By: Blonde Two
The Two Blondes had a diverting walk around the St Ives area the other day. All went well as we left the lovely Treloyhan Manor but the outing (too long for a Bimble) was not without incident.
We have fought our way through overgrown footpaths before. I don’t really mind these, it must be a huge job to keep footpaths to keep them clear and farmers are quite busy people with all those cows and tractors to look after. One thing I really hate doing though is following footpaths that go straight through farmyards. It just feels wrong – after all, I wouldn’t like someone tramping through my back garden (this would take approximately six seconds).
I have said this before, we are very, very lucky in this country to have such great countryside access. I have never been a farmer but I have spent enough time on Norm’s farm in New Zealand (see this Summer’s blogs) to understand the nuisance and damage that lack of understanding from walkers might cause.
Blonde One and I negotiated such a farmyard on our Cornish walk the other day when we had an unusual footpath related incident. The footpath was clearly marked and our compass confirmed the path we were taking. We were stuck between wanting to make sure that we got things exactly right (so as to avoid making farmers grumpy) and wanting to leave the farmyard as quickly as possible (so as to avoid making farmers grumpy). It was also, to be honest, a bit smelly what with the haylage (fab and real word) and the cow poo.
Once we had, rather uncertainly, picked our exit route, we marched rather than walked towards it. The sun was shining directly in our eyes (weirdly it did that for just about the whole walk) when Blonde One uttered a cry and flung her arm across in front of me. It was just as well she did because we were both centimetres away from walking into a temporary electric fence. Now I don’t know if you have ever had a shock from a fence but on one of my first New Zealand trips, I once had to make a quick choice between a bull and the electricity. I choose the shock which hurt quite a lot but didn’t do any lasting damage.
Of course then, we had to have a full Two Blondes meeting about what to do next and what we would advise the kids to do. It was just about possible to get around the wire or we could have unhooked it and let ourselves through. In the end though, I think it was the fear of meeting the grumpy farmer (other farmers are available) that made us turn and head for the long route round by the lanes. What would you have done?
Farmers are often their own worst enemies. Why, oh why, don’t they put up some marker posts to indicate where footpaths go, especially through their yards, and also across fields? I know how to take a compass bearing to establish path direction but I reckon I am in a minority, and in any case I’m often conceited enough not to bother and end up wandering off the mark. Navigation is easier in the hills. Using the 1:25 map is big help with field boundaries, but all my mapping is 1:50 from Memory Map on the computer, and now on my iPad mini.
Very often the marker posts will lead you into a farmyard and then not help you get out! This situation doesn’t do much for farmer/walker relations!
I think it is the confidence to know that you aren’t upsetting anyone that makes it tricky. You are right about the hills – much easier!
Thanks for many amusing posts – I’ve only been following you for a couple of weeks – very entertaining!
Re: electric fences. I’ve come across many over the years and I just take off my rucksack and roll under, or if it’s not too high, climb over but that can be scary and careful calculation is required to avoid sparks in the nether region.
Also, it’s an offence to place an obstruction like this on a public right of way, so if your navigation was correct then the farmer should have made provision for a safe crossing. I just found this on the Cornwall Council website which clarifies:- http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=21700
That’s a really interesting website, thanks. Unfortunately this particular farmer chose not to adhere to these guidelines and his ‘near invisible’ fence was breaking a few of these.
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