Enjoy the Great Outdoors Responsibly

Take Care of Your Enviroment!

It's always important to be responsible when enjoying the outdoors, as naturally others want to enjoy it too! Being responsible is really quite easy too.  

5 simple tips on looking after your host, the countryside:

1. Plan ahead, read signs as you go - they are there to inform and help make you safe.

2. Clear-up all of your rubbish when you leave your site or picnic spot - take others' rubbish too.

3. Close field and path gates behind you - don't let the animals escape!

4. Protect plants and animals by sticking to marked footpaths

5. If the rock or part of the path falls beneath you, consider whether it would be safe to replace it securely inorder to avoid erosion. If this does not seem possible, then contact the local warden, or the local authority that manages the land (such as the National Trust or Wildlife Trust) to make them aware of the problem.  Soil erosion can be a big problem for some areas of the countryside.

Path and Trail Waymarks

Know your signs!  

There are appproximately 1.4 million hectares (or 3.4 million acres) of land available to freely walk on.  This is called access land, where you can walk 'off the beaten track', as suggested by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.  

So there's no excuse for not keeping to access land!


To avoid being in the wrong place at the wrong time, make sure you can read a map and up-date yourself with the local tourist board, to help understand borders, transport routes and available access.

Make sure you understand the map by using it's key.  

It's a very easy to understand piece of information and can help with getting an understanding of routes and landmarks as you go.  Click here to learn to read a map and use a compass

Ordnance Survey maps are regarded as the benchmark for clear and accurate maps and provide a great level of detail, both informing you of your route as well as teaching you about the surrounding area.  

Advice specific to mountain bikers

Many of the Walk and Ramble team are mountain bikers too, so we know the impact we can have on the countryside if riders are not responsible with how they use it.  Not only can mountain biking damage the countryside but it also gives us a bad name, so here's some tips on mountain biking responsibly.

- Make sure you read the more general advice above, as these apply to you, too.

- Mountain biking is often more fun and stress-free when you use designated mountain bike trails.  These trails are often labelled as easy, moderate, hard or technical, so you know exactly whether they're appropriate for families or riders looking for a more challenging ride.  By using mountain bike trails, you're less likely to make walkers irate for using them as slalom gates too!  It also means you're more likely to meet other mountain bikers.

- When mountain biking, ensure you know your route well, use a map and compass if necessary to avoid straying from designated paths and trails.

Keep your eye on these signs, as these help keep you on the right bridleways for cyclists.

Advice specific to dog walkers

Dog walking is a particularly popular activity in the countryside as it's great to give your companion the stretch it needs in plenty of space.  It's equally important through to be responsible with how the dog interacts with the countryside.  Here's so tips on how to walk your dog responsibly:

- Ensure your dog does not disturb of scare farm animals or wildlife, as this is illegal and not nice for the animals. On most areas of open country and common land, known as 'access land', you must keep your dog on a short lead (2m fixed length) between 1 March and 31 July, and all year around farm animals.

- You do not need to put your dog on a lead on public paths, as long as it is under control.

- If a farm animal chases you and/or your dog, it is safer to let your dog off the lead.

- Always clean up after your dog to maintain the countryside for others to enjoy too.

Responsible Travel & Accomodation

There are many ways to enjoy the countryside in an ethical and responsible way.  Here are a few tips on doing so whilst making as little impact on the surrounding area...

Responsible Travel & Transport

Leave your car keys at home
- Using public transport to minimise the carbon footprint is one great benefit of travelling by such means, but consider the benefits of the peace and quiet of their being fewer cars, less erosion of banks from parked cars and the chance to nosey out of the window without the need to keep an eye on the road.

- Do you really need to fly?  Try trains, buses, tuktuks - they can be much more fun too!  

- Pedal power - you'll be surprised how many miles you can do on a bike and you can get loads of kit in a couple of panniers for longer stays...many places have bikes for hire.


Camp & Backpack in Responsible Accommodation

- Camping is a low-budget, low enviromental impact form of accomodation and done properly is a great way of enjoying the outdoors.

- Enjoy the outdoors by staying in a local farm, hostel, hotel or guest house - this way you will be supporting the local economy and the countryside is right on your door step.

- There are now several responsible travel organisations that book package holidays geared up for people looking to travel greener, more ethically and responsibly.

 - Buy locally - support your hosts by buying goods and services from local sources.

Wild Camping and Backpacking

Increasingly popular is for people to go 'wild camping'.  This is where they will not stay on a campsite but rather camping out in the open access countryside, without facilities, amentities and away from civilisation!  

The rules around wild camping can be a bit of a greay area and differs from Scotland to England and Wales, so we recommend always speaking to the local authority for the land first to get up-to-date information. The general gist of it is that in England and Wales it is against the law, but at times, tolerated.  It would therefore not make sense for use to promote this form of camping but it does not mean to say that you should rule it out.  In Scotland, the rules are more liberal, whereby as long as certain precautions are made it is perfectly acceptable to wild camp.  But here's some tips to minimise your impact on your environment:

Spread out the Impact

If you're with a large group of people, instinct tells you to huddle the tents together to create protection from the wind, rain and to stay sociable, but in reality this can cause damage to the local environment.  Spread the tents around an area for minmal impact.

Respect your Environment

Remember that people may be making their living from the land - if you drop rubbish that injures one of their livestock, this naturally has repurcussions that was obviously not seen at the time.  Their is also cosmetic damage along with toxic damage to the land too. Simply be mindful on the wider impact of your behaviour on the land.

If you are camping there, and create 1% damage to the area, image what 100 more campers will create. Be aware that repeat and congregational spots can cause a great deal of damage that takes time to recover.  

Camp as unobtrusivley as possible - tuck yourself away behind trees, hills, as you don't want to interrupt the scenery and peace for others. Noise can travel a long way from tents and disturb wildlife too.  Keep lighting down to a minimum as light travels a long way in the wilderness.

If you're unsure, check with someone that might know, if you're still in doubt, don't do it. The freedom to wild camp is a priveledge to enjoy the natural countyside and wilderness so make sure it retains it's reputations for some of the finest natural scenery around.

Do not stay for longer than 3 nights in the same place. Aim to move frequently to avoid permanent damage.

Vegetation is more sensitive to damage at altitude, camp in valleys where possible.

Avoid fires where ever possible.  Dried wood are insects homes and fire can be particularly difficult to contain on peaty soil.

Leave the site as you found it

Carry all rubbish with you, even other people's as it can harm wildlife and take many years to biodegrade.

If your moving boulders from a site to pitch your tent, make sure you return them to the same spot, facing the same way up - these could be homes for animals and plants.

Wild Camping Hygiene

Always find a spot more than 30m (40 strides or more) away from water sources when going to the toilet.

Bury excrement in a small hole or lift a flap of turf, carry a bag for sanitary products.  Tea bags are a good item to help reduce any odour.

Plan ahead, and remember to consider not only your impact, but the repeated impact of others enjoying the same wild camping experience.  

Visit the Walk and Rambling Outdoor Shop or click here for specialist backpacking equipment.

---

This information is povided as a guide only, and is not continually up-dated.  It might, therefore be helpful to also check with your local authority, Countryside Agency or other authority such as the National Trust or Forestry Commision, for more information, in particular to access and tresspassing.  Some of the information above was has been recommended by the Mountaineering Council of Scotland.