Rights of ways
Rights of ways
Planning a bikepacking a UK route has probably never been easier with all data that is available online now and with more and more people getting outside themselves more and more data or trails, trail conditions, trail types. The first thing we will be going over is the types of ways and to do that we need to break it down to England, wales and Northern Ireland as Scotland have their own set of rules, which we will go over soon. But the different types of public right of ways in England, wales & Northern Ireland are as follows.
Byway sign
Byways - Similar to a restricted byway, however, is open to all traffic. However, the nature of a byway is that they are normally old non-maintained roads so are mostly used by walkers cyclings and horse riders. But you might see the odd Land Rover or motorcyclist.
Permissive footpath - A permissive footpath is not a legal right of way however is a footpath that has been permitted by the landowner, which means you may use the path while on foot, or while using mobility scooters or powered wheelchairs. But the landowner has the right to withdraw this permission at any time.
Public footpath
Footpaths - Footpaths are public rights of ways often marked with a walking person, that you are legally allowed to use while on foot, or using mobility scooters or powered wheelchairs. Footpaths are often marked with a yellow Arrow. But often can vary from county to county.
Permissive Bridleway - The same as the permissive footpath, a permissive bridalway is a route through private land that the landowner and granted permission to use. You may use this while cycling, horse riding and walking, including mobility scooters or powered wheelchairs. The landowner also has the right to withdraw permission at any time.
Restricted byway
Restricted byways - Restricted byways are a public right of way that you may use without a motor. A restricted byway is essentially an old road that is now used as a path for non-mechanical vehicles. They are often marked with a sign saying Restricted byway. Sometimes with a green colour.
Open access land - Open access land is a part of land you are free to roam, there are often gates on each side of this land showing that you are either entering or leaving this land. Often there will be a footpath or bridalway going through this land, but you do not have to stick to the footpath or bridal way.
Bridalway
Bridalways - Bridalways are for use while either walking, cycling, horse riding and using mobility scooters or powered wheelchairs. These public rights of ways are often marked with a sign with a horse and often but not always use the colour blue.
National cycle routes - The national cycle route from Sustrans is a walking, wheeling and cycling charity and the routes are marked with a blue and red sign these routes can vary from roads to shared paths to gravel paths. Some are traffic free, some are not. If they are on the road, they normally try to take you on the quieter back roads.
With both permissive footpaths and permissive bridalways, the path will often be closed for one day a year to protect the landowner against any future claims of continuous public right of way.
As you can see there are quite a few different types of public rights of ways, and it can be a bit of a bit complicated but if you are looking to make your own bikepacking route in England wales or Northern Ireland then the types of public rights of ways that you will want to be using are Bridalways, Restricted byways and byways. That simplifies it a little bit. Permissive bridalways are also OK to use, but if you are planning to share the route publicly then it may be best to avoid them as they can be withdrawn at any time. Byways and restricted by ways often the best surface for bikepacking as they tend to be wider and hold up better in the winter months, however there is a lot less of them. Bridalways comes in all different shapes and sizes some are wide and rocky some are narrow single track. Scotland however is a little different.
The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 gives the public the right to be on or cross any land for recreational, educational and other named purposes. There may be circumstances where you get permission from the landowners but, providing you are considerate and respectful of the land you’re traversing, you have the right to roam when walking, cycling or horse riding. There may be limited access in some of these area, but local signs will instruct you.
Access rights are also excluded from buildings or other structures or works, plant or fixed machinery such as a farmyard, building sites or quarries, the enclosed space of ground and buildings immediately surrounding a dwelling-houses works compounds, schools and land over which you have been required to pay an entrance fee, such as properties owned by the National Trust or Historic Scotland.
Ultimately this was created to give everyone greater freedom to enjoy the outdoors and to clarify, for the benefit of users, land managers and conservation; what you can and cannot do, as well as where you can and cannot go. When it comes to bikepacking in Scotland, it does give you more freedom to explore. And create a route with the terrain you prefer.
Finding the trails
So now you have an idea of the types of public rights of way and who, and what can you each one, the next question is how to find them? The good news is there are many ways nowadays to find the trails, but the bad news is finding out how good the terrain is on each trail can be a bit trickier. To find where these public rights of ways are, though, here are some options you can try.
The first thing you can do is search the local council website where you want to go bikepacking. If you search for the Definitive map followed by the county, you should be able to find a map with all the different public rights of way that the council. The Definitive map is the legal record for public rights of way. You can use these maps to find bridal ways and byways etc to find off-road ways around the England & wales. Most councils have digitised these map now so you can access them online. If, however, you find a definitive map is not available online, contacting the council directly may be required.
OS maps - Ordnance survey maps are your next point of call for getting an idea of where these public rights of ways are. OS maps receive data from the definitive maps, so are always going to be the most up to date. OS maps can be used online or mobile device or in paper format, and you can use OS maps to create your own routes, however to use OS maps and get access to all the byways and bridalways you will need to purchase a subscription which is around £3 a month. You can also purchase the paper maps, and some libraries have them. OS maps cover England, Scotland and wales.
In Scotland there is no definitive map, however that doesn’t mean there are no known rights of way in Scotland. And you will often come across signs directing you along Scottish rights of way. The charity Scottish Rights of Way & Access Society is the reason you will see them.
Trail types
It’s one thing to know where all the trails and public rights of ways are, but it’s another thing to bring connect them and find the most suitable trails to ride along. Linking them together has got much easier with many apps available now. When it comes to plotting a route together you can off course just use your old paper OS maps, but there is a lot better way. And there are more than three apps, but I will go over three apps for plotting routes, one of which has already been mentioned…
OS maps do offer a route building tool, which is easy enough to use. The route creating tool is free but if you want to use it with the map that shows all the bridal ways and byways etc then you will need to pay for the premium. The free version also doesn’t allow you to use a snap to path feature, so makes the free tool not very useful. However, with the premium version of the OS maps, it is a very good way to connect the trails you want to ride.
RidewithGPS is another good option to use to build and plot your routes, however unlike OS maps it doesn’t get data from definitive maps, it uses something called open street maps. OpenStreetMap is a map of the world, created by people like you and me, and is free to use under an open licence. However, because it is not using definitive map data, it can and does sometimes mean routes and trails may be wrong. Non-existent and does mean you might find yourself not able to use a certain trail. You may be directed to use a footpath for example as the data of what a particular trail is, isn’t always known by OpenStreetMap or ridewithgps. However, using ride with GPS offers different kind of benefits. One being you can create routes for free, and you can also download other people routes for free without needing to sign in or make an account. You are also able to easily link ride with GPS to your GPS device, so it is nice and streamlined with data that cyclist often like. Or just use it on your phone. However, I don’t typically use ride with GPS as I have always felt it feels a bit clunky and typically opt for another app.
Komoot - Komoot is another app quite similar to ride with GPS in that it also uses open street maps, so is also prone to the same issues. It does sometimes get it wrong. Komoot is free to use, but you can only use it for free in two of your chosen counties after signing up. Which is great if you want to explore your local area. You currently have the option to buy the world map which then gives you access to creating the route wherever you like, which is a one-off payment. They do also have a subscription service, which means you can break down longer routes into individual days. The world map option can be worth it, but the subscription might not be for most people. However, Komoot has a bit more of a social aspect to it where users can submit highlights which is mostly really useful for information that some people leave about the trail and also the pictures of the trail which can give you a little insight of a particular trail and if it might be a trail you want to ride. You shouldn’t rely on this alone, but it can be helpful. Komoot’s routing tool is also very good and very intuitive. So it is useful for plotting the route together, but it is a good idea to also look compare with the definitive maps to make sure you are using the bridalways. Komoot if you are watching, make that a requirement if you want to add a highlight, add what type of public right of way it is. A little tip that I have found to give the best results for ridable trails on Komoot is to use enduro MTB. The way Komoot categorises trails with the data they have means enduro MTB trails normally fall onto bridalways and forest tracks. Whereas the MTB option uses single track options, which is more often than not a footpath and not a bridalway or byway.
Unfortunately, knowing exactly what each bridalway or byway conditions are going to be is where things get a little bit harder to manage, and if you are creating your own route sometimes it can be a bit of trial and error. But with the ever-changing conditions of the UK by ways do tend to hold up better and tend to be more consistent but no guarantee though. The issue here is that byways and restricted by ways are a lot less common than bridalways. A lot of judging what is going to be suitable for the ride you want comes down to experience and local knowledge. If a particular trail starts or ends at the road, google street view is also an option to get a little glimpse into what the trail might be like. Some Bridalways just go through fields, some through woodlands, some are narrow and some are wide. Combining google street view Google Earth, Komoot highlights definitive maps can give you an idea of what a trail may be like and to make sure or what type of trail it is. You can also use data from the likes of Strava to get an idea of how often trails are used, which can be a good indicator of how good it is to ride, and also Trail forks sometimes has some useful information. As you can see, making a route can be complex and time-consuming. But the good news is that there are so many different types of routes for all level and abilities in the UK already plotted out. So you can leave all the time-consuming stuff to people like me. And get out on your adventure. So let’s go over where to get these routes and some routes that I recommend to start out with.
Where to find routes?
Keepsmilingadventures.com - As you are already here, you can find all the routes I have ridden over the last couple of years for download in the routes section. The routes are all categorised into beginner, intermediate and challenging. Some of these are made by me, some are not.
Another great option is probably the biggest website and collection of routes not just in the UK but worldwide is bikepacking.com, they have lots of UK routes too. In my experience the routes I have completed from here to tend to have a lot more grindy routes often with lots of hike a bike. They tend to be scared of coming into and built up place so you often need to come of course to find supplies. But there are lots of good routes on there too. And lots of information also.
Another option for UK bikepacking routes is Cycling UK, a UK based cycling charity that has over the years made some really popular bikepacking routes. A lot of the cycling UK routes are a little on the easier side, so can be a good place to start. The cycling UK website offers lots of information tips and guides.