(Cornwood) “Nature is a human right! “ Red cap screwed on the head, Anya Wilding put on her hiking boots to recover a “fundamental” right which was “snatched” from her: that of bivouacking in Dartmoor, in the south-west of England.
Until mid-January, this national park popular with hikers for its wild moors was the only place in England where camping was not prohibited. It will now be necessary “the consent of the owner of the land” before pitching his tent there, estimated the British justice, seized by a rich local owner.
The decision has camping enthusiasts jumping. Saturday, despite the cold, they were some 3000 according to the organizers to have made an appointment in the small village of Cornwood for a protest march to the “Stall Moor”, a vast moor with lunar landscapes belonging to Alexander Darwall , the owner opposed to the bivouac.
“It’s a fundamental right that was taken away from us and I’m here today to get it back,” said Anya Wilding, a 21-year-old photography student. “It was the only place where it was legal so it really makes your teeth cringe. »
She remembers with nostalgia her last stay in the surroundings and the “magical” moment when she “awoke with this golden light that illuminated the moor. »
” Look at the stars ”
In an England whose lands are almost entirely privatized, the English are only allowed to venture off the beaten track on a tiny part of their territory: 8% of the countryside and 3% of the waterways according to the official figures.
This “Right to Roam” (right to roam) guaranteed since the year 2000 a right of access to the public to certain private natural spaces, but it is very limited. You can’t do anything there, especially not camp, and even less do it anywhere.
In this restrictive legislative framework, Dartmoor was a “magnificent anomaly”, underlines with AFP Guy Shrubsole, author of the book Who Owns England? which details how a small elite of aristocrats, businessmen and corporations came to own the vast majority of England.
A law specific to Dartmoor guarantees since 1985 the right to exercise any “outdoor leisure” there. A unique case in England, the bivouac was therefore practiced there without fear before the courts considered that it was not a “leisure”.
However, “it’s a pleasure, an adventure, an exploration,” says Alison Thomas, a 72-year-old retiree who came to join the protest on Saturday.
While she’s no longer camping – “the bags are too heavy at our ages” – she wants the youngest to experience “the simple joy of gazing at the stars”.
“We all need nature and nature needs us”, abounds Guy Shrubsole guiding hikers on the narrow road that leads to the moor.
“We are in the middle of a sixth mass extinction, we seriously need to reconnect with nature, to know it better and to understand it for all to be its guardians, not only the owners”, adds this founding member of the “Right To Roam”.
This collective, on the initiative of the gathering, campaigns for greater access to English nature, as is the case in Scotland or elsewhere in Europe.
No “permission”
Arrived in the “moor” after a long hour of walking punctuated by drums and cymbals, hikers-activists of all ages call for help “Old Crockern”, the “good spirit” of Dartmoor who according to local legend has already pushed a greedy landlord out of business.
“Dartmoor is a magical place with many myths and legends,” says local resident Harriet White, recognizable by the bird feathers she has tucked into her hair.
Before the British courts, Alexander Darwall justified wanting to ban the bivouac because of the waste left by some campers, an argument swept away by Harriet White.
“Everyone must be responsible, the owners too”, she believes, stressing that “overgrazing the moor or breeding pheasants (Mr Darwall organizes hunts) is much more dangerous than the bivouac”.
Like many hikers, she opposes the agreement reached between the national park and certain landowners who are willing to authorize camping in return for financial compensation paid by the national park.
“We deserve a right of access, not a permission. »