Ramblings

There's a watery theme to this new series of Ramblings, as Clare Balding walks along rivers, lakes and streams. In this first programme we find her exploring part of the Thames estuary in Essex, with local enthusiast, Eileen Peck. Eileen's written a book of local walks around her village of Thundersley trying to encourage locals to enjoy walking in their own area, rather than feeling they have to travel further a field. Producer: Lucy Lunt.

This series is themed 'Ramblings Revisited' as Clare Balding walks again with some of her favourite and most memorable guests.In the spring of 2006, Clare went rambling with a female hockey team who had been walking together for 15 years. In this time they'd developed enduring friendships on as well as off the pitch.Now, eight years on - and with most of the original walkers now retired - Clare is going back to catch up with the 'Over the Hill' club. The group started-up after an advertisement was placed on the hockey club wall; it stipulated that the requirements of those attending were 'A sense of humour, walking boots or strong shoes, haversack, waterproof clothing and approximately £65 plus beer and lunch money'.The group walk in a different location each time they gather, this week they'll be in Windsor Great Park.Producer: Karen Gregor.

In this series of Ramblings, Clare Balding revisits some of her favourite walks and walkers. After thirteen years she returns to the Isle of Wight to meet Elizabeth Hutchings who introduced her to the Tennyson Trail.Elizabeth's late husband, Richard, was the founder of the Farringford Tennyson Society, so it was only fitting that he should have a bench, placed in his memory, under the poet's monument on top of the Down. But when Clare last visited this National Trust site, it was their policy not to have memorial plaques on benches, a disappointment to Elizabeth. But thanks to the likes of Head Ranger Robin Lang, they have reversed their position and now the bench has an inscription, to Richard, carved into the wood.Although now in her mid eighties and unable to make the steep climb onto the Down, with the help of Robin's four by four, Elizabeth and Clare once again visit the monument , the Down and Richard's seat and discuss the role walking has played in Elizabeth's long and eventful life.Producer: Lucy Lun

This series of Ramblings is themed 'Ramblings Revisited' as Clare catches up with people she walked with once before.In 2005 Clare rambled with a group based at the Radbrook Day Service centre in Shrewsbury, for people with mental health difficulties. The group had been running for ten years at the time of the original programme, but in the intervening years the Day Service centre was closed and the walking group folded.However one of the walkers in the original programme, clinical psychologist Penny Priest, has continued her interest in the mental health benefits of walking and introduces Clare to psychologist Guy Holmes who began a similar 'walk and talk' group in Shrewsbury which allowed original members to continue walking, and also brought new members on board.Producer: Karen Gregor.

In this series Clare Balding revisits some of her favourite walks and walkers from past programmes. Here she travels to the Hopetoun Estate, just west of Edinburgh to meet up with a group of women she first met twelve years ago. The Monday walkers have been together for over twenty five years, when they first met Clare, their average age was early sixties, now it's mid seventies. They explain that although walking still keeps them fit, they do now tailor their routes to take account of the passing years. A wee dram may still be part of their days outings but skinny dipping is accepted as a past pleasure.Producer: Lucy Lunt.

This series is themed 'Ramblings Revisited' as Clare Balding walks again with some of her favourite and most memorable guests.In March of 2006 Clare Balding went rambling with Rosie Barrett and her two children, Rachael and Rob. They took her on their local walk around the Avon Estuary in south Devon. It had always been part of their lives, as a route for venting teenage tantrums or simply as a ramble to the pub, but after Rosie's other son, Hugh, died of cancer at the age of 19 the walk took on a deeper significance. The family, and a hundred others, planted trees in Hugh's memory on a nearby hillside and a new section of the walk was created through dense woodland.For this programme Clare revisits Rachael and Rosie and follows the same route. Rob can't make it this time, but in his place is Jonno, Rosie's husband. It's now 11 years since Hugh died and of course the trees have grown; meanwhile Rachael now works in academia where her speciality is - appropriately enough - memory, landscape and therapeutic her

In this new series Clare Balding revisits some of her favourite and most memorable guests. Eleven years ago she joined Tom Isaacs in West Wales as he walked the entire coastline of Britain in an attempt to raise money and awareness for research into a cure for Parkinson's disease. Tom had been diagnosed at the exceptionally young age of twenty-seven but has always been determined not to let his condition get in the way of him leading a fulfilling and productive life. Clare now walks with Tom and his wife Lyndsey, along the river Chess, close to their home just outside London. Producer Lucy Lunt.

John McCarthy is this week's guest presenter, while Clare is away.The theme of this series of Ramblings is listeners' walks .Today's guests are volunteer rangers on the South Downs Way, Anni Townend and Ian Lock. Anni wrote to the programme to suggest we walk with her on a six mile stretch of the Way from Housedean Farm to Southease. This is her 'patch', which - as a ranger - she walks every month carrying out conservation work including scrub clearance and hedge laying, as well as improving public access and surveying wildlife and plantlife.OS Explorer 122 South Downs Way, Steyning to Newhaven 1:25,000Producer: Karen Gregor.

This week's walk is a little unusual. The guest, Cathy Dreyer, wrote to the programme to suggest we join her on a short, local route which she has chosen to walk 365 times.Cathy began her project after reading the first few pages of Robert Macfarlane's book, 'The Old Ways'. She was filled with envy at his freedom to walk in exciting, far flung places. But rather than moan about her domestic responsibilities, Cathy thought she'd respond by doing a very short walk, 365 times over.Cathy says she is using the walk to examine "what's really there" in both the natural world and in her domestic life as a parent which is repetitive and intimate, going over and over the same worn but wonderful ground. Motherhood and work means it's taking longer than a year to complete the project, something Cathy is chronicling in a blog www.walkinginacircle.wordpress.comThe theme of this series of Ramblings is listeners' walks, and this week's presenter is a previous Ramblings' guest: the broadcaster, actor and musician, Toyah Willc

This week's Ramblings is presented by the broadcaster and musician, Dougie Vipond, who took over the map and microphone on a beautiful July day when Clare Balding was away.Dougie joined an amazing young girl, ten year old Annabelle Asher, on a stretch of the Coast to Coast walk from Newbiggin on Lune to Kirkby Stephen.With her parents' support, Annabelle spent the first couple of weeks of her summer holidays walking the entire 190 mile route in order to raise money for the Welsh Guards Afghanistan Appeal.Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, was the highest ranking officer to die in Afghanistan. He was a pupil at the boarding school where Annabelle's parents teach, and where Annabelle lives. When Annabelle found out what had happened to Lieutenant Colonel Thorneloe, she was determined to raise money in his memory.Always a keen walker - once turning down a trip to Disney, for the chance to climb Snowdon - Annabelle completed the Cotswold Way last year (for the same charity), and has her sights set on the Pennin

Clare Balding is in Durham for today's edition of Radio4's walking series, when she joins Maggie and Keith Bell. They take her on one of their favourite routes from their home, Crook Hall, through the outskirts of the city and along the river. The couple now use walking as a time to catch up, hold business meetings and relive memories of their courtship, when they both arrived in the city over thirty years ago as students.Producer: Lucy Lunt.

Clare Balding is in Northumberland to join the walking group from the local women's choir, Wercas Folk. It was formed over eighteen years ago by the well- known folk singer and composer, Sandra Kerr. They set off from the village she lives in and loves very much, Warkworth. Wercas Folk, an unauditioned group, specialise in singing new and traditional folk songs about the area, its people and its history.Many of the original founder members are still in the choir and they explain it's not just the singing that keeps them turning up week after week. The group have developed a collaborative and mutually supportive ethos that has forged strong friendships, resulting in them enjoying social time together even away from the rehearsal room and concert hall. They regularly escape from home and family for weekends away to walk, talk and indulge in the odd glass of wine.As they set off on a circular route around the village they talk to Clare about the role the choir plays in their lives and the joy of singing and walk

Clare Balding walks in Somerset as the guest of The Tuesday Walkers of North Devon. Meeting at the village of Exford on Exmoor, they set out on a six mile circular route, which, like all of the group's walks, begins and ends at a pub. All the members are retired and take their Tuesday hike as an important weekly date in their diaries. While enjoying the scenery, the company and the exercise all have good advice to offer Clare, on how to ensure a fit, healthy, active and happy retirement. Producer: Lucy Lunt.

Clare Balding walks on Cannock Chase with Tara Bariana who recalls his extraordinary walk home to India.Tara Bariana was born in Punjab, and at the age of 13 came to the UK with his mother. His father and older brother had arrived four years earlier, in 1958.In 1995 Tara decided he needed an adventure and made the decision to walk from the Midlands - where he'd grown up, married and settled - back to his home village in India.He walked to Southampton where he caught the ferry to Cherbourg. There he realised he didn't speak any French, he couldn't even say 'bonjour'... but, despite being hit by the reality of what he'd decided to do, he couldn't turn back.Nineteen months later, of almost non-stop walking, he arrived in his home village but instead of returning home, remembers thinking 'is that it?', and stayed in India for a further 18 months.On this walk, around Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, Tara is accompanied by his son, Clive, Clive's wife, Jodie, and their two children. Producer: Karen Gregor.

Clare Balding walks a section of the West Highland Way, north from Balmaha, with twin sisters Pauline Walker and Fiona Rennie.Pauline and Fiona are both 'ultra runners' and they haven't, before, walked the West Highland Way. However they have run the entire route, non-stop, several times. It's one of their favourite challenges on the ultra-runner calendar; running through the night, dealing with hallucinations, and pushing themselves to the limit is all part of the experience.Clare hears about their adventures, their close and supportive relationship, and Fiona's recent battle with mouth cancer as they slow to an unfamiliar pace to enjoy the beautiful scenery north of Balmaha.Producer: Karen Gregor.

Clare Balding walks with the celebrated author and academic, Robert Macfarlane who takes her from his home in Cambridge out onto the Icknield Way. For a man known to love mountains, Robert explains how he's slowly come to love the tame lowlands of Cambridgeshire and how he now relies on climbing trees to give him height and views. While Clare is not tempted to join him at the top of an accommodating beech tree, she's happy to admire the graffiti left on the bark. Walking out in the summer sunshine Robert shares his fascination for the ancient tracks, drove-roads and sea paths that criss-cross the British Countryside. Producer Lucy Lunt.

Clare Balding goes rambling, near Machynlleth, with the writer and environmentalist, George Monbiot. The theme of this series of Ramblings is 'In Search Of.' and, together, George and Clare are walking in search of wildness.George's new book, 'Feral', is partly a personal story about his attempt to stave off the monochrome nature of modern-day life: "I could not continue just sitting and writing, looking after my daughter and my house, running merely to stay fit, watching the seasons cycling past without ever quite belonging to them. I was, I believed, ecologically bored".In this walk, George explains how he has attempted to 'rewild' his own life and describes what he believes needs to be done in order to reintroduce true wildness to our countryside through the large-scale restoration of ecosystems. He says "researching it felt like stepping through the back of the wardrobe".Using OS Explorer OL23 - Cadair Idris and Llyn Tegid - George takes Clare to his favourite place in mid-Wales, a rare stand of ancient n

Clare Balding meets those who have found love and companionship through walking when she joins a group to walk a section of the Greensand Way in Surrey.She speaks to Liz and James who explain how walking side-by-side took the awkwardness out of their first meeting. Liz said she knew James liked her when he started flirting like a teenager over lunch, even though she was wearing her Mum's over-sized waterproof at the time.Margaret explains how walking transformed her retirement and led to a wider range of social activities. She adds, "London can be very lonely when you live on your own".Clare hears how walk-leader Roger met his wife Sue thirty years ago on a walk, and that this history can provide a map of a relationship both literally and metaphorically. Although they walk at a different pace, Sue's keen to point out that Roger never forgets she's on the walk.Producer: Toby Field.

In this new series of Ramblings, Clare Balding will be walking in search of new places, new people and new experiences. In this first programme she joins the Chilterns American Women's Club hiking group, who walk in search of learning more about their new home and meeting other ex-pat spouses. The club offers a range of activities for ex-American and International women who find themselves living in Britain but the walking group is one of the most popular allowing them to discover and explore their adopted home. Later in the series Clare talks to people who walk in search of a new partner, to discover more about the environment and she walks with the celebrated author Robert MacFarlane who walks to discover the old routes. Producer Lucy Lunt.

Michael Weltike tries to persuade Clare Balding of the benefits of barefoot walking on a wintry wander in the West Country.They meet at the church of St Andrew in Compton Bishop, near Weston-super-Mare, and walk from there to Crook Peak. Accompanied by Michael's permanently barefoot companion, Woody, Clare and Michael strip off from the ankles down and revel in the unusual pleasure of walking barefoot.Michael is certain that by 'earthing' himself regularly he maintains a high level of health and well-being.Producer: Karen Gregor.