Granted that access to the countryside is everybody's right in the legal sense. But in my opinion - very naive in today's world, I accept - you forego that right morally (legally, of course it would be impossible to police) if you show no respect for anyone else or the landscape itself. Damaging cairns for the sake of your own comfort, filling them with rubbish (the volume of c-ration trash I've come across tells its own story), hurtling dangerously down tracks on mountain bikes, even worse on trail bikes (a major problem in South Wales) or simply on foot to achieve a better 'time' - and bollocks to anyone who happens to be in the way - is not on and should be opposed by anyone who gives a damn. I'm no hero, so keep my mouth shut when ocassionally confronted with groups of soldiers out training who clearly don't give a monkey's, or multiple bikers above the Rhondda, but letters to commanding officers/councils etc may be doing some good. I hope so. Ignorance is no defence, but it is an explanation and can perhaps be alleviated.

I would argue that what I do has minimal negative impact upon other hill users. In general this is not true of many other user groups. You wouldn't accept such actions on the street without comment, so why is it so on the hills?