- All tracks, which appear as tracks or roads to a map maker across the countryside are marked with either a row of either black dots which represent no roadside barrier, fence, wall or hedge, or a solid black line which can represent either a fence, wall, or hedge. Several other posters have mentioned this.
2.The presence of a track, or road doesn’t indicate it is a public ROW (unless it is coloured yellow, brown red or blue…The exception are minor roads in towns, & villages.
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- Coloured dots/dashes indicate a footpath or bridleway respectively & , the colour depends on the scale of map. The one crossing the hill with the red triangles, indicates a national trail. So you have a right to walk it, and make reasonable use of the path for pausing, rests and so on. (I’m not sure whether activating a radio would be classed as reasonably commensurate with using a footpath/bridleway.) . On that hill, the public can only access on foot, and not use the road for cycling and/or motor use.
As there’s no coloured markings along the track from the Wayfair’s walk to the trig point, there’s no Public Right of Way.
- There is one slight anomaly, regarding ROW and unsurfaced roads, an example of which is shown at spot hight 188 and another a few hundred meters further up that road. These Green or Red circles indicate a BOAT (Byway Open to All Traffic & and a term used by OS), sometimes referred to a ‘green lanes’. Like footpaths and bridleways there may be BOATS marked on the maps indicating a legal route across countryside where there is absolutely no visible route on the ground. These routes, known as Unsurfaced, Unclassified Roads (UUR) by the highway authorities are the responsibility of the Highways Department and not the local councils or the national parks. Some no longer exist on the ground and may be totally impossible to use because there’s no bridges, they’ve been forested over, lost or generations of farmers have used them for discarded old junk & machinery. There’s no legal requirement for them to be marked and it is rare for them to be maintained. they come right at the bottom of the Highways department budget spending. Which in North Yorkshire is £ nil…
These may not be indicated on earlier OS Maps prior to the 1980s, Therefore there might be ROWs which are totally unmarked on your older maps!!.
Dave