Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Difference between a "path" and a "footpath"?

+0
−0

I was chacking a map to see access rights on a particular route I know. I was checking if a path was a bridleway or footpath as I know Mountain Bikes should only use bridleways. Studying the key closely though I became a little confused. If you look at the below section of map:

enter image description here

and look at the key for the paths shown here. The black dotted line is shown as a path:

enter image description here

and the green line is a "footpath":

enter image description here

What exactly is the difference?

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/q/14320. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

2 answers

+1
−0

A path indication on the map means that when the mapper mapped it there was physically a path on the ground. It gives no indication as to who is or is not allowed to use that path.

The brown background indicates "access land". You can walk on this land subject to some restrictions. This applies regardless of whether there happens to be a path. "access land" is a relatively recent concept. It does not in of itself give any permission to cycle or ride horses.

The green markings indicate public rights of way. A public footpath is somewhere that people are legally allowed to walk even if the landowner doesn't much like the idea.

A public bridleway similarly allows the public to walk, cycle or ride horses.

A restricted byway aditionally allows non-motorised vehicles and a full byway allows all traffic.

Often if you look carefully you will see that the green "public right of way" markings are printed on top of a marking indicating what (path/track/etc) is actually on the ground. Sometimes the official route of the right of way doesn't exactly line up with the actual path. You can see this on your map where there is a "kink" in the public right of way but the actual path underneath goes straight through.

Unfortunately while public footpaths, bridleways and byways are explicitly marked on OS maps there seems to be no disctinction on the map between public and private roads.

You also get "permissive footpaths" where the landowner has decided to allow people to walk and permissive bridleways where the landowner has decided to allow people to walk/cycle/horseride. These are indicated in orange on the OS maps. The importand difference from public footpaths/bridleways is that the landowner can revoke the permission.

Note that the above applies to England and Wales. In Scotland public rights of way are not shown on OS maps because there is no definitive map of them, only historic convention.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/14331. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

+0
−0

On Ordnance Survey maps in England and Wales, the brown background shows access land: see this legend. On such access land, access on foot is permitted anywhere. You cannot cycle here.

A path is a geographic feature. A public right of way is just that, a right. It may be on a road, a track, a path, or simply through a field. If you look carefully, you will see the symbol for a path directly underneath the symbol for a public right of way in many cases.

Outside access land, paths can exist on private land that does not have a public right of way.

I'm not sure if public rights of way for footpaths have any meaning on access land.

Access land screenshot

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/14326. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »