Staying on the path through a growing crop
A path through a crop is still a path. Walk the line in single file, and do not widen it because the crop has crept in.
A field of wheat, rape or young grass can swallow a path. From the stile the line is a rumour, and the easy walk is around the edge or, worse, a new track wherever the party feels like stepping. The path is still there in law and on the map. How you cross the field decides whether the crop, the farmer and the next walker all have a tolerable afternoon.
Find the line before you wade in
Stand at the entrance and look for the opposite stile, gate or waymark before you take the first step. That aim is the path. If you cannot see it, check the map for the direction and pick a landmark on the far hedge. Waymarks are often on the far side, which is unhelpful until you are committed. A bearing, even a rough one, stops the party drifting into a curve that tramples a wider fan of crop.
Walk single file. A chatting line of four abreast is a road through someone's livelihood. The person in front sets a straight course. Everyone else puts their feet in those footprints as far as the crop allows.
When the path has not been reinstated
After ploughing or planting, a right of way ought to be put back so that people can use it. It is not always done as promptly as walkers would like. You may still follow the mapped line. Do it neatly. Do not punish the crop for the delay by wandering, and do not invent a wide headland walk across planted ground unless a sign has asked you to use a headland alternative.
If a clear reinstated path exists a few metres off the exact map line, and it obviously is the walked and intended route, use it. The goal is a single clear trod, not a theological argument in the middle of a field. Reading the OS map tells you the official line. The ground tells you where feet have already been allowed.
Crops that fight back
Oilseed rape at head height, maize later in the year, nettles on a neglected line: these are miserable and still not an invitation to detour through a neighbouring field. Wear trousers, use a stick to feel for the hidden ditch, and keep the party together. If the crop is genuinely impassable, go back to the last point and use a road or a different right of way. Report the obstruction later, with a grid reference. Turning a bad path into three new paths helps nobody.
Wet weather makes this worse. A trod through a crop becomes a smear, and walkers step aside onto fresh plants to keep their boots pretty. Accept the mud or turn back. Gaiters are the equipment answer. A new line through the wheat is not.
Dogs, picnics and the edge
A dog running a crop is flattening a yield and may be running toward stock or a road you cannot see. Keep the lead on through the field. Eat on the stile or after the field, not sitting down among the stems. A picnic in a crop is a small camp of damage.
The headland, the grass strip at the edge, is sometimes the permitted alternative and sometimes a tractor's turning space that is not the right of way. Use it when it is signed as the path or when you are clearly on the mapped line. Do not use it as a private bypass through standing crop that you simply dislike.
Why the neat line matters
A single file of walkers leaves a path the farmer can see and restore, and that the next person can follow without thinking. A braid of little paths leaves a mess that invites more braid. You are not only getting across. You are deciding what the field will look like on Saturday.
Be polite if you meet the farmer. You are on a right of way, and you are also in their workplace. A straight, quiet crossing is the best thing you can say.
Frequently asked questions
Can the farmer plough out a path?
Fields are worked, and paths across them can be disturbed. They should be made usable again. While you wait, walk the line cleanly and report a path that stays blocked.
What if the crop is only on one side of a faint trod?
Stay on the trod. Stepping into the untrampled side because it looks greener is how the trod doubles.
Is it all right to walk the field edge to protect the crop?
Only where the edge is the right of way or a signed alternative. A kind intention across the wrong ground is still a trespass. The neat line through the proper path protects the crop better than a new route.