The right to roam … but you have to trespass to get there. England’s countryside rules are truly absurd | Simon Jenkins

It is a scandal that 2,500 beauty spots are designated as places to walk and enjoy, but no one can legally reach them except the landowners

Every country walker knows the cry. Where the hell is the footpath? A right of way with no signpost is not a legal right at all. It is an invitation to trespass.

The revelation that 2,500 areas of English countryside that supposedly enjoy a “right to roam” can be reached only by trespassing over private land is absurd. It means that some 2,700 hectares of open...