The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 provides that paths that are not recorded on the definitive map by 2026 and that were in use prior to 1949 will automatically be deemed stopped up on 1 January 2026. The highway right to use a right of way is restricted to passing and re-passing, associated activities, and the taking of 'usual accompaniments'. Bedford Borough Council mentions that walkers may  Highways maintainable at public expense generally remain in the ownership of the landowner. However such highways are also vested in the local highway authority. Vesting being a form or ownership so long as it remains a highway. Lord Jennings, in an 'obiter' statement (not a formal judgement) suggested that ownership might be from the surface of the route to the depth of "two spits", or approximately two spade depths. Collins M.R. seems to have defined it better: 'All the stratum of air above the surface and all the stratum of soil below the surface which in any reasonable sense can be required for the purposes of the street, as street'  In England and Wales a "public footpath" is a path on which the public have a legally protected right to travel on foot and in some areas public footpaths form a dense network of short paths. It is probable that most footpaths in the countryside are hundreds of years old. The majority of footpaths are shown on Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 and 1:50,000 maps. The right of access on a public footpath normally only extends to walking (there may be other unrecorded rights as well), so there is usually no right to cycle or ride a horse on a public footpath. However, it is not a criminal offence to do so unless there is a traffic order or bylaw in place specifically: it is a civil wrong to ride a bicycle or a horse on a public footpath, and action could be taken by the landowner for trespass or nuisance by the user. A "public bridleway" is a way over which the general public have the following, but normally (unless otherwise according to Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 s56(1)(b)) no other rights:   Note that although Section 30 of the Countryside Act 1968 permits the riding of bicycles on public bridleways, the act says that it "shall not create any obligation to facilitate the use of the bridleway by cyclists". Thus, the right to cycle exists even though it may be difficult to exercise on occasion.