Riding bikes off-road can sometimes be a seriously grey area. In fact, many riders out there will likely be riding illegal trails without ever realising it, but as always, it’s best to be properly clued up on the rights and wrongs before you find yourself on the wrong side of the law. Although the waters are murky, let’s dispel some of the confusion.
Mountain bike trails and gravel routes take riders over a wide range of land, whether it’s open fields or deep forests – but because much of the land in England and Wales is privately owned and/or managed by forestry organisations, laws govern where you can and cannot cycle. Generally, there’s a lot to consider to determine whether or not it’s legal to ride almost anywhere. But let’s get into what each trail or path type means legally.
To clarify: this article covers the rules in England and Wales. In Scotland, cyclists enjoy much greater access thanks to the Land Reform Act of 2003 – but you must ride responsibly and follow the Scottish Outdoor Access Code.
Public footpaths
While commonly associated with the paths you see lining many of the roads in England and Wales, public footpaths can veer from the pavement and into off-road territory. These are perfectly legal to walk and run on, and to use mobility aids if needed.
However, it is not legal to cycle on a public footpath, urban or rural. In the case of the latter, of course the rules aren’t as straightforward, as they’re rarely policed. Generally, though, cycling on a public footpath out in the countryside could – somewhat confusingly – constitute a trespassing offence, because public footpaths often cross privately-owned land. While you’re unlikely to bump into the police on a rural footpath, the landowner does have the right to boot you off, should they not like what you are doing.
Additionally, bicycles can access public footpaths, but they mustn’t be ridden. Rather, they should be pushed alongside as you travel by foot.
Bridleways, byways and restricted byways
As we move towards bridleways, byways and restricted byways, laws around cycling open up significantly. These are the types of tracks that you’ll be more likely to come across when cycling in the countryside. Generally, they’re wider, and many of them will be what we know as fire roads, although the term ‘fire road’ is more of a description of what that track is used for – access for fire services.
You can legally cycle on a bridleway, byway and restricted byway; the difference between the three mainly revolves around whether or not a vehicle uses a motor. For example, a bridleway and a byway are not open to motor vehicles, whereas restricted byways are.
What about racing?
Rules change quite a lot when riding against the clock. While you can’t ride legally on a footpath, if there’s a closure order in place, a footpath can be raced on.
You can ride on a bridleway, but racing is not permitted – a state of affairs that Steve Thomas wrote about in a recent blog article, whereby a knowledgeable cyclist managed to save an event from being shut down by the police. The reason? The event was a ‘ride’, not a timed race, so it was allowed. The bamboozled officers went on their way…
As for byways and roads, racing is permitted, but they will have to be closed or managed with open roads having obtained permission from the correct authorities. Unless you’re trying to start your own bike race, these legalities are best left for race organisers to handle.
Mountain bike trail centres and bikeparks
If you’re looking for 100% legal mountain biking, the trail centre or bikepark is the way to go. Your average mountain bike trail centre consists of specially built trails created especially for mountain bikes, so it’s perfectly legal to ride them. They sometimes also consist of bridleways, byways and restricted byways which often act as a connector between trails.
With that in mind, don’t be surprised if you come across other trail users, like horse riders and walkers, as these people also have legal access to these byways and bridleways. And although most trail centres install signage to dissuade hikers and the like from using mountain bike trails, it’s always safer to expect the unexpected. Handily, these signs also act as direction markers for a designated cycling route.
At a mountain bike trail centre, there’s often some kind of fee involved. That may be an entry fee, including a pedal up or uplift cost, or just the price of parking. Some forestry management operations offer annual payments which will grant access to free parking at a variety of locations.
Once you’re outside the bounds of a trail centre, then be sure to follow the bridleway, byway and restricted byway rules to ensure that you’re riding legally.
Illegal trails
Mountain biking especially is often done on technically illegal trails, and this is where a considerably large grey area forms. If you’re not on a bridleway, byway, restricted byway or in a trail centre/bike park, it’s safest to assume that it’s not legal to be riding your bike there.
However, often there’s quiet and sometimes unspoken permission to ride in certain areas, with landowners, forestry commissions and other bodies acknowledging that people are riding bikes on their land, but they allow it. As such, these trails become technically legal to ride on, as there is permission. A lot of the time, there’s either a single point of contact between the cycling community and the landowner who holds this spoken agreement; sometimes, it’s a small team of volunteers.
But these venues are the most sensitive. If a landowner who’s allowed cycling to happen on their land finds that the land is not being used in a way that they agree with, that silent agreement can erode instantly. Often, there are rules to be followed here, too, like not using trees and other natural forest materials to build features.
Landowners like the Forestry Commission don’t like this, because trees are their business. Plus, they’re trying to avoid potential court action that may come as a result of a rider’s injury.
As these trails aren’t officially recognised as legal or properly established with signage, and often cross and include byways, bridleways and restricted bridleways, it’s likely that other trail users will also access them. So ride with caution.
Common courtesy is key
Regardless of the type of trail or track you’re riding, respect other trail users. Say hello and slow down when passing people and horses, close gates as you’ve found them, and take whatever rubbish you create home with you.
To some degree, we’ve seen cyclists of all types being unfairly stereotyped by certain people and publications in the media, which filters down to a minority who might be inclined to tar us all with the same brush, so to speak. There’s only so much we can do to quell unnecessary vitriol aimed at cyclists, but it doesn’t hurt to be friendly, kind and courteous to people who you meet out on the trails and paths to spread some positivity. As long as the positive interactions vastly outnumber the negative ones, that will protect and increase trail access for years to come.
1 thought on “Rights of way for off-road cycling explained: Know where you legally can and cannot ride with this easy guide”
Is this article about rights of way in the “UK” as the title suggests, or is it actually just about England?
The article doesn’t mention Scotland or the north of Ireland anywhere – and at least one of those has quite different laws than England.