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The saga of Windy Harbour Farm runs on and on and following
an article in the Sunday Observer a couple of weeks ago
concerning farmers who gave walkers a hard time, I was contacted
by a couple of local reporters who had been given my phone
number by Headquarters. (HQ had rung me prior to that to let
me know that my name had been given out as the local contact).
I gave them what information I could, as well as some advice
as to who else they might talk to and left it at that. I was
however a little disappointed that the Free Press did not
contact me because this is the paper that deals with local
issues; when talking to the other reporters I got the impression
that because Windy Harbour was not really in their catchment
area, they were not all that interested. There is a good story
here from people who have been repulsed by the owners of the
farm who seem hellbent on repudiating that Path No.176 is a
public right of way.
This brings me onto my other hobby horse which is public access
generally and ‘The Right to Roam’ in particular. Why is it that
farmers seem to think that the right to roam means that walkers
are interested in inspecting the darkest, most private recesses
of farmyards and will pour, willy nilly over these areas once
(if ever) this legislation is passed. If they were to read some of
the proposals, they would find that as far as these matters are
concerned that nothing would change; local rights of way would
remain as they are. It is the huge tracts of privately owned
moorlands and wild country that is at the heart of proposed legislation,
land that is only allowed to be trodden by the privileged few and
remains largely unexplored and under used. In my opinion, opening
these areas for walkers to explore would not present any threat to
the landowners and might even divert attention away from the more
regularly used paths locally.
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Walter Waide Our e-mail address is: waidew@globalnet.co.uk
Content Copyright © 1998. Walter Waide |