By Hannah Goff BBC News Online

We rely on John Dowding to show us where the footpath should be

Huge tracts of lands are set to be opened up under new Right to Roam legislation, but according to official figures around one in three public footpaths are blocked or deemed difficult to use. BBC News Online visits one blocked path in rural Essex.

When it comes to taking a quiet stroll in the countryside nothing could be simpler.

You get your walks book out, a copy of an up-to-date Ordnance Survey map, pack your sandwiches and fill your water bottle.

Then all you have to do is follow the instructions and put one booted foot in front of the other - it's child's play.

Bridging the gap

But not if the walk you happen to choose traverses the floodplain of the River Blackwater at Ashman's Farm just outside Kelvedon.

This is the "problem" walk that Essex Area Ramblers' footpaths secretary John Dowding has been trying to get Essex County Council to sort out for the past 20 years.

Mr Dowding cannot recall the number of letters, phone calls and petitions he has made over the past two decades to try and free the route up for his fellow walkers.

Even though it says on the map or in the walk book that you have a right of way to walk across this field at a 45 degree angle, most people are far too polite too do that Des Garrahan Ramblers Association campaigns officer

At issue is a missing bridge just a few metres long and 1.5m wide.

The spaghetti junction of rights, responsibilities and legal duties means every breakthrough is met with a new obstacle to overcome.

"It took us 10 years to get Essex County Council to admit that there should be a footpath there and then at the point when they were about to put the bridge in they decided there needed to be a diversion."

Overgrown

"Footpath work takes a very long time. You move forward and then there's this complete rigmarole. That's why footpath workers tend to be rather old," septuagenarian Mr Dowding quips as we set out for Ashman's farm.

After a 20-minute walk through the sleepy town of Kelvedon we nip under a road bridge and up to the field where the public right of way should be signposted across a field.

This is our first obstacle - there is no sign, just long grass surrounding a field of high broad bean plants.

John Dowding leads the way through the field

"At this point most people would give up," says Des Garrahan, footpath campaigns officer with the Ramblers Association.

"Even though it says on the map or in the walk book that you have a right of way to walk across this field at a 45-degree angle, most people are far too polite to do that.

"They would turn around and walk back to the station - ending their healthy day in the countryside at the pub, most probably."

Nettles

Instead, we rely on Mr Dowding's local knowledge and make our way along the right of way across the broad bean field - careful not to tread down too many of the plants that sway above our head.

Within a few metres we reach a tractor trail and stick to that so as not to damage the crops.

ASHMAN'S FARM DISPUTE Jan 1986 Colchester Ramblers report missing bridge Dec 1986 Essex puts bridge at top of priority list 1987 Priority system discontinued 1988 - 93 Bridge set to be built, but parish council opposes proposal 1994 Ramblers serve notice on Essex to request the path be put in order 1996 Landowner requests diversion 1998 Limits of ownership of diverted path determined 1999 Part of land changes hands 2003 New owner agrees diversion proposals Essex seeks Environment Agency approval for planned bridge

We soon arrive at the edge of the cultivated area but as we have followed the tractor trail we have lost the line of the path.

So we plough backwards and forward through a sea of thistles and stinging nettles until we reach the site of a missing bridge over the River Blackwell.

The river is only a few metres wide at this point but it is too far to jump.

Here the walk must end and we are forced to retrace our steps back to Kelvedon seeking dock leaves for the nettle stings along the way.

As a day out it has not been a success.

The only consolation is the beauty of the river. It may be surrounded by nettles and weeds, but it is a real hidden gem of the English countryside.

Unfortunately, it will remain hidden unless Essex County Council, the area's highways authority, fulfils its responsibility by building the footbridge and ensuring the footpath to it is clear and free of obstacles.

The River Blackwell where the missing bridge should be

After a 20-year fight Essex have agreed to put a bridge in at this point, and they have also agreed a proposal to divert the line of the path so as to avoid any damage to the farm land when maintenance work to the bridge is carried out.

But the design of the bridge, which could cost up to �100,000 to build, is now with the Environment Agency for approval. Once that is done it will go to the council's bridges department for construction.

"The bridge has been missing since the 1950s. At worst it could be a couple of years before the bridge is put in - that's if there aren't any legal disputes.

"Hopefully there won't be any but you never know," says the council's rural network manager Geoff Wilkinson.

One might wonder at the staying power of a footpaths campaigner like Mr Dowding - after all this is just one of 120 footpaths in the county which is blocked.

And the principle remains - if you don't use it, you lose it.