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Comment by Solvency | Hacker News Reader

I don't fully understand this idea. In the UK I can just point in a direction and walk unrestricted anywhere i want? Through peoples farms, yards, castle grounds, etc?

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You can in Scotland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Outdoor_Access_Code

In the rest of the UK, it's a little more complicated (for now): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_to_roam#England_and_Wa...

You can’t literally go anywhere but there a varying degrees of Right To Roam here.

We have an extensive network of public foot paths and bridal ways that private land owners aren’t allowed to block if they go across their land. There are several through sheep fields, cow fields, crop fields and even a couple of stable fields where people keep their horses with a 5 minute walk of my house.

And even if you make a mistake and stray off the official path you are extremely unlikely to be shot.

Instead, you are extremely likely to be declined a cup of tea...

You are extremely unlikely to be shot in the United States as well. Just because the media blows up statistically ridiculously unlikely incidents in a country of 340 million people does not mean it's magically likely to happen to you.

I can't believe this actually needs to be said.

I don’t think it did need to be said tbh. In the UK there’s the joke of “careful or the farmer will shoot you” said to kids and youngsters just to scare them a bit. I imagine that’s where the commenter was coming from.

People online also love to stereotype Americans as trigger-happy psychopathic maniacs.

>I imagine that’s where the commenter was coming from.

Not really :)

However I had just read this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68077595

The closest the US has is easements and private roads - there are various laws and regulations around them, but in general if you're not being an ass and you're headed to public land (or especially to land you own or have permission to access) you'll be allowed to pass.

There's a fight going on around "corner cutting" - https://earthjustice.org/experts/tom-delehanty/wyoming-court...

Sweden has a similar right to roam called "Allemansrätten" that allows people to go cross-country through private natural lands as long as they follow a handful of guidelines. I think it's generally that the traveler needs to stay out of private gardens, off farmland, away from homes, and not despoil the land. There is so much open land in Sweden that it's pretty simple to achieve all of these goals just a few dozen kilometers outside Stockholm (my opinion: I haven't actually tried it).

For england, wales and NI; No, but there are plenty of public walkways that cross private land, they're almost always marked with signs, although farmers have been known to make such signposts magically disappear.

The end result is that you can essentially 'point in a rough direction' and walk however far you want, however not just on any part of the land. A good OS map, analog or digital, helps.

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