Calling Scottish Hackers

Miss L Toe

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I wonder if anyone has found hacking has improved since the "responsible open access" legislation came in to effect twenty years ago. This should allow both carriages and horses access to the countryside, but it does not.
I know the BHS have access officers, but they are not proactive, I don't know if they are "doing something", there is no evidence of it.
It is not working round here, farmers don't want people trampling all over their fields, I don't blame them, estate owners don't want them unless they pay [some loophole about existing payments for entry to country parks].
The wind-farms are being built with cattle grids and padlocked gates, using kissing gates for pedestrian use only.
I have tried BHS, but it is a waste of time.
The only hacking I can use is a one mile track which goes up to the top of a "viewpoint", the "access" bridge is obviously unsafe, so only pedestrians could use it.
 
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Merlin11

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The only decent hacking around here is Blairadam Forest owned by forestry commission. It's a 15-20 minute box ride away. We can also see a country park from our house but can't get there without going on dangerous roads. It is not possible to get there through the fields due to farmers gates etc. The fife core paths are meant to be coming in soon to remedy this but I am not too hopeful. In summary I don't think it has improved - the situation appears to be getting worse. I think the borders may be better.
 

Miss L Toe

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The only decent hacking around here is Blairadam Forest owned by forestry commission. It's a 15-20 minute box ride away. We can also see a country park from our house but can't get there without going on dangerous roads. It is not possible to get there through the fields due to farmers gates etc. The fife core paths are meant to be coming in soon to remedy this but I am not too hopeful. In summary I don't think it has improved - the situation appears to be getting worse. I think the borders may be better.
One problem about core paths or whatever is that they kind of assume that people can get to them, which is fairly easy on a bike, but not with a horse. I also do wish the authorities would refran from plastering the countryside with huge red and white noticeboards, saying PATHWAY .........
I think I have seen signs with "core road" on them, but a bit like the cycle tracks which deposit riders on to a busy main road, they are existing, little used roads linking main roads. The main effort has been put in to "surveys" and "signposting", and none in to opening new access routes, a signpost does not make a road more accessible!
For pedestrians there are also hundreds of tiny blue and white finger signposts which take pedestrians away from the main road, yes, up side-streets which run parallel to the main road, it is a farce really.
I have no box, but if I had I would go the Eglinton country park which charges, but has proper hacking including little canter tracks . It is forty minutes away, so not a daily option.
Grump at Eglington by the way .......... they have made access for driving events more difficult, so the organisers are now looking for a new venue. They once had a lovely water splash for carriages but is is now blocked by a very ugly barrier.
 
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fidleyspromise

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I have only been riding since the legislation has been in place.
I wouldn't go through a field unless I'd asked the farmer for permission - doesn't matter what the legislation says, to me this is politeness :D
I have 5 minutes road work and then I'm in the forest, or cross busy B road and I'm in another forest.

I've found the Forestry Commission to be good and they keep their paths clear. We complained about one path that had many fallen trees down and I'd had to get pony to jump several trees, and the next time I went up, I took a look, and they'd cleared them all away.

There was one field beside us had deer fencing put up and a cattle grid but the owner also put a gate in, for horse riders to go through.

Has hacking improved since the legislation? Probably not as the decent places to ride are those the forestry commission look after, which was possibly always the way?
 
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