yes, we know ... you live in Scotland ... blah blah. You don't have to bring it up every time land access is mentioned.

Oh, I most definitely do. And will.

I had a quick look at the CROW Act online and I couldn't see any mention of bikes being prohibited. I always thought that bikes were prohibited though.

In the list of exclusions, you may not roam on open access land if you have any animal with you other than a dog so that excludes horse riding.

It was one of two balls dropped when they defined access land - the first being they pretty much had to negotiate every bit with the landowner rather than just setting a criteria and anything that met the criteria was in; which resulted in numerous cases of two identical bits of land, one being access land and the other being not. The second being making for walkers only - another concession to the landowner lobby, and as there was little in the way of a unifying voice for mountainbiking at the time, not enough people complained to get the right open for all non-motorised use.

Full access rights as per up here seem a far off dream but the concession that keeps getting bandied around is making all ROW's and access land available for all non-motorised use. Maybe the current push to get everyone walking and cycling is an opportunity to have another go??

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2020 2:04 pm If only there was somewhere we could see such a right in operation in order to assess the extent of the problem.

I looked but just couldn’t find the right symbol in the ‘smilies’ to convey the correct response

BigdummySteve wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2020 6:38 pm

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2020 2:04 pm If only there was somewhere we could see such a right in operation in order to assess the extent of the problem.

I looked but just couldn’t find the right symbol in the ‘smilies’ to convey the correct response