ABSTRACT
Rambling remains one of the most popular leisure practices undertaken in the countryside of England and Wales (Spink 1994). According to the Countryside Commission [CC], some 14 per cent of the 50 million annual visitors to the countryside cite long walks as the principal reason for their visit (Countryside Commission 1992, 1995a). In the main, these walks are informal and have traditionally coexisted with other uses of land, occupying a mixture of legal rights (such as the public rights of way network), subsidised provision (such as country parks) and de facto and licenced access to both public and private land.
