Ramblings

On a hot day, Clare and Alice Roberts walk from the village of Draycott in Somerset up through the Draycott Sleights Nature Reserve with views opening out across the Bristol Channel to Wales and across the Somerset Levels to Glastonbury Tor. Alice says she finds the ancient landscape fascinating and imagines the inhabitants of past centuries who would have lived on the small settlements on the Lev...

Dom Joly, famous for Trigger Happy TV, takes Clare on a walk near to his home in Gloucestershire. Leaving the village of Winchcombe, they walk up Spoonley Hill to see the remains of a Roman Villa. As they walk, Dom talks about his love of walking, discovered later in life after he became a travel writer. Recently he walked the entire length of Lebanon where he was born. His book The Hezbollah Hiki...

Clare Balding digs into the archives to find the most dramatic weather conditions she's recorded in; she also hears from those walkers who've had had the biggest adventures. The highlights include: Satish Kumar who covered 8000 miles when he walked from India to North America in the 1960s, to protest about nuclear arms; retired RAF officer, Lucy Newcombe, who has walked around the British coastlin...

Clare Balding continues her exploration of the archives and finds a selection of entertaining highlights which give some good advice to walkers both experienced and novice. Writer, Simon Ingram, recommends walking at 'guide's pace' when climbing steep hills; bothy-bagger, Phoebe Smith, discusses the etiquette of staying in these remote shelters; and experienced long-distance walker, Jenny Walters,...

Clare Balding recalls her favourite walks with a colourful variety of writers and singers including Bill Bryson, Toyah Wilcox, folk duo Ninebarrow, and the choral group Werca's Folk. Clare has been walking on air since 1999, and for this lockdown series of highlights has been digging into the archives to retrieve some of her most memorable moments: Today she gets dressed with Bill Bryson, takes a...

In a joyful celebration of 20 years spent walking on air, Clare Balding digs deep into the exhilarating archives of Ramblings to share the best moments from her favourite walks. This week's highlights showcase the diverse landscape that Clare has explored since the series began. From the Sands of Forvie in Aberdeenshire to the Wicklow Mountains in the Republic of Ireland via a moonlit night walk a...

In a joyful celebration of 20 years spent walking on air, Clare Balding digs deep into the exhilarating archives of Ramblings to share the best moments from her favourite walks. This week she explores the theme of Health and Happiness to discover how walking can provide a real boost to both our physical and mental health. The featured programmes include The Diamond Ramblers, a group who discuss th...

In a joyful celebration of twenty years spent walking on air, Clare Balding digs deep into the exhilarating and exhausting archives of Ramblings to share her favourite walks. This week the theme is Friends and Family as Clare finds the moments that best illustrate how walking is a fantastic way of drawing people together. Please scroll down to the 'Related Links' box to click through to the progra...

Clare Balding walks across a section of The Malverns, from Hollybush car park towards British Camp, with members of the Herefordshire Interfaith Group. In a world that feels increasingly divided, this group draws together Muslims, Quakers, Buddhists, Bahá’ís, Methodists and more. It's a leisurely stroll, with many pauses to reflect and share readings on the themes of Pilgrimage and Nature. Note: w...

In one of the rainiest Ramblings we've ever recorded, Clare Balding discovers a brand new waymarked walking route in South Wales which has been established on the path of an ancient pilgrimage. It's called the Penrhys Pilgrimage and connects Llandaff to Penrhys. As Clare hears, while walking (and getting soaked) along the final five mile stretch from Trebanog to Penrhys, a huge amount of work from...

Psychotherapist, Dr. Ruth Allen, explains how outdoor counselling works. She takes Clare Balding on a walk near Kelstedge in Derbyshire to discuss the healing power of walking & talking. In this series of Ramblings, Clare Balding is exploring the impact that walking in nature can have on our inner lives. She’s been up Glastonbury Tor with Druids, walked the Wilberforce Way with a Methodist min...

Clare Balding visits the ancient and mysterious labyrinth on top of St. Catherine's Hill in Winchester. Leading the walk is Brian Draper, who runs soulful retreats in nature. Throughout this series of Ramblings Clare is exploring how walking affects our inner life. She is hiking with people of differing beliefs and none to discover how the simple act of being in the natural world can change how we...

Clare Balding walks with Sikh-turned-Methodist, Inderjit Bhogal, along part of the Wilberforce Way in East Yorkshire. Inderjit created this long distance walking route to honour Wilberforce who led the campaign against the slave trade. They start at Pocklington School, where Wilberforce studied, and ramble canal-side to Melbourne Ings. Inderjit Bhogal has an extraordinary personal story: Born in K...

Clare Balding explores Glastonbury with Druids Penny and Arthur Billington. Throughout this series of Ramblings, Clare is finding out how walking affects our inner life. She is hiking with people of differing beliefs and none to discover how the simple act of being in the natural world can change how we feel. As Penny and Arthur explain, Druids live their lives closely connected to nature and the...

Steve Backshall and Helen Glover walk with Clare Balding on Winter Hill in Berkshire. Throughout this series of Ramblings Clare Balding is exploring how walking affects our well-being. She is hiking with people of differing beliefs and none to discover how the simple act of being in the natural world can change how we feel. Today, she’s climbing Winter Hill in Berkshire with the Olympic rower Hele...

Clare walks with Jon Whitley and James (Jay) La Bouchardiere, two childhood friends born and bred in Dorset who moved back there after university and began playing folk music. Jon’s father had run a folk club so it was in his blood so to speak as is the Dorset countryside. When they started writing songs it was a natural process to incorporate the landscape and folklore of the county and this even...

Clare Balding walks part of the Elan Valley pipeline: 73 miles of Victorian engineering running water from mid Wales into the city of Birmingham. Clare is walking with artist Kate Green who has spent the summer walking the pipe and getting to know people and places along the way. They're walking a stretch that runs around the town of Ludlow in the Welsh Marches. Joining them are Andy Holman who ru...

David Blunkett takes Clare Balding for a walk across Beeley Edge in the Peak District. Joining them are his wife, Margaret, and his guide dog, Barley. Despite being blind from birth, Lord Blunkett has always been a keen rambler and is President of his local Ramblers group. En route they encounter half a dozen cattle, which have to be navigated carefully as David once had three ribs broken by a cow...

Clare is climbing Cleeve Hill near Cheltenham in today’s Ramblings. At 330 metres above sea level it’s the highest point in Gloucestershire, and of the Cotswold Hills. With her are Chas and Sue Howes who live at the foot of the hill, and have a strong connection to it. Until 2012 Chas was the Finance Director of a major international clothing company. When he left he spiralled into a severe depres...

Clare Balding is with a group of young LGBT+ ramblers who meet once a month to explore the green spaces close to Manchester. Run by The Proud Trust, the outdoor adventures group is for 18-25-year-olds and is designed to combat social isolation and build both confidence and physical fitness. They always meet within striking distance of public transport and, today, are starting on the Chester Road i...

Clare Balding is joined by singers Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh of the band Deacon Blue to walk one of their favourite coastal routes in Fife. Starting at Elie they walk along the beach passing through the village of St Monan's ending in the picturesque fishing town of Pittenweem. Ricky and Lorraine have been married for over thirty years and perform together as part of the band, as well as ha...

Clare Balding joins a unique family ramble in Dorset. She is walking from Osmington Mills to Weymouth with Simon Waley and his three Dutch sons-in-law. They are here, from their home in the Netherlands, for a three day hike along a stretch of the South West Coastal Path. Simon is British; he met and married a Dutch woman and moved to the Netherlands more than twenty five years ago. They have three...

Clare Balding walks with sisters Georgina and Rebecca - both mothers of young children - who started a group called Go Wild Go West to help inspire other young families to get out and enjoy the outdoors. They have happy childhood memories of exploring and adventuring in nature and are concerned that children today are losing touch with the thrill of walking and playing outdoors. They take Clare on...

Clare Balding meets a group of native American women who live and work in the UK. A sense of isolation and homesickness led them to the Rainmaker Gallery in Bristol seeking connection with other indigenous people. They now meet regularly. Clare joins them on a walk around Henley in Arden in Warwickshire and hears how despite different tribal affiliations, the common cultural and spiritual backgrou...

Clare gets lost in the rain as she walks to meet two extraordinary sisters in their 90s. Both were code-breakers during WW2, and one invented the TV classic, Ask the Family. Pat Davies and Jean Argles both worked in espionage during WW2. Pat helped the Royal Navy intercept German Naval Traffic at coastal stations, while Jean was a code and cipher officer based in Cairo, then Italy. Throughout the...