■ In a recent comprehensive report, the Commissioner for the Environment at the Ombudsman’s Office, David Pace, made various proposals on rambling trails intended to regulate this physical recreation which the Ramblers’ Association has been promoting both locally and abroad with success for the last 10 years.

The Environment Commissioner is in total agreement with the Ramblers’ Association that the non-availability of a definitive map of the Maltese islands delineating between public and private land, probably the only country in Europe without such map, is the cause of friction and frustrations.

What is most disturbing is that his just and overdue recommendations, completely in line with other civilised countries, have opened a can of worms.

We have already experienced this bitter pattern; as soon as we try to retrieve that which was lost, we risk losing the little that remains. We have been inundated by reports from members of previously open pathways with easy access to the shore being closed and a sign put up claiming ownership.

At the moment, we are in the final stages of preparing the programme of autumn walks (October-December) and the walks commission takes great care not to encroach on private property, especially with the high numbers of foreigners that have joined the ramblers’ clan.

The Ramblers’ Association urges the Land Department to embark on the massive task of providing us with the proposed definitive map before we apply for the Ramblers’ European Convention to be held in Malta.

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