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Comment by raesene9 | Hacker News Reader

It is very nice to be able to walk mostly where you want, although it doesn't always mean that landowners won't challenge you when you're walking.

Also worth noting that the right to roam doesn't apply to people's gardens (https://www.gov.scot/policies/landscape-and-outdoor-access/p... and https://www.outdooraccess-scotland.scot/enjoying-scotlands-o...)

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It applies to golf courses which I think is a bit silly. Walking on a fairway is not a good idea, and if a golf balls hits you I'm pretty certain it's the golfers fault.

It works pretty well in practice. There are signs asking you to wait if someone's about to swing and so on. And golf courses aren't that pleasant to walk on if you're not a golfer, so you tend to walk quickly along an arterial path that has plenty of golfer traffic anyway until you get to the other side.

The main reason this is convenient is there are a very long paths that would be quite inconvenient if you took away a few segments where you cross along the edge of a golf course for a few minutes.

I stay in Scotland and had always assumed the right to roam also applied to gardens. I thought it was cool that the law would leave it up to individuals to be respectful, and not have to state obvious exceptions in its wording.

The law still does defer to folk’s common sense and decency (to not leave litter etc.) but today I learned that it does explicitly state you’re not allowed to just parade into someone’s garden!

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