Can somebody confirm that farmers are allowed to use reasonable force to remove a cyclist from a footpath?
I would have thought only a policeman or ranger could do that.
Its not uncommon for farmers in South Wales to decide to change the access laws of paths that cross their land. Homemade signs (usually No Bikes) nailed over official signs are commonly seen in the Beacons.
I’ve had similar incidents to the OP and had extremely aggressive encounters with a couple of farmers.
In all instances I was on a ROW but there was disagreement as to whether it was a footpath or bridlepath. The OS maps would disagree with him.
In all instances I’ve photographed the farmer and told him that he could do nothing but report me to an authority and continued to cross the land.
This is not to be antagonistic but often looking at the maps reveals no reasonable way round the obstruction, so I’m not going to get lost or bonk out in a remote area to appease a farmers own private law.
In short:
Can farmers legally use force to remove you from a ROW even if it is a footpath in Wales?