Ramblings

In the first of two back-to-back hikes in the Mourne Mountains Clare walks from Bloody Bridge near Newcastle, on the coast of County Down, up into the hills. Led by Alex Rose of the Northern Ireland Young Walkers, they begin at a stone sculpture which – from a certain angle – look like a human face in profile. This is the Smuggler’s Head which helps to tell the story of the ‘Brandy Pad’ a local smuggler’s route. It’s a history-rich Ramblings which continues by following the Bloody Bridge River, so called because bodies thrown into the water, following a massacre during the 1641 rebellion, turned it blood red. Soon they’re climbing steeply up to one of the Mourne summits, Chimney Rock, partly following an old quarry-rail track used to bring granite down to sea-level. The Northern Ireland Young Walkers were formed in 2005 as a way of getting more youthful hikers out and about. It’s such a successful club that people don’t like to leave, so the age range has widened as the members have aged.The second Mournes ramble – recorded on the same day - will be broadcast next in the series. It starts at a place whose name couldn’t be more of a contrast: Happy Valley. Grid Ref for Bloody Bridge Car Park: SB472822Presenter: Clare Balding Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Karen Gregor

Having grown up in Cornwall Jane Johnson has a deep love of the landscape of the south west. She and her husband Abdel take Clare on a coastal walk along steep rocky footpaths that offer breathtaking views of the Cornish coastline around the Lizard to Lands End. It's a favourite walk for the couple who often see dolphins, whales and basking sharks along the way. They tell Clare the story of their extraordinary meeting in the foothills of the Anti-Atlas Mountains of Morocco and how a near death experience for Jane while climbing led to a love affair with a Berber restaurant owner who tried to rescue her. Seventeen years on the couple live mainly in Cornwall but try to divide their time between there and Morocco. Jane is a writer and publisher while Abdel is now developing his artwork.Producer: Maggie Ayre

In the first of a new series, Clare is in Derry-Londonderry to meet the celebrated children’s author and artist, Oliver Jeffers. As part of a free nationwide arts project called Unboxed, he’s created a 10 kilometre sculpture trail, designed as a scale model of the solar system. It starts at Bay Road Park and runs alongside the River Foyle. The trail, ‘Our Place in Space’, is there until 22 May 2022 before moving to Belfast, Cambridge, and the North Down Coastal Path.Oliver says he’s a ‘pretty serious rambler’: he walked everywhere when he lived in New York City, and once led three-day hikes in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York.Explaining his inspiration for the project, he says: “If we could look back at Earth from the vastness of the solar system, what would we feel? Wouldn’t squabbles look stupid from Saturn? Wouldn’t violence seem senseless from Venus? Forget about ‘Us’ and ‘Them’, from the perspective of Pluto, it’s just US!”Oliver Jeffers collaborated with the Nerve Centre and Professor Stephen Smartt of Queen’s University Belfast to design the trail which has its own free interactive App to download.Grid Ref for their starting point: NV 611 818Presenter: Clare Balding Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Karen Gregor

Colleen Thirkell and her husband Richard have been walking stretches of the Saxon Shore Way with their friends Bev and John. In autumn 2020 Colleen fell seriously ill with a rare reaction to a flu jab. She was unable to walk and spent months in hospital. But she has slowly recovered and part of her rehabilitation has been to get out walking with her friends again. They invited Clare to walk one of the final stages of the 168 mile route they have been walking together when time has allowed. The ramble takes them from the village of Hamstreet to Appledore on the edge or Romney Marsh. Along the way they talk about their love of walking together as a group and how Colleen's recovery was aided by the thought of being outdoors with friends and family again.Producer: Maggie Ayre

The walk begins on the shingle at Winchelsea Beach - the possible site of the drowned city that was engulfed by waves in the 11th century. Crossing the marshy fields inland Clare and Matthew climb the steep hill to the gate of the rebuilt and fortified town of Winchelsea that was once a thriving wine port. They walk through the town passing open wine cellars as they go. The town was built on a grid system and as with similar towns in France and Italy it became known as a medieval Manhattan. Trade with European ports in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal was vibrant and it was said that in the Middle Ages Winchelsea was close to becoming the wine capital of Europe. Fierce fighting took place between its citizens and bands of marauding pirates from across the Channel to protects its wealth and prosperity. Dr Matthew Green specialises in walking as a way of understanding history and gives wine and gin tours in London. He says he prefers to try and understand how people lived and felt at the time they were living rather than to focus on the politics and conflicts of the past. Crossing into fields on the south side of Winchelsea they walk over buried streets of houses, a hospital and the market place down to the stone towngate on the road to Icklesham. Having submerged the original town, the sea then played another cruel trick on Winchelsea. Large deposits of shingle amassed meaning ships could no longer enter the harbour. Trade dwindled and the town declined. Only around a third of the original settlement remains.Producer: Maggie Ayre

Baroness Floella Benjamin DBE joins Clare for a walk around one of her favourite woodlands in London. Starting in Dulwich College where her mother worked in the laundry and later her son attended, Floella and husband Keith head off into the woods on a rainy March day. Their walk takes them up from the College past the Golf range and into the woods where parakeets dart among the trees shrieking and providing a dash of bright emerald green on a grey day. Along the way Floella talks about her life and all her achievements. She was born in Trinidad and emigrated with her family in the 1960s settling in London. After leaving school she worked in a bank before becoming an actress and then getting her break into children's television in Play School. The education and wellbeing of children is one of her greatest priorities and she is hugely proud of all that she has achieved in this field. The walk takes them along routes she has walked for many years from when her own children were small. She and Keith are great walkers and love to hike in the Lake District but when that's not possible, a walk in these woods is a sanctuary in the middle of the city - a place to relax, think and destress.Producer: Maggie Ayre

From the Redmires Reservoirs near Sheffield, Clare walks up to Stanage Edge ('stone edge') a gritstone escarpment in the Peak District. Angela Lawrence and Anna Jorgensen are Clare's guests and are retired fell-runners (an accident with a vacuum cleaner ended Angela's running career) but their passion for the hills of the Peak District, which they have run across many times, remains undimmed. They have simply slowed down a little, and are now committed walkers. They wrote to Ramblings to suggest that Clare hike with them up to Stanage Pole. Along the way, on a beautiful, clear-skied day, they take in stunning views, a sociable lunch in a stone bothy, and tell Clare about another of their passions: Argentine Tango. During the walk they also talk about the "Ethels". In honour of the pioneering environmentalist, Ethel Haythornthwaite, 95 hilltops have been classified by the countryside charity, CPRE, as 'Ethels'. Clare, Angela and Anna delve into Ethel's fascinating life-story as they immerse themselves in the scenery that inspired her. The Ethels were recently created following an idea from Doug Colton.The Grid Reference for Redmires Reservoirs is SK265858. Presenter: Clare Balding Producer: Karen Gregor

Clare explores a rural route near the Worcestershire village of Guarlford. Storm Eunice has just left, Franklin is underway and the River Severn is up so this is a last-minute change to the planned walk. Originally Clare and her guest, poet Catherine Swire, had planned to hike the first stretch of the Monarch's Way which runs along the banks of the Rivers Teme and Severn in Worcester but flooding has pushed them a little further south. Catherine has recently published her first book of poetry, 'Soil', which takes the theme of historic trauma and explores how it is etched on our landscape. Worcester was the site of the first proper skirmish, and the last battle, of the English Civil War, something featured within Catherine's work. The Monarch's Way is a long distance path which traces the very indirect escape route - from Worcester to Suffolk - of Charles II after his loss at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Guarlford (not on the Monarch's Way) is about two miles east of Great Malvern, and a good mile and a half west of the River Severn - hopefully far enough to keep their feet dry. The grid reference for their starting point in Guarlford is SO 813 453. The map is OS Explorer 190 Malvern Hills and Bredon HillPresenter: Clare Balding Producer: Karen Gregor

Writer Melissa Harrison celebrates the joy of walking in every season of the year and in wet and dry weather. Given that we can count on it raining on many days of the year it's a good thing to learn to love being out in it. Melissa has written a book about rain and discovered that there are hundreds of different words and expressions for weather from around Britain. Clare and Melissa do a circular walk from Gidleigh on Darmoor to Scorhill and Shovel Down. Dartmoor is a place that holds a strong pull for Melissa dating back to childhood. She returns often to walk this wild country where stone circles and rocky tors dot the landscape.Producer: Maggie Ayre

Clare hikes through the Eglwyseg Valley in north Wales with two very different characters: Guy Kennaway and Hussein Sharif. The two men became family when Guy’s son married Hussein’s sister. Guy wanted to get to know Hussein better and show him a different side of Britain, so he suggested they go on a long walk. A book followed, ‘Foot Notes’, which describes both the adventure they had attempting to hike forty miles and their developing understanding of each other’s lives and experiences. Clare, Guy and Hussein walked for around three sodden, sleety miles through the Eglwyseg Valley to World's End at Grid Reference SJ229479Presenter: Clare Balding Producer: Karen Gregor