Open Country

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Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles

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Open Country: The right to paddle?

The right to paddle?

BBC Radio 4 - Open Country, The right to paddle?

How much of our waterways are open to watersports? Less than you think says Nick Hayes

Producer Miles Warde paddles up the Thames to meet Nick Hayes, author of The Book of Trespass, to find out where he can and cannot take his canoe

Did you buy a kayak or perhaps a paddle board after lockdown? And do you know where you can go now? According to Nick Hayes - who lives on a houseboat on the River Thames - you can only legally access around three to four percent of England's waterways. Scotland has the right to roam. Nick is the author of The Book of Trespass and uses his canoe to go shopping and take out his rubbish too. This is fine on his section of the Thames, but he has been confronted on other rivers .... so who owns our waterways, and what exactly are the rules?

With further contribution from Ben Seal of British Canoeing, and produced in Bristol by Miles Warde.

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