Countryside Code and Leave No Trace
None of this is complicated. It's mostly common sense — but a few specifics matter, and they're worth knowing properly rather than guessing.
The Countryside Code, in short
The official Countryside Code for England and Wales comes down to three things: respect everyone else out there, protect the natural environment, and enjoy the outdoors responsibly. Scotland has its own version — the Scottish Outdoor Access Code — built around the same idea, with wider access rights attached. Both exist so the countryside stays open and welcoming. Ignoring them is how access gets restricted for everyone.
Dogs, livestock and ground-nesting birds
Keep dogs on a lead or under close control near livestock — a dog that chases sheep can get a farmer a legal right to act, and it's genuinely traumatic for pregnant ewes. From March to July, keep dogs on a short lead on moorland and grassland even without livestock in sight — this is ground-nesting bird season, and a dog running through cover can wipe out a nest without either of you noticing. If cattle react to your dog, let it off the lead — it can outrun them, you might not.
Gates, walls and stiles
Leave gates exactly as you find them — open gates are sometimes open on purpose, for stock movement or ventilation. Don't climb walls where a stile or gate exists nearby; drystone walls come apart more easily than they look. If you have to cross a fence, use a stile or gate, not the wire.
Take it all home
Wrappers, gel sachets, tissue, banana skins, orange peel — all of it, every time. Biodegradable is not the same as invisible: an orange peel takes up to two years to break down and looks like litter the whole time. If you see litter that isn't yours and can carry it, take it too.
Paths, erosion and access land
On sensitive ground — peat bog, planted woodland, nesting habitat — stick to the path even when a direct line looks faster or drier. Erosion on popular fell paths is a real, visible problem, and one runner leaving the path isn't the issue; hundreds doing the same thing is. Open access land (mapped in England and Wales, and the default in Scotland) gives you the right to roam more freely — check the access status if you're leaving the path deliberately, not just following a worn line.
Fires and wild camping
Don't light fires on open moorland or in dry conditions — a discarded stove or fire is behind a meaningful share of UK wildfires most summers, and peat fires can smoulder underground for weeks. If a challenge route involves wild camping, check the local rules before you go — they vary by country and by land ownership, and they do change, so verify rather than assume.
Everyone else out there
Give way to horses and walkers with a clear call-out before you pass, slow down on shared paths near villages and car parks, and keep noise down early or late in the day. None of this costs you time. It's the difference between trail runners being welcome on shared paths and not.
In an emergency
- Call 999 or 112 → ask for Police → then Mountain Rescue
- No signal? Text 999 — pre-register first: text "register" to 999
- Coastal routes: ask for Coastguard instead of Mountain Rescue