What Counts as Open Access Land

Moorland walking in the UK rests on a patchwork of rights, and the most generous of them is open access land. These are mapped areas of mountain, moor, heath, down and registered common land where you have a right to roam on foot. In England and Wales this comes from the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000; in Scotland, the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 grants broader statutory access over most land, as long as you behave responsibly.

Look for the open access symbol — a walker on a brown background — on gates, stiles and waymark posts. But never assume every stretch of heather is open. Some moorland is private, some is permissive (access granted by the landowner and withdrawable at any time), and some sits inside military ranges where red flags mean keep out. A little time spent reading the map before you leave the car park saves awkward conversations and wrong turns later.

Your Freedoms — and the Lines You Don't Cross

On access land you may walk, run, climb, picnic, take photographs and watch wildlife. That is a genuine freedom, and on a quiet peat moor at dawn it feels like one. What it does not include is everything else:

• Cycling and horse riding are not permitted on access land in England and Wales (Scotland's access rights do cover these, where the ground can take it).
• Camping, fires, stoves and disposable barbecues are excluded. A single spark on dry heather can become a wildfire that burns for days.
• Commercial activity and metal detecting require the landowner's permission.
• Swimming and fishing are not access rights; reservoirs and rivers have their own rules.

Check Restrictions Before You Set Off

Access is not unconditional. Land managers can close access land for up to 28 days a year without seeking permission, and longer closures can be arranged for land management, nature conservation, fire risk or public safety. Grouse shooting days, lambing, forestry operations and water catchment works are all common reasons for a temporary closure.

Practical checks worth doing the evening before:

• Look at the access and restrictions maps published by the relevant national park authority or countryside body.
• Check the weather at height, not in the valley. Moorland windchill and fog arrive fast.
• Note any red flag systems or byelaws on military ranges — they apply even at weekends.
• Tell someone your route and expected return time, and carry a paper map and compass alongside your phone.

Dogs, Livestock and Ground-Nesting Birds

On access land in England, dogs must be on a short lead between 1 March and 31 July to protect ground-nesting birds, and at all times around livestock. This is not bureaucratic fussiness: curlew, lapwing, golden plover, skylark and merlin all nest on the open moor, and a loose dog can clear a whole hillside of breeding birds in an afternoon. Even a normally obedient dog can be gone over a horizon before you blink.

Around livestock, give animals room and never walk between a cow and her calf. Sheep with lambs are easily panicked; horses are curious but can be startled. If cattle block a path, take a wide, calm route around them — you have the right to be there, but you also have the sense to avoid a confrontation. Adders bask on warm mornings; step around them and keep dogs back.

Reading the Moor: Navigation, Gates and Etiquette

Open country is deliberately pathless in places, and that is part of its charm. It also means navigation is a skill, not an app. Practise taking a bearing, pacing distance and identifying contour features. Aim off to a catching feature rather than trying to walk a precise line across featureless peat. When visibility drops, stop, eat something, and work out exactly where you are before moving again.

Follow stone flag paths across eroded peat where they exist — they protect the fragile surface beneath. Leave gates as you find them, close any you open, and use stiles rather than climbing walls. If you meet a keeper or farmer, a cheerful hello goes a long way; most are quietly pleased to see people enjoying the hills responsibly.

Leave No Trace on Fragile Ground

Moorland is slow to heal. Sphagnum, cotton grass and dwarf shrubs take decades to recover from a boot-scuff, and peat compacts into bare channels that bleed carbon and silt into the streams below. Walk on durable ground, spread out rather than following one line, and avoid cutting corners at switchbacks.

Take everything home — including fruit peel, which is not native to a Pennine bog, and dog waste bags, which nobody enjoys finding tied to a fence post. Bury nothing, build nothing, pick nothing. If you need to answer a call of nature, go well away from water and paths, and carry out what you can.

Finally, know how to call for help: dial 999, ask for the police, then request mountain rescue, and give a grid reference or a precise location pin. Carry a torch, spare layers, water and a simple first-aid kit even on a short summer walk. The freedoms of open country are real and worth defending — and they survive only because the people who use them treat the land, its wildlife and its workers with care.