Path access rights

[guybowden]

Hi,

I live in the Haute Savoie - the lack of snow has mean I'm riding my mountain bike a lot. I recently re-visited a favorite trail of mine and found a printed sign saying "VTT Intredit" - I've ridden the trail many times before but this is the first time I've seen the sign - it's new this year. I imagine it gets fewer than one rider per day on average during the summer - I suspect someone just isn't a fan of mountain bikers.

My understanding is that footpaths in France are fine to ride on unless there is an Arrete Municipal to the contrary. The path is on the Blue IGN maps as a signed footpath (small dash plus a solid red line).

Assuming there is no such Arrete, what's the law here? I'm bound to meet a walker who will tell me I shouldn't be there because of the sign.

I will ask the Marie as well, but wanted to be a bit better informed by the law before I did so!

Thanks,

Guy

[Patf]

Don't take this as gospel, but I don't think it's as simple as that by a long way.

When it comes to rights of way in France the law seems to become entangled with personal influence and power.

Unless you're asking about different rights for bikers and pedestrians. I believe some Mairies have made what we in the UK would call byelaws, banning bikes of various kinds, to preserve the deterioration of footpaths.

I know of several paths in our commune which are marked as footpaths on the Blue IGN maps and which have been ploughed up and planted by the owner, so no access.