Demand for Trails and Routes - Tourism and Trails: Cultural, Ecological and Management Issues - page 107

weekly users. The main activity is biking, followed by general walking
and hiking for the purposes of health and exercise, where time involved
is more than a few hours. These findings are not surprising with this age
cohort (46-55), which is becoming more active and engaging in both
recreation and challenging sports, the latter redefining the grey market
and being increasingly more active than the previous generation.
Access and Location
Evidence suggests that access and the location of trails are extremely
influential on people's frequency of use and their satisfaction levels. With
respect to access, a fundamental requirement is right of access. The following
British example underscores the need to have adequate access to have good
rates of participation. In England, the 2010 State of the Countryside report stated
that over the past decade people made fewer visits to the countryside per
year for recreation, and much of the decision to visit was based upon having
access to trails. Part of the access results from the Common Rights of Way
(CROW) Act of 2000, which gives people the freedom to roam over private
land, but having respect for the owners of that land, to be able to walk some
of Britain's oldest paths and trails. The rights of way network extends to
189,000 km; of this total length, 78% is footpaths, 17% bridleways, 3% roads
used as public paths and 2% byways open to all traffic (Countryside Agency,
2001). Some parts of the rights of way network are linked to form the 13
National Trails across England that run for nearly 4000 km through some of
the country's most spectacular landscapes. Rights of way allow people
opportunities to enjoy the natural environment. These can range from wide
tracks to narrow trails that run through towns and across remote country-
side. Many of these paths also traverse forested lands, and in a 2009 Forestry
Commission survey, over three-quarters of respondents (77%) visited forests
and woodland for walks and recreation. It can only be surmised that the
majority of this activity involved the use of forest trails and footpaths. An
ambitious project is under way to improve coastal access in England, to
create a new national trail where residents and visitors will have access rights
around England's open coast. Figure 4.2 illustrates the small section of coastal
path where coastal access rights are now open. The work in progress aims to
open other coastal regions and improve long-term travel over the next decade.
Another project of note is Natural England's efforts to promote the
natural environment as a recreational resource venue for health improve-
ment. A major initiative that commenced in the 1990s was the Walking the
Way to Health project, which established walking groups and encouraged
the public to walk in the natural environment to improve their health. By
2000 the scheme became a national program, and by the end of 2011 it had