Ramblings

Boff Whalley is best known for Tubthumping with the band Chumbawamba but now he’s a core member of the Leeds based Commoners Choir which he founded. They sing about the world around them, about inequality and injustice, and they also love to walk. Cath Long, a fellow member, wrote to Ramblings to ask Clare to join them on a hike in the South Pennines near Todmorden in Calderdale, West Yorkshire. So, on a chilly, wet and blustery Saturday in early January, they met by the Shepherd’s Rest pub and headed into the hills to ramble and sing. Boff created a choir manifesto, and one aim was to 'rehearse until we're brilliant' and they really are. Their Skelmanthorpe Flag Song, which they performed at the historic Basin Stone, was heard by fellow walkers at least two miles down in the valley. On a circular hike, which began and ended at the pub, they stopped off at Gaddings Dam, often described as the highest beach in the UK, where some choir members took the plunge and sang out from the wind-blown waves of the reservoir.Grid Ref for start of walk: SD 945 231Presenter: Clare Balding Producer: Karen Gregor

The final listener's walk of the series is with Harriet Thomas who wrote to the programme to invite Clare to share her regular walk to The Trundle near Goodwood Racecourse in West Sussex. When lockdown struck and Harriet decamped from London to be near her elderly father she began walking regularly. Sadly her father passed away in Spring 2020 and Harriet kept up the walking as a way of processing her grief. She never returned to London and now immerses herself in the Sussex landscape on her daily rambles. They meet and start out from near the village of West Dean and do a 6 mile circular walk that takes them up to The Trundle an ancient hillfort that provides a spectacular view down into Chichester and beyond to Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.Producer: Maggie Ayre

Clare goes to Halifax to walk with a group of Muslim men who came together to support each other to become mentally and physically fitter through walking in the countryside around Halifax. One of the things the group enjoys about their town is the ability to be out into beautiful countryside within ten minutes - albeit up some very steep hills! The group's leader is Zaheer Khalil. He is passionate about the benefits of fresh air and walking. He also believes walking is a way of connecting with other people outside of their immediate community. They are a group of professional men who started to find their lives becoming stressful, unhealthy and at times overwhelming. The walks have helped them come together to keep fit and also share problems. They are all passionate about their town and keen to give back to the community in many different ways. They are proud of Halifax's industrial heritage, the contributions made by their elders and their own place in its history. Their walk begins and ends at the town's magnificent centrepiece The Piece Hall. All together it's 6.2 miles and takes them from the town centre up Trooper Lane to Beacon Hill before they walk along the ridge and drop down into Shibden Valley through the grounds of Shibden Hall, former home of Anne Lister (Gentleman Jack). After a break at the Shibden Mill Inn nestled amongst the trees by a stream, another steep climb takes the group up Lee Lane to Ploughcroft, which offers another panorama of Halifax. There is then a gradual descent back towards the town centre, via Claremount and North Bridge, finishing off in the opulent Georgian splendour of the Piece Hall plaza for the guys' customary chai and samosas.Producer: Maggie Ayre

Listener Jo Forrest got in touch inviting Clare to walk with her and a group of fellow walkers with T1 Diabetes who discovered the beautiful lush landscapes around Epsom Downs Racecourse during their lockdown walks. Jo, Chiara, Nicole and Denise are keen to share awareness of Type 1 Diabetes and how they manage it in their every day lives. Their walk takes them beyond the racecourse to Langley Vale Wood scene of Lord Kitchener's inspection of the troops in 1915. Wooden sculptures of the soldiers haunt the landscape and even on a Summer's day the stillness and solemness make for a poignant reminder of the Fallen.Producer: Maggie Ayre

A sunny hike, with added party tricks, in the pretty countryside around East Worldham. Led ably by members of Walk Alton, Clare discovers the beauty of this part of east Hampshire.Every episode in this series has been suggested by a Ramblings listener. Helen Dudley and Ian Fleming from Walk Alton wrote to the programme and invited Clare to discover more about this very active organisation and the national scheme to which it belongs, Walkers Are Welcome. For its small size, a population of around twenty thousand, Alton has a disproportionately large number of walking groups and two walking festivals, all run by committed volunteers. Today’s route is around 7 miles long and starts in the village of East Worldham, two miles east of Alton. They follow the map south, along part of the Hangers Way (hangers are very steep, wooded slopes) to Binswood, an ancient area of woodland managed by the Woodland Trust. Next they head to Shortheath Common, an important area of heathland, before looping back via another part of Binswood and returning to East Worldham via King John’s Hill. Joining them en route is Elinor Newman of the South Downs National Park who discusses a rare habitat known as 'quaking bog', and surprises everyone with her uncanny impressions of both nightjars and beetles. Scroll down on the Radio 4 Ramblings webpage to the 'related links' section for more info.Presenter: Clare Balding Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Karen Gregor

Clare walks with a listener known as Caravan, who spent six years living homeless in the Peak District, an area he knows well thanks to his love of outdoor pursuits.This series of Ramblings is being led by its listeners, people who have written to the programme with a story and a walk that they want to share. Caravan (not his real name) emailed to tell us about his experience of prolonged homelessness over thirty years ago. Central to his survival was the Peak District where he found both physical shelter, by way of railway stations, and also a feeling of sanctuary and anonymity during the most difficult years of his life. They recorded this walk just after the intense July heatwave which meant their planned Kinder Scout hike was inaccessible, closed due to the risk of wildfires. Instead they met in the village of Hartington and followed a route through Dovedale. Presenter: Clare Balding Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Karen Gregor

Our listeners are taking over Ramblings and guiding Clare on every walk of this new series. Today’s adventure is led by three women who all qualified as mountain leaders in their 50s. Linda Moran, Angie Jaleel and Bev England explain why they wanted to take their love of the outdoors to a professional level by gaining qualifications later in life. Linda wrote to Ramblings and asked Clare to join them on one of their adventures, so - on a July afternoon, not long after the intense heatwave - they set off on a challenging six-mile hike around Malham in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Starting at Malham Car Park, they walked towards the dramatic, natural amphitheatre that is Malham Cove before ascending the steps that rise alongside it. After a steep climb they arrived at the top and - as they were making their way across the gappy, wobbly limestone pavement - watched a natural drama unfold as crows failed to guard their nest against a persistent and hungry peregrine falcon.From there they rambled east along part of the Dales High Way, taking in Gordale Scar (full of climbers scaling the almost sheer cliffs) before completing the loop via Janet’s Foss waterfall. Grid Ref for Malham Car Park: SD 899 627Presenter: Clare Balding Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Karen Gregor

Mike Nelhams has recently retired as Head Gardener of the beautiful gardens on Tresco but remains very active and involved in island life. He meets Clare off the boat from St Marys and takes her on a tour of the island explaining the appeal of life on one of the most beautiful islands in Britain. They walk through the gardens observing the red squirrels which were introduced ten years ago on the request of Prince Charles who owns the island leasing it to the Dorrien-Smith family. They are responsible for the upkeep of the gardens as well as managing life on the island where there's a thriving tourist industry that sees visitors returning year after year. Tresco has its own micro-climate and is on the Gulf Stream that makes ideal growing conditions for exotic plants from South Africa and New Zealand.Producer: Maggie Ayre

Starting her walk overlooking the harbour outside the Star Castle Hotel once a Civil War fortress Clare hikes around the largest of the Isles of Scilly in the company of Will Wagstaff and Lucy McRobert. Will came to the island in 1985 and began giving walking tours which he has done ever since pointing out the variety of flora and fauna encouraged by the mild climate. Lucy McRobert came to St Marys three years ago with her keen birdwatching husband and infant daughter. Lucy is now just as keen a birder and like every islander has different roles including taking care of stranded seal pups each winter. As they take in the diverse landscapes of this small island they discuss the appeal of life there.Producer: Maggie Ayre

Today’s walk starts at Happy Valley in the Mourne Mountains about thirty minutes inland from the coast of County Down. Clare is walking with Kelly Hargie who, for very personal reasons, launched Wild Women Events as a way of encouraging female walkers to explore the countryside of Northern Ireland. Kelly has long understood that escaping into the wild helped her greatly with postnatal depression and recovery from injury and she wanted to share this discovery with like-minded women. From Happy Valley they head steeply up towards the 7th highest peak in the Mournes, Slieve Meelmore, partly alongside the Shimna River. This is the second of two back-to-back hikes in the Mournes, recorded on the same day. The first walk was broadcast last week and began – in great contrast to today’s route – at Bloody Bridge.Grid Ref for their starting point: SB 379 857Presenter: Clare Balding Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Karen Gregor