Hello guys,

This is how I understand it and how we go about it.

There are no tresspass laws for walkers as long as you have an intended destination. So on foot - the world is your oyster.

With wheeled vehicles - its totally different and to get the true story as far as legal access is like swimming the channel in doc martins whilst reading the financial times. Even the authorities will admit that its confusing and don't seem to have a clue.
A lot of the land/wilderness is privately owned, usually by some banker in London who makes his money out of renting out the land so that anybody with enough cash can blast the sh1t out of slow moving defenceless birds. Otherwise it is owned by the local Laird whose family has run the estate for generations. Which one do I prefer - well think you can guess. OK so as far as access is concerned we have never approached a land owner in advance - mainly because it is rare that we plan things in advance - we like the spontaneous approach. If there is a track leading off a tarmac road we will go up it. If there is an unlocked gate we will open it and close it behind us. If there is a locked gate or a sign that says no entry or private we don't attempt to open it.
Where we meet anybody on these tracks we stop for a chat whoever it is - the landowner/gamekeeper/walkers etc - preferably with helmet off! We are polite and friendly with everybody we meet. We have only been asked to leave once in say four years - and that was because some idiots had been in that area and had ripped the hillside up and had not kept to the tracks. A lot of tracks are landrover type gravel tracks - these are used by the estates people and we will not damage them by riding a bike over them.
Some tracks were old public roads and so to me are fair game rightly or wrongly.
Perhaps the difference to South of the border is that this is not what people think of as the traditional farming land - its f..king wild - you are not endangering crops - you aren't in some sort of regulated queue of motorbikes with a pass in your hand. You respect the land and the people you find on it - you are sensible about what land you cross.
Yes its open to interpretation and can be spoiled by the idiots but at the moment it works for me. I suppose if I was to plan ahead and a long route in the high Highlands for instance then perhaps I would contact the land owner and ask for permission.

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