Getting ready for walk4life day

Walk 4 Life Day, with ITV, is taking place on Sunday 25th September, and the Ramblers is helping out in places all over the country. Watch this clip from ITV Calendar News in Yorkshire and the North East, featuring Helen and Maureen from the Ramblers.

http://www.itv.com/yorkshire/walk-4-life21798/

"What are your favourite English Coastal walking routes?"

That's the question we've asked our members and supporters in an online poll. Believe me, Ramblers members are discerning walkers - so if you want good tips for walking routes, they're the ones to ask.

Topping the league is the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, from Kimmeridge to Durdle Door. But I have to say that my personal favourite is the walking route that comes fourth in the league table: the route from Saltburn-by-the-Sea to Saithes in North Yorkshire. Part of the Cleveland Way, I did this route in reverse a few years ago...stayed in a B&B at Saithes and then walked the cliff top route. The high cliff faces are almost jet black, and you've got the north sea out beyond - it's rough and wild and exhilarating. At the end of the walk, you descend down into the small Victorian town of Saltburn, which has quite a bohemian feel to it. A restored pier, working cliff cars, lots of surfers, and good fish and chips.

The Ramblers dream is for continuous coastal walking routes around the entire English coast. Some might think this far-fetched - our predecessors had the same reaction when they dreamed up the Pennine Way! - but actually there's now a law in place to create this. It'll open up the entire coastline to walkers. But the problem is, the Government seems to be dragging it's feet. The planning and design of the route is being delayed and there seems to be a distinct lack of commitment from the powers that be.

We've launched an appeal to keep the English Coastal path on track. If you would like to donate, please visit our website: www.ramblers.co.uk/donation or call 020 7339 8500.

Celebrating North Yorkshire's Open Access walks (30/8/11)

There are parts of the Yorkshire Wolds which were largely inaccessible to walks until the right to roam.

One such is Fairy Dale, a small dry chalkland valley near Burdale. It's a Site of Special Scientific Interest and features typical chalk grassland plants; and it's also the home of the closed-up mouth of the Burdale Tunnel, through which the old Malton-Driffield Railway used to pass before it closed in the 1950s. It's an area rich in human history dating back thousands of years; and also has a rare outcrop of breccia - angular fragments of flint and hard chalk cemented with calcite - known locally as the 'Fairy Stones'.

Today I visited the peaceful Fairy Dale to help launch a booklet describing this and nine other open access walks in North Yorkshire. The booklet, a collaboration between the local council and the local Ramblers Area, has apparently been as popular as hot cakes in local tourist centres (the landlord at our pub lunch-stop commented on how well it goes down with visitors - which means it's good for local trade).

Also at the launch was Lord Middleton, the landowner, who has helped by giving permission for two new paths and entry points for the months February to June, until 2013, for this walk; Cllr Stephen Shaw from North Yorks County Council; and Ramblers volunteer Tom Halstead, who wrote the guidebook and did much of the work to assemble the walks.

It was good to see how the greater access rights which we now enjoy are opening up previously secret parts of the countryside. It's also good to see the council, the Ramblers, and the landowner working together to make these new walks a success.

Thanks to all who took part in the launch today, including Peter Leese, Peter Ayling, and Chris Bush.