Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

I have now ridden over 700 miles across the state of Texas. I have been on the back roads in the remotest areas, via simple ranching country, through wealthy residential countryside and into the state capital.

I cannot fault the Texan people in the slightest. They have been polite, kind and considerate. They are also as wonderfully charismatic characters as you could hope to meet. Texans will do just about anything they can to help a visiting stranger on his way and I have been the lucky recipient of their fantastic hospitality.

So it is with some reluctance that I tackle the topic of this entry.

I was lying in my hammock last night after writing my journal when the seed of the thought began to grow. It is fun to roadside wild camp across the state, but it would be so much better to get away from the road a little as you can sometimes in Arizona.

Travelling through the hill country I have passed over 250 miles of wooded natural country, yet I am it always separated from it. I never really feel amongst it.

The fences are high and prominent, a constant feature of the rural landscape. Signs constantly warn the passer by not cross the line between the road and properties, backed up with threats of violence or prosecution. There is almost no public access to enormous areas of the wild and magnificent land.

A few days ago, I rode through the town of Hunt, Texas on the Guadalupe River. It has a beautiful, clean river lined with tall, straight cypress trees. All along the riverside there are picnic benches and jetties and grassy areas for people to enjoy.

I thought I might take 5 minutes and eat a sandwich here. However when I looked for a spot, each one was marked PRIVATE NO TRESPASSING. Nowhere in whole town could I find a place to sit by the river and take a break.

The focus here is very much on possession and individual ownership. Nearly all the best places are firmly marked private property. The owners and their guests can enjoy the countryside but others cannot. They are welcome in the shops, B+B's and on the roads but not to sit by the river for a while or to go for a walk in the woods.

Like New Zealand, the state of Texas owns and runs some parks for conservation and recreation purposes. However, unlike New Zealand they represent a very small proportion of the state and charge an entrance fee per person.

It is possible to eat your lunch by the river in Blanco, Texas but you will pay as much for the seat by the river as you did for your lunch.

Of course this is the ultimate capitalist country and like the UK nearly everything is privately owned. Ranchers use the land to make their living, running animals on the land and charging visitors to stay and hunt. The land is their lively hood and unsurprisingly they don't want to share it with outsiders.

The impression given is one of isolationism and perhaps this explains the reputation rural Texas has in the west coast cities.

We used to have a similar system in Britain. All the countryside was owned by the landed minority, much as it is today. It was farmed and managed for them, their friends and business associates to enjoy country sports in peace. Meanwhile the ordinary man was excluded unless doing the owner's bidding.

However all that was to change thanks to the direct action of a radical group called the Ramblers, many of them veterans from the Great War.

In the 1930s hundreds of Ramblers took to the Peak District hills one day. They were engaged in violent hand to hand combat by men in the employ of the land owner, the Duke of Devonshire.

Men were injured, some knocked unconscious and the ringleaders were imprisoned. The fall out from the incident brought the issue of land access for all to the attention of parliament and began a slow change for the common good.

Nowadays if you own more than a few fields nearly anywhere in the UK the chances are that a public footpath runs across your land. The network of paths and bridleways throughout our country allows ordinary people to travel on foot into all areas of the land no matter what they own or who they know.

Moreover in mountain, moorland, heath or down a Briton or any visitor may roam as he or she wishes, staying on the path if one exists. In the absence of such a path one may take a walk down to sit by the river or lake, or climb a ridge to take in the view.

Land owners have the right to a temporary closure of public access of up to 1 month per year for management reasons if needed.

Trespass on private land is not a criminal offence in the UK, rather it is a civil matter between individuals and you cannot be prosecuted as such, no matter what a sign may say.

A landowner has the right only to use 'reasonable force' to remove a trespasser. If you leave when asked no use of force is reasonable.

Before coming to the 'Land Of The Free' I did not fully appreciate just how lucky we are.

We owe a lot to those plucky northerners of 1930s, although none gave up their lives for the cause they risked their safety and their liberty so that we could be free in our own land.

I urge you to use that hard won freedom, not everyone is so lucky.