Here are some definitions to help you understand the differences between footpaths, bridleways and byways. We hope you find this information useful.

Public footpaths

Public footpaths can be used by walkers and this includes wheelchair users and those pushing prams or pushchairs. As with all public rights of way, you may also take a dog, although you may need to keep it on a lead or otherwise under close control on some paths.

There is no right to ride a pushbike along a public footpath, although individual landowners may permit cycling on some routes which are public footpaths e.g. certain sections of canal towpath in the care of British Waterways.
You should be careful to distinguish between 'public footpaths' and 'footways'. Paths beside public roads are not public footpaths - it is better to refer to them as footways or simply pavements. Footways are not recorded on the definitive map as public rights of way. A footway is really a part of the main highway which has been set apart for pedestrians . Contact the appropriate area highways office for advice on footways.

Bridleways

Historically, bridleways have been available for walkers and for horseriders. You can also lead a horse along a bridleway. These rights also extend to mules and asses but not, for example, to llamas or other animals.

The Countryside Act 1968 gave cyclists the right to use bridleways. However, cyclists are required to give way to both walkers and horseriders on bridleways.

The Act did not place a duty on highway authorities to maintain bridleways to a standard suitable for cyclists and so many will not be particularly suitable for cycling, even perhaps for mountain bikes. The push in recent years to encourage cycling does mean, however, that more attention is now being paid to the needs of cyclists - provided that improvements for cyclists are not to the disadvantage of, say, horseriders.

Bridleways are sometimes referred to as bridlepaths. You might also come across the term 'public path' which includes both public footpaths and bridleways.

Roads used as public paths and Restricted byways

'Road used as a public path' is one of the three original categories of public right of way, introduced by the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. The term has proved to be a confusing one, since it covers a variety of routes, often having the character of green lanes, but which may or may not carry public vehicular rights in addition to rights for walkers and horseriders.

All highway authorities have had a duty to reclassify RUPPs in their area since the passing of the Countryside Act 1968 (as subsequently amended by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981). Until recently Carmarthenshire County Council has been conducting a programme of researching and reclassifying its RUPPs. Each has been reclassified as a bridleway, unless public vehicular rights have been shown to exist along the route, in which case it has become a 'byway open to all traffic'. In a very small number of cases, both public vehicular rights and public bridle rights have been shown not to exist along a RUPP, and in these cases, the route has been reclassified as a public footpath.

The process has been very time-consuming, since the research has had to be thorough. Despite the amount of research, most reclassifications have resulted in public inquiries, resulting in further costs and delay. It is important to note that the County Council has been obliged by law to reclassify each RUPP on the basis of evidence of status (both documentary and through use), rather than on the physical suitability of the route for one type of use or another.

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 is intended to address the problem by automatically reclassifying all remaining RUPPs as 'restricted byways'. The public's rights along a 'restricted byway' are:

• on foot
• on horseback or leading a horse
• by vehicle other than mechanically propelled vehicles

The last means you can take a pushbike or horse-drawn carriage along a 'restricted byway' but cannot take a motorcycle or other motor vehicle along one.