Public Footpaths

Following my last post I had an interesting set of questions from Mick in Australia.
We (I) can tend to take for granted what surrounds us.
Most of the following applies to England and Wales as Scotland may have slightly different rules and regulations.

What is a Public Footpath? Put simply it is a legal right of way across private land.
Most will date back hundreds of years though occasionally new ones are added.
Every local authority has to keep a definitive map / record of every Public Footpath in their area.

There are several types of Public Footpath, each with different rules on who can use it.

They are marked by signs with different colours.
This explanation from Walks Around Britain:



There are hundreds of miles of Public Footpath across the country:

My local area from Footpathmap.co.uk:



The vast majority of Public Footpaths are across rough open or farm land though occasionally one will go through someone's garden. It is normally the land owners' responsibility to make sure any footpath on their land is free of obstruction. Some are jointly maintained by local authorities. Some in my village usually have vegetation trimmed twice a year.

Where a Public Footpath meets or crosses a highway there should be a sign to indicate its presence.

   

There can also be small coloured arrows to indicate the direction of the footpath:

   





There can be conflict between land owners and footpath users.
Much can be caused by irresponsible dog owners not keeping their pets under control, especially where footpaths go through fields containing livestock.