Ramblings

Ramblings episodes:

• 04.18.2024

  Kingfishers on the River Frome with Nadeem Perera

  Nadeem Perera is not your conventional image of a birdwatcher. In fact growing up in inner city London he was not raised as or encouraged to be a 'nature boy'. But dropping out of school as a troubled teen he...

  
• 04.18.2024

  Walking at Night on the South Downs near Seaford

  When author Annabel Abbs suffered a series of bereavements she found herself unable to sleep. Eventually she began getting up and walking around her garden and neighbouring fields around 3am. But when she heard about Caroline Whiteman who runs...

  
• 03.28.2024

  Creaking Trees and a Full Rainbow at Innerleithen

  The beautiful Borders of Scotland is the location for Clare’s walk this week. She’s exploring the area around Innerleithen with Stewart Wilson. After a career in finance Stewart made a handbrake turn in his early 40s and became...

  
• 03.21.2024

  On the Hoof with Hannah and Chico

  Clare joins Hannah Engelkamp and her donkey, Chico, for a ramble in the Dyfi Valley a few miles east of Machynlleth in Powys. On the way Hannah tells Clare about the extraordinary adventure she shared with Chico when...

  
• 03.14.2024

  The Wild Cliffs of St David's

  A cliff edge walk at St. David's in Pembrokeshire with artists Jackie Morris and Tamsin Abbott who are creating a book of illuminated folk stories. Jackie is writing the words and Tamsin is creating original pieces of stained glass...

  
• 02.22.2024

  Walking with resistance bands on the South Downs with Julie Ford

  Clare joins PE Teacher Julie Ford for a bracing walk on the Seven Sisters near Eastbourne. It's a walk with a difference. Following a brush with breast cancer Julie was keen to keep fit but no longer wanted to go...

  
• 02.15.2024

  We in Front!

  A joyful hike up Castle Hill near Huddersfield with We In Front, an inspirational group of walkers. Leading the way is Errol Hamlet who, having retired, felt bored, unhealthy and wanted a new challenge. He spotted a neighbour out...

  
• 12.25.2023

  Clare's Highlights

  Clare chooses some favourite moments from her Ramblings year: Join brothers Manni and Reuben Coe who amble down to Hive Beach in Dorset on a calm summer's day. On the way they recall the emotional story of how Reuben,...

  
• 10.26.2023

  Hope Valley with Anita Sethi

  In 2019 Anita Sethi was on a trans Pennine train journey when she was racially abused by a man who later pleaded guilty to the offence. During the attack he told her to go back to where she belonged....

  
• 10.19.2023

  Boxing on the beach at Ainsdale

  Rose Mac moved to the North West from London a year ago and is constantly delighted by the nature and walking possibilities of her new home. Ainsdale Nature Reserve houses a rare species of sand lizard as well as...

  
• 10.12.2023

  Oldbury on Severn and Inside Planet Earth

  Clare walks with Mike Gunton, the man in charge of Planet Earth III, another blockbuster series from the BBC’s Natural History Unit. Mike’s a passionate walker and he takes Clare on a favourite local route around Oldbury on Severn...

  
• 10.05.2023

  Out of Portpatrick on the Rhins of Galloway

  On a beautiful late summer's day Clare and guests explore a coastal walk on a remote peninsula in southern Scotland - the Rhins of Galloway. Walking with her are Peter Ross, who runs a walking for health group, and Margaret...

  
• 09.28.2023

  Into Portpatrick on the Rhins of Galloway

  Clare joins two friends on what could possibly be the slowest walk between Land's End and John O'Groats. Hiking one week at a time (with a gap of several years when the Welsh coastline wasn't fully navigable) it's taken...

  
• 09.21.2023

  Sandstone Trail

  Sunshine and summer downpours on a hilly Cheshire hike with great views. On the way Clare hears from two friends about how walking has helped them cope with life changing events. Linda Ashworth only discovered walking after her children...

  
• 06.29.2023

  WalKington, Herefordshire

  Ali Allen takes Clare for a sunny hike just outside Kington, a town she would like to be renamed 'WalKington' because it's such a magnet for ramblers. Ali runs a tiny walking shop where her dog, Roo, keeps a look...

  
• 06.22.2023

  Training for Kilimanjaro in Cheshire

  Clare joins a group of friends as they climb Shutlingsloe as part of their preparation for the much bigger adventure of trekking up Kilimanjaro later this year. Known as the 'Matterhorn of the Peak District' Shutlingsloe is around 500 metres...

  
• 06.15.2023

  Tree to Tree Trekking

  Martin Hügi is taking an unconventional approach to his long distance hike from Land's End to John O’Groats. He’s planned the route so he can visit as many ancient and veteran trees as possible. It’s a busman’s holiday as...

  
• 06.08.2023

  Riverside Rambling near Reading

  Two friends, Karen and Emma, who say they met when both were post-Covid slumped on the sofa and doing no exercise, take Clare for a walk along the Thames Path near Reading in Berkshire. Their friendship is based on...

  
• 06.01.2023

  Brotherly Love in Burton Bradstock

  Clare joins brothers Manni and Reuben Coe as they amble for a mile and a half to Hive beach at Burton Bradstock in Dorset. Reuben has Down’s Syndrome and enjoys short, slow walks something that Manni, a professional walking...

  
• 05.25.2023

  Ashdown Forest

  The group Clare walks with see Ashdown Forest as a national treasure in its own right – and largely an unsung one. They think it’s remarkable that this ten square miles of open access land has survived, only thirty miles...

  
• 05.18.2023

  The Thames Path in Oxfordshire with Freddie

  When Freddie was adopted by Tina and Cas he was not in a good way. The first three years of his life left him with anxiety, trauma and PTSD. Tina and Cas discovered that walking is a great...

  
• 03.30.2023

  Great Alne, Warwickshire

  Retirement villages, recently made very famous by the Thursday Murder Club series of books, are becoming a popular choice for older people who want to, and can afford to, live within a supportive community environment but still retain their independence....

  
• 03.23.2023

  Hiking with Hounds

  Walking your dog in the countryside can be tricky: What if you need to cross a field of cattle or horses? Should you let your dog off the lead or keep it on? Is it best to poo-pick or...

  
• 03.16.2023

  To the Ring of Brodgar

  On a windy hike from the Stones of Stenness to the Ring of Brodgar, Clare discovers Orkney's standing stones are as impressive and mysterious as Stonehenge. Her guide is Sandra Miller from Historic Environment Scotland. Their route takes...

  
• 03.12.2023

  High Winds & Hail on Orkney

  Clare explores the wild and stormy west coast of mainland Orkney in the company of beachcomber, conservationist and former Polar-guide, Martin Gray. Their plan to walk along the cliffs between Yesnaby and Marwick Bay were stymied by consistently high...

  
• 03.08.2023

  Four Waterfalls Walk, South Wales

  Sam and Roger met through a walking group on social media. Both were already keen walkers and Sam posted on the Walking In Wales page looking for a walking companion for a walk she wanted to do. Roger...

  
• 03.02.2023

  An Art Walk in the Forest of Dean

  Sara Rickard takes groups of local people on a walk through the forest to write, draw and take photographs and simply observe their surroundings. Canopy Arts was set up during Covid when the artists who live in the forest found...

  
• 02.17.2023

  Villagers' Walks around Timsbury

  Clare joins three walkers from the village of Timsbury in Somerset who have created several books detailing100 walks for local people to enjoy in the area. Peter Bradshaw, Larry Cunningham and Sue Fraser stress the books are very much...

  
• 02.09.2023

  The Icknield Way

  David Falk is Green Access Manager on the Public Rights of Way Team for Suffolk County Council. He works hard to encourage people to enjoy walking in the beautiful Suffolk countryside. Along with fellow walker former local radio presenter...

  
• 02.02.2023

  The Hills are Alive! Commoners Choir in Calderdale

  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...

  
• 10.06.2022

  The Trundle Sussex with Harriet Thomas

  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...

  
• 09.29.2022

  Halifax Hikers

  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...

  
• 09.22.2022

  Epsom Downs & Langley Vale Wood

  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...

  
• 09.15.2022

  Nightjar Impressions near the Hampshire Hangers

  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...

  
• 09.08.2022

  Dovedale with Caravan

  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,...

  
• 09.01.2022

  A Stunning Hike around Malham Cove

  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...

  
• 06.10.2022

  Tresco with Mike Nelhams

  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...

  
• 06.10.2022

  St Mary on the Isles of Scilly with Will Wagstaff and Lucy McRobert

  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...

  
• 05.26.2022

  Happy Valley

  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...

  
• 05.19.2022

  Bloody Bridge

  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...

  
• 05.12.2022

  Mousehole to Lamorna with Jane Johnson and Abdel Bakrim

  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...

  
• 04.05.2022

  Oliver Jeffers in Outer Space

  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...

  
• 03.31.2022

  The Saxon Shore Way in Kent

  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...

  
• 03.24.2022

  Old and New Winchelsea with historian Dr Matthew Green

  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...

  
• 03.18.2022

  Around Dulwich Woods with Floella Benjamin

  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...

  
• 03.10.2022

  95 Ethels in the Peak District

  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...

  
• 03.03.2022

  After Eunice - Guarlford, Worcestershire

  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...

  
• 02.21.2022

  Walking in all weathers with nature writer Melissa Harrison.

  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...

  
• 02.17.2022

  To the World's End, north Wales

  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...

  
• 02.03.2022

  The Golden Road, Pembrokeshire

  Clare explores part of a challenging route in the Preseli Hills taken by hardy cattle drovers who, over generations, would walk herds of two to three hundred animals from Pembrokeshire to livestock markets in London. With her is Nick...