Alan Haworth, the radical rambler

My friend Alan Haworth would have been 76 today, 26 April. Tragically he died while on a cruise last August. His partner Maggie Rae died, on another cruise, in November. It is such a sad story; I am privileged to have known them and walked with them both.

Alan was born in Blackburn in 1948 and educated at the Blackburn Technical and Grammar School. He studied medicine at St Andrews University but left after a year. During that time he discovered hill walking and climbing, through his membership of the University Mountaineering Club. He obtained a degree in sociology from the North East London Polytechnic, and was elected president of the students’ union there.

After graduating he soon went to work for the Parliamentary Labour Party as a junior clerk, and in 1992 became its secretary, a role he held until 2004 when he entered the house of lords. He took the title Lord Haworth of Fisherfield in his beloved Torridon mountains. He was at Tony Blair’s side in the 1997 general election. Blair spoke warmly and wittily of him at the memorial event for Alan on 12 December 2023.

In his maiden speech in the Lords on 23 February 2005, Alan said: I believe that I am the first member of your Lordships’ House ever to have climbed all the Scottish Munros. For me, mountaineering and hill-walking are the best ways of recharging the batteries and refreshing the soul. This may help to explain why I chose Fisherfield in Ross and Cromarty as the territorial designation in my title.

Alan on Beinn Lair, surveying Fisherfield after which he took his title, 17 Mary 2009. Photo: Dave Paine.

Alan was the first Munroist in the Lords (‘compleating’ (to use the spelling of the Munro list clerk) in 2001, and becoming a peer on 28 June 2004), but he was soon joined by Chris Smith in 2005, who compleated in 1989. Chris was delighted, on visiting Alan in the PLP office as the newly-elected MP for Islington South and Finsbury in 1983, to find that he had a map of the Munros on his wall. They climbed their first Munro together in 1987 and over the next 20 years climbed 54 Munros together.

As Chris said at the memorial event, Alan had a flair for a particular attention to detail (sometimes beyond reason), compleating on Ben More Mull on 28 September 2001, exactly a century after the first compleator, the Reverend A E Robinson, and then, although extremely unwell, compleating the ‘subsidiary tops’ on 20 July 2023 on Meall Coire na Saobhaidhe, exactly a century after the Reverend Ronald Burn did so.

Alan established the Radical Ramblers whose first walk was on 27 February 1983, the Sunday after the Bermondsey by-election, no doubt as an antidote to the shock of the event (the biggest-ever swing in a by-election, 44 per cent against Labour). The group consisted of left-wingers, a mix of parliamentarians, party workers, and supporters. I first came across the RRs when Paddy Tipping, then MP for Sherwood in Nottinghamshire, suggested to Alan that he invite me on the 21st anniversary walk on 28 February 2004, to Framfield in East Sussex, to visit the notorious ‘Hoogstraten’ footpath which I had succeeded in reopening, with support from the Ramblers, the previous year. The ramblers kindly listened while I told them the story at the site of the former obstruction (barn, refrigeration units, locked gates, and barbed-wire fence).

Framfield footpath 9, 28 February 2004. Photo by Alan.

Alan kept a meticulous note of every walk and could readily tell you when they had last been to a particular place. His pace was, as Tony Blair said, ‘steady and relentless’.

The RRs enjoyed an annual tradition of visiting Scotland in May for the John Smith Memorial Weekend. Inspired by Alan and Chris, the late John Smith began climbing the Munros after his first heart attack but sadly did not manage to compleat before his untimely death.

Champagne on Beinn Bhan, 19 May 2013. Photo: Mike Penny.

So the RRs, usually accompanied by members of John’s family, would climb a hill every May and drink champagne at the top.

Maggie and Alan on Beinn Bhan, 19 May 2013.

These were always enjoyable and memorable events, unpressured and convivial, largely due to Alan’s leadership. Much malt whisky was consumed.

Alan on Ben Damh, 16 May 2009.

I joined other walks too. There was one on 20 March 2005 entitled ‘Morning coffee in the Chilterns’, from the train station at Little Kimble to Wendover. I drove to Little Kimble to meet the group, and soon realised that the coffee was to be enjoyed at Chequers where the Blairs were at home en famille. It was enormous fun, and I had a brief word with Tony, to point out that there was shortly to be a right of access to Beacon Hill which overlooks Chequers, thanks to his government. (He had never walked on it, I hope he did so afterwards.)

Visit to Chequers, 20 March 2005.

After coffee, chat, photos, and a tour led by Cherie, we walked up Beacon Hill and then on to Wendover.

Beacon Hill from the north.

Other walks included Blackdown in West Sussex where, after some searching, we found the trig point marking the highest spot in the South Downs National Park

Looking for the trig point on Blackdown, 17 June 2017

and Bredon Hill in Worcestershire.

On Bredon Hill, Worcestershire, 16 June 2019. Photo by Alan.

But my favourite was the last one I did with Alan when, due to engineering works, he had to change a walk on the North Downs at short notice. I suggested that instead we might cross the River Mole on the stepping-stones exactly 75 years after Prime Minister Clem Attlee and his wife Violet ‘reopened’ them. The chancellor of the exchequer, James Chuter Ede had funded their replacement. I tell the story here.

Clem and Violet Attlee, 11 September 1946. Coots Imagery.

The Radical Ramblers, 11 September 2021. Photo by Alan.

The Radical Ramblers were unique—for their camaraderie, the disarray (there was never a backmarker and people often got ahead of the leader), and the crac.

And there was Alan the peer. He was ever willing to take a brief and to follow up like a terrier. One memory stands out, and it concerns the aforementioned Beacon Hill.

The view north from Beacon Hill.

Alan’s first intervention in the Lords was during the discussion on the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill, on 5 April 2005. Among other unpleasant things, the bill proposed to criminalise trespass at certain ‘protected sites’ (royal, parliamentary, nuclear and government) to be designated by the secretary of state. Briefed by the Open Spaces Society and Ramblers, Alan won an assurance from the home office minister, Baroness Scotland, that no place where the public already enjoyed access would be so designated.

However, in March 2007, I was dismayed to discover that, contrary to this assurance, part of Beacon Hill had been designated as a protected site because of its proximity to Chequers. This campaign was right up Alan’s street as it required attention to detail, and to lines on a map. He immediately swung into action and accosted Baroness Scotland, the home office minister, in the division lobby (‘don’t let anyone tell you that voting in division lobbies in the UK parliament is a useless anachronism’, he wrote to me). The result was that a further order was laid before parliament to amend the map to exclude Beacon Hill.

Original map, protected site in orange, access land wrongly included in green, Chequers in centre, 20 March 2007.

Amended map, access land omitted 4 May 2007.

There is a sign on the top of Beacon Hill to mark the boundary of the protected site.

Alan was a considerate person. When a RR walk (without me) went to Berwick Station in 2016, Alan polished the plaque which announces that I relaunched the Vanguards Way (which used to have its terminus here) on 6 May 1998, and then sent me a photo.

Alan polishing the Vanguard Way plaque.

The event for Alan (there will be a separate one for Maggie) was a true memorial. We heard from his friends and colleagues of all that he achieved, and his singular character. Chris Smith said that he could be ‘incredibly kind and generous and warm and witty. He could also be incredibly curmudgeonly at times’, and (pointing out that no one should ever have to share a bothy or tent with Alan) ‘he could snore for Lancashire’, his home county.

Alan wrote obituaries for over a hundred MPs, some of them long forgotten, but once you read the obit you felt you had known them. They described people warts and all. Tony Blair quoted from a typical obit: ‘Most people doubted his capacity to be a minister, but that was never a doubt he shared himself.’ It is sad that Alan has not written his own obituary because it would have been honest, entertaining, and precise.

A recording of the memorial event is here, and a video of Alan and Maggie here. There is an interview with Alan by the walker and climber Myrddyn Phillips, in about 2013, here.

Relaxing on Ben Damh, 16 May 2009.

Alan Haworth, 26 April 1948 – 28 August 2023.

Maggie Rae, 20 September 1949 – 7 November 2023.

Walking in the wind with Ramblers Cymru

Ramblers Cymru’s AGM this year was held in Llandudno in north Wales, a delightful Victorian seaside town. We were on the seafront, in the teeth of Storm Kathleen so we were blown about a bit, but it was exhilarating.

My early-morning walk along the front brought me wheatears scuttling on the shore, as well as oystercatchers and my first swallow of the year.

Looking north towards Great Orme

and south towards Little Orme.

Before the meeting Joanne Slattery, who lives in Llandudno, led a walk and she told us lots of interesting facts about it. The town is largely Victorian and belongs to the Mostyn family who have been strict about the architecture and colour of the buildings. Hence the buildings on the promenade have retained their uniform appearance. The pier is the longest in Wales.

The pier.

We climbed up to the Happy Valley, a former quarry which Lord Mostyn gave to the town to celebrate Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee. We would have gone higher but it was very windy, so we stopped here for coffee,

Happy Valley.

then climbed a little higher for a view over the town.

View over town.

The trams to the top of Great Orme were not running because of the wind. Founded in 1902 this is the only surviving cable-hauled streetcar service in the UK. The tramway has been electric since 1957 and four cars remain.

Tramshed.

We came round to the shore where terns were diving. Later I studied them with my binoculars and decided they were sandwich terns, a real bonus as I had not seen one since 2010 (and then I suspect it was identified for me). I also saw a gannet far off.

Our meeting was in Venue Cymru with wide views over the bay—which were somewhat distracting, especially as the terns continued to perform.

Great Orme.

We started with a chat between the two Ramblers Cymru ambassadresses, Bethany Handley and Leanne Wood, both of whom I had met on the Gwent Levels on St David’s Day. Both champion access to the outdoors, and Bethany, who uses a wheelchair, fights for disability rights too.

Bethany on the Gwent Levels with (left to right) Rebecca Brough, Freya, and Leanne Wood.

Bethany explained how she is forced to be an activist to get non-disabled people to help remove barriers, and that we design people out of nature. Stiles and kissing-gates are not the only obstacles, surfacing can be impossible for wheelchairs, as are narrow parking-bays and inaccessible toilets. There are no maps for disabled people. Wheelchair-users have to fund their freedom she said. Bethany would love future generations to know that they belong in the countryside, without being questioned about their ability, and for barriers to be removed. Bethany’s advice for Ramblers groups: ‘Look at who is not there and why’. Think how to include them. And if she was First Minister? She would legislate to ensure barriers became illegal, and would make access to nature part of the national curriculum.

It was good to hear Leanne and Bethany talk about the importance of being outdoors, of ensuring that everyone can enjoy that experience, and how they personally have benefited.

Rebecca Brough, Ramblers Cymru’s policy and advocacy manager ran a session on ‘how to use your voice for walking’, an opportunity to learn of the campaigns which Ramblers’ volunteers are running in various parts of Wales, what works and what are the challenges (much of it to do with funding and resources). We also had a session on Ramblers’ volunteer structures and the new GB strategy.

Then it was entertainment time, with talk and music from Seth Bye of Filkin’s Drift (originating in the Gloucestershire village of Filkins—though the apostrophe is rather confusing); a folk duo who walked the Wales Coast Path from north to south last year, with gigs along the way. Later we decamped to the Magic Bar where we were left bemused as to how Chris Williams moved playing cards between people’s pockets, and apparently recalled a whole book of Sherlock Holmes stories by page number.

I offered to go on stage and had to cite a page from the Sherlock Holmes book, Chris then said what was on it (the book he is holding was blank).

The next morning I was up early for a walk with my friend Chris Hodgson on Little Orme, a limestone outcrop. We walked up through the Rhiwledyn nature reserve.

We didn’t go to the top because it was windy and we were short of time, but we still had some great views.

That morning was the AGM, with a video showing what Ramblers Cymru has achieved over the last year, with its brilliant volunteers. There were motions calling for a junior membership and greater engagement with young people, and for consultation with user groups about pre-planned temporary traffic regulation orders (TTROs), and the proposed extension of TTROs. Too often highway authorities use TTROs to avoid carrying out their statutory duty to repair a highway. Both motions were passed.

Ramblers Cymru has a steering group (formerly the Welsh Council Executive Committee) which provides advice and guidance to staff. Many members were leaving the group, including the excellent chair, Rob Owen, their terms having expired. The upshot was that I was elected co-chair (cyd-gadeirydd) with Graham Taylor from Powys, an honour which surprised me. However, I shall enjoy it, as Ramblers Cymru does great work for walkers and I am pleased to play my part.

Diolch yn fawr Ramblers Cymru.

Kilvey Hill for ever

On 18 April Swansea Council is set to decide in principle whether to dispose of open space on Kilvey Hill, north-east of the city. The hill is threatened with an egregious development by New Zealand company Skyline. This consists of a visitor centre, cable cars, concrete luge runs, zipline, and 164-feet-high sky swing, among other infrastructure. I wrote about it here.

The view north from Kilvey Hill.

Swansea Council has yet to decide whether to grant planning permission for the development, and it cannot do so unless it disposes of the open space here, but its disposal notice received 265 objections and only two messages of support. The Open Spaces Society argued strongly that the land cannot be surplus to requirement when it is needed for informal recreation, including riding and carriage-driving, the council ignores the many unrecorded and under-recorded routes and the access land under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. The paper to the cabinet is here, it does not address all the points of objection.

To demonstrate the public’s opposition to the development, local people, including the Kilvey Woodland Volunteers, organised a Big Day Out on Kilvey Hill last month, and I was delighted to join them. I arrived early to meet Aimee Thomas from BBC Wales, and we climbed swiftly from Bonymaen to the top of the hill; the cameraman joined us from the other side. Aimee interviewed a number of us, with a glorious backdrop of Swansea Bay. (The story went out on Wednesday 3 April.)

Aimee calling the cameraman from the hilltop.

I chatted to Jane Britton, who was also being interviewed. She had been brought up in Bonymaen and used to visit Kilvey Woods with her school. She still had the drawings she did as a ten-year-old.

Jane’s drawing of the hill.

Jane’s drawings from the woodlands.

Aimee, Jane, and I then headed back down the hill, turned to the west and went nearly to the bottom.

Down through the woods.

This brought us to the roundhouse in Kilvey Woods, constructed by the Kilvey Woodland Volunteers. Trefor Davies had put the roof on only that morning. It is a lovely creation, with a view to the sea.

The round house.

Then we climbed back up to meet the group coming up from Bonymaen, including my friend Blod (Richard Williams) and his lovely horse Macsen. It was joyous to climb the hill again to Blod’s music.

Macsen and Blod.

More than 300 people gathered on top, and Blod and I addressed the gathering, deploring the threat to this special place and urging the Kilvey folk to keep up the fight. The crowd was energised and it was wonderful to experience the strength of feeling.

Then we moved to what is (deceptively) the highest point on the hill

The summit.

and gathered for a group photo,

with photos also taken by drone.

Credit: Kilvey Big Day Out.

before enjoying music from Blod and others. Blod had written some songs about the hill and we all joined in, while the ponies grazed peacefully. I recorded a snippet here.

It was a glorious coming together by the community to express its love for the hill—scruffy it may be, but it is hugely loved. There is a determined culture here, and people will not let go of their hill without a fight. I admire their spirit and am delighted to be helping them.

The view to Mumbles.

There are some great videos of before the event, and the day itself, here.

Postscript: tragically, on 18 April Swansea Council’s cabinet voted unanimously to approve in principle the proposed disposal of land on Kilvey Hill to Skyline (Swansea) Ltd. However the fight is not over.

Forty fab years at the Open Spaces Society

On 2 April I celebrated 40 years as general secretary of the Open Spaces Society. They have been very happy ones.

The job specification said ‘Despite its long and productive history the society’s membership and public image are not all that the executive committee would wish. We need to develop our role as a significant part of the environmental movement—by winning more members and creating greater public and political understanding of the importance of open spaces in country and town.’ The list of functions did not include the word ‘campaigning’ but that was what was needed.

My predecessors, Ian Campbell and Paul Clayden, who led the society with distinction, were lawyers rather than campaigners, giving expert advice on the detail of commons, greens, open spaces, and public paths but not seeking publicity for the organisation. So the way was clear for me to raise our profile. I issued 24 press releases in my first year and the number increased thereafter. Over 40 years I have done 2,420 press releases—for many years I had to address all envelopes by hand, copy and staple the releases, and then post them, often timed to arrive for use on Monday when there was less news.

General secretary job spec 1984.

My first press release for the society.

Whereas when I started, and for some time after, the general secretary and deputy secretary (Duncan Mackay) were providing all the professional expertise, with three part-time support staff, today it is different. I am fortunate to have four case officers a commons re-registration officer, office manager, office and membership assistant, finance officer, and digital consultant. This has been made possible largely by the legacies left to us by generous members and other supporters who believe in our work.

View of newly-registered common land (170 hectares) from just north of Porthtowan in Cornwall, registered in March following an application by the society’s commons re-registration officer, Frances Kerner. Photo: Landman LLP.

What I value most about the Open Spaces Society are its courage and speed. We are prepared to jump in where others fear to tread, often a lone voice, going to court where necessary. We do not have layers of committees and complex processes for decision-making, the trustees have established procedures for approving expenditure and are willing to meet at short notice to deal with urgent issues. I have always dealt with publicity so we never have to wait for approval from a communications department, we can respond at once. This is crucial for an effective campaigning organisation.

Altercation at Henley Regatta when hospitality marquee was erected over a public footpath, July 1990. Photo: Bucks Free Press.

Much of what the society has achieved over the last 40 years can’t be seen. Our successes are the places we have saved and the bad things we have prevented. So I take great joy in walking through the unspoilt hamlet of Sydmonton in Hampshire where, because of us, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s estate has not pushed the path around the back of the properties, or along the River Nene at Oundle, Northamptonshire, where the path still runs because we stopped Oundle School from diverting it behind the boat houses (both cases fought and won in 1996).

The path through Sydmonton, saved by the OSS and Dave Ramm (who took the photo).

Plumstone Mountain Common in Pembrokeshire was freed of unlawful fences when Dyfed County Council ordered their removal, thanks to our lobbying, in 1986. (And today the common is in good hands with one of its trustees Jim Henry taking the lead in securing its management, for nature and people.)

Dyfed County Councillors meet at Plumstone Rock to consider the unlawful fencing (note all men!), 1986.

Ten years ago I wrote about my 30 years at the society here. In the last ten years we have taken many more legal cases and had some useful victories, helping prevent Blackbushe Airport Ltd from deregistering a vast stretch of Yateley Common in Hampshire, rescuing part of Richmond High and Low Commons in North Yorkshire from deregistration, intervening in the Dartmoor backpack camping case in support of the Dartmoor National Park Authority, for instance. We have embarked on a commons re-registration project to rescue lost commons, and saved the paths across Harrow School grounds from being diverted to the edges of the playing fields with loss of views. And much more.

Footpath 58 across Harrow School playing fields: saved.

I have been with the society for one quarter of its existence; I am not the longest serving general secretary though—one of my predecessors, Lawrence Chubb, was there for 52 years. But it is a good long time, and I feel proud and fortunate to have worked for such a light-footed, heavyweight organisation for so long.

On my 40th anniversary we had a joyful celebration, organised by my ever-efficient staff. We met at the Bull and Butcher in Turville and walked straight up Cobstone Hill to ‘my’ gate where suddenly a bottle of bubbly was produced.

Champers at the gate.

We walked round the hill and returned to the pub where we were joined by two trustees and my partner Chris, for lunch, speeches and wonderful gifts. I feel overwhelmed, and deeply grateful to have such a brilliant team with whom to work.

So here’s to the next 40 years!

We have listed some of the society’s achievements over the last 40 years, and made a video here.

A people’s charter 75 years on

Seventy-five years ago today, 31 March 1949, Lewis Silkin, then minister of town and country planning, spoke of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Bill as ‘a people’s charter’.

This was the second reading of the bill, which lasted two days and took 208 columns of Hansard (speeches were longer in those days). The bill is best known for introducing national parks in England and Wales, but it did much else. It created the National Parks Commission (which has since morphed into the Countryside Commission, Countryside Agency, and now Natural England and, in Wales, the Countryside Council for Wales and now Natural Resources Wales). It created areas of outstanding natural beauty (now known as national landscapes), national nature reserves, long-distance paths (now national trails), definitive maps of rights of way, and access agreements and access orders.

MPs publicising the idea of the Pennine Way, c1948. Left to right: Tom Stephenson (secretary of the Ramblers 1948-1969), Arthur Blenkinsop, George Chetwynd, Barbara Castle, Hugh Dalton, Geoffrey de Freitas, Fred Willey.

These were optimistic, post-war times, and Silkin saw the bill as a sort of natural health service: …the enjoyment of our leisure in the open air and the ability to leave our towns and walk on the moors and in the dales without fear of interruption are, with all respect to my right hon. Friends the Ministers of Health and of National Insurance, just as much a part of positive health and wellbeing as are the building of hospitals or insurance against sickness. I am particularly proud to introduce this Bill because it represents something which men and women have wanted for a long time and have struggled for, often with little hope of success.

Llynnau Mymbyr with Snowdon beyond.

These words preceded his famous peroration:

This is not just a bill.  It is a people’s charter—a people’s charter for the open air, for the hikers and the ramblers, for everyone who lives to get out into the open air and enjoy the countryside.  Without it they are fettered, deprived of their powers of access and facilities needed to make holidays enjoyable.  With it the countryside is theirs to preserve, to cherish, to enjoy and to make their own.

Of course, things did not turn out as hoped; the national parks were hugely fettered by most of them being run by committees of the county councils. I recall that the late Ian Mercer, when Dartmoor National Park Officer, had to beg Devon County Council to allow the park committee to appear in opposition to it at the Sharp inquiry into military training in 1975, and the Okehampton bypass inquiry in 1979. This was at last remedied by the Environment Act 1995 which made national parks independent bodies, although their boards are still made up of a majority of local authority members.

Military look-out hut on Oke Tor, Dartmoor, 2001: a gross intrusion on the landscape.

The national parks and the national landscapes have been bashed and battered by developments which never should have been permitted, quarrying in the Yorkshire Dales and Peak District; mining in the North York Moors, ploughing of Exmoor, reservoirs, road schemes and tourist development, to name a few.

Definitive maps of rights of way were immensely valuable. Silkin said that the main purpose ‘is to provide a simple procedure for the settlement and establishment of existing rights of way’. The procedure has not proved simple nor did it capture every highway, which is why we are now scrambling to record everything before the guillotine for the claim of historic paths in England on 1 January 2031, but the 1949 act certainly made a significant difference.

Sign funded by the Open Spaces Society’s Bradbury Bequest, pointing west from grid reference SP031214 in Gloucestershire.

The access provisions were of little value, relying on local authorities to make access agreements or orders; few were made because not many landowners were prepared to cooperate. This remained the case until we won the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 which gives walkers rights over mapped mountain, moor, heath and down, and registered common land, although much potential access land was omitted.

The view north-west from Walbury Hill, West Berkshire, in the North Wessex Downs National Landscape.

Last year a coalition of amenity bodies, led by the Campaign for National Parks, won a crucial amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill which places a duty on all public bodies to further the purposes of national parks and national landscapes in England, rather than merely to have regard to them. This should make a significant difference, but it may require a legal challenge first.

Little Asby Common in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Photo: Friends of the Lake District.

National parks and national landscapes are still very much threatened. Earlier this month the government approved the upgrade of the A66 road which threatens the Lake District National Park and North Pennines National Landscape. The Friends of the Lake District’s statement is here.

In this 75th anniversary year of the 1949 act, we must make strenuous efforts to ensure that all public bodies truly recognise the value of our treasured places, where we can find refreshment, inspiration and rejuvenation, and invest in them—not least because they can play a big part in solving many of today’s social issues. CNP is showing the way with its lottery-funded New Perspectives project which encourages young people to get involved in campaigning for national parks. Geeta Ludhra’s Dadima walks in the Chilterns National Landscape are intergenerational and intercultural, and an example to us all.

These places are for everyone to enjoy, ‘theirs to preserve, to cherish, to enjoy and to make their own’ as Silkin said. We must reignite that movement for the people’s charter.

Maxwell Ayamba and his 100 Black Men Walking group on Edale station in the Peak District, April 2015.

Launch of the River Coln Trail

I was in Fairford, Gloucestershire, on 23 March to open the River Coln Trail. This 33-mile route links the Walkers are Welcome Towns of Winchcombe in the north and Fairford in the south. It takes in the source of the Coln and follows it to Inglesham where it flows into the Thames. Thus, it also connects the Cotswold Way and Thames Path national trails.

The route is split into nine sections, each describing a linear and a circular walk, enabling one to walk the route as a whole or to enjoy it in a series of circular day-walks. The guide book describes all this clearly, with information on the distance, terrain, and places for refreshments.

The launch was held in Fairford community centre, next to the splendid church.

The room was packed with residents of the towns, as well as representatives from Gloucestershire County Council, the Cotswolds National Landscape, Cotswold Way Association, Gloucestershire Ramblers, and Ernest Cooke Trust (one of the landowners). There were maps of the route, and home-made cakes.

There was also an impressive display of insects of the area.

Insect display.

The event was opened by Malcolm Cutler from Fairford who welcomed everyone and paid tribute to all who had helped create the route. Sheila Talbot from Winchcombe gave more information and introduced Roger Philpott, whose idea it was (but had since kept a low profile).

Malcolm addresses us.

In my role as patron of the Walkers are Welcome Towns Network, I was invited to speak. I extolled the pleasures of the River Coln Trail having walked three sections with Rob and Sheila, from Fairford, Chedworth, and Winchcombe. It is lovely to be able to enjoy this path as a series of circular walks. Running through tranquil, forgotten countryside, it largely avoids the busy honeypots of the Cotswolds.

Hatherop.

Charlton Abbots

Stowell Mill, Yanworth.

I thanked Gloucestershire County Council and the Cotswold Wardens for all their work, and urged everyone to report path problems when they find them (I have reported a number of bad stiles on the trail), and to use the forthcoming elections to lobby for the importance of paths, for the local economy and our health and well-being.

I cut the cake, made by Sheila

Sheila’s cake.

and then we walked to Fairford’s oxpens where I cut the ribbon on the path as it heads into the Ernest Cooke Trust land.

Left to right: Sheila Talbot, me, Roger Philpott, Malcolm Cutler, and Margaret Bishop at the Oxpens.

We enjoyed a short walk along part of the River Coln Trail next to the river, and back into the town.

Congratulations to the many volunteers who worked on this path, in particular Malcolm Cutler and Margaret Bishop from Fairford, and Rob and Sheila Talbot from Winchcombe. This is a great example of Walkers are Welcome Towns working together to produce something really good.

Ramblers Scotland, working for walkers

I headed north on Friday 15 March for the Ramblers’ Scottish Council meeting at Croy in North Lanarkshire; I was pleased to be sitting on the east side of the train. That gives me a glimpse of Lincoln cathedral from near Newark (mist permitting, which it didn’t), Durham cathedral, the Tyne bridges at Newcastle, the Northumberland and Scottish coast, and Berwick Law. I always hope to see the kittiwakes on Tyne bridge—there’s a brief opportunity as we pull out of Newcastle—but I was not fortunate this time.

Newcastle in the rain. No kittiwakes visible.

And at Edinburgh Waverley there is the compulsory visit to the Scottie near the left luggage.

The final stretch was to Croy station and the Westerwood Hotel where Scottish Council was held.

On Saturday morning there was time for a pre-breakfast walk over the golf course, with Chris Hodgson from Ramblers Cymru, in sun and frost.

Scottish Council is the annual meeting of Ramblers Scotland, of which I am pleased to be a vice-president. Under the efficient convenership of Malcolm Dingwall-Smith we sped through the formal business. I should have liked to have heard more about the many campaigns in which Ramblers Scotland is engaged: fighting the Coul Links golf course near Dornoch; reopening the Radical Road, blocked by Historic Environment Scotland because of the risk of rockfall; combating the locked level-crossing at Dalwhinnie; and battling to reopen a blocked path in Ardnamurchan. Ramblers Scotland continues to make good progress in updating a digital map of Scotland’s paths to complement the rights of access under the 2003 Land Reform (Scotland) Act. There is also the exciting debate about a new national park in Scotland.

However, the emphasis was on the next ten-year strategy, how the Ramblers can make a difference to people’s lives and especially those on low incomes with lower life expectancy. Ramblers Scotland already does important work in this area with its Out There Awards.

A high point was an emergency motion from a member of the Ramblers Scotland Strategic Committee (RSSC, Andrew Bachell, who proposed the motion in the photo below.

The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill had only been published two days previously so it was not possible to submit the motion before the deadline for the council meeting. We were told that the government is trying to get landowners to think more about how they manage their land, but the threshold for this, of 3,000 hectares, is too high. This was why Andrew proposed lowering it to 500 hectares. Landowners must accept access on their land in accordance with the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, but in these proposed plans they must set out how access is applied to their land. The motion was carried overwhelmingly.

There were no contests for any posts, and three candidates for the RSSC were elected unopposed. It was particularly pleasing that Terry Robinson, who is blind, was elected, as he will help the Ramblers to understand and address the needs of visually-impaired people, and to encourage the groups to welcome them on walks.

At midday we went for a walk. We visited the Antonine Wall, which is not very visible here,

The line of the Antonine Wall.

and walked over the golf course, enjoying views to the Campsie Fells, Kilsyth Hills, and Ochils.

In the afternoon there was a presentation to Helen Todd who is retiring as campaigns and policy manager after 20 years. She has been magnificent, and is the most respected person in our sector in Scotland, an authority on all access matters. She has also found time to ‘compleate’ the Munros, and is halfway through her second round (to be compleated in her ‘retirement’). John Andrews from Perthshire said ‘Helen is my bible and my walking stick, I can’t think what I shall be doing without her to rely on’. Many will feel the same. The post is advertised here.

Helen with Joe FitzPatrick (then public health minister, now planning minister) in Coire Fee, Angus. Photo: Danny Carden.

There followed videos and presentations by volunteers, which are always inspiring. John Andrews presented an award to Elaine Collins of Forth Valley, Fife and Tayside Area who does amazing but unsung work to improve her community path network; we saw videos of the Mole Valley Ramblers in Surrey who lead walks for refugees, and of Livingston Ramblers who reach new audiences by putting on short Saturday morning walks. Hilda Black from Cumbernauld & Kilsyth Ramblers spoke about safety on walks, and Terry Robinson about valuing inclusion.

It was an interesting and varied day, and good to see some old friends and to learn about Ramblers Scotland’s excellent work for walkers. A big thank you to Ramblers’ staff and the Cumbernauld & Kilsyth volunteers for welcoming us.

Radical Ramblers and parachuting pipits

I joined my first walk of the Radical Ramblers since the tragic and untimely death of our leader, Alan Haworth, last August. Roger Hough has generously stepped in to keep the walks programme going. On 9 March eight of us met at Tring Station for a walk to Ivinghoe Beacon, the northern end of the Ridgeway national trail, in the Chilterns.

Roger on Ivinghoe Beacon.

We set off along the Ridgeway, up the slope to Aldbury Nowers where, in 1891, three poachers had a fisticuffs with two gamekeepers, in which the gamekeepers were killed (although it was probably in self defence). The controversial upshot was that two of the poachers were hanged in Oxford gaol, and one was charged with manslaughter. It is hard to believe now that this peaceful spot could have been the scene of such a fight.

View from south-west Aldbury Nowers.

Aldbury Nowers woodland.

Having climbed through the woods we emerged into the open at Grim’s Ditch, which we followed around the side of Pitstone Hill.

Grim’s Ditch.

After crossing the road we came to a broad area of downland (though unfortunately not mapped as access land) which was alive with singing skylarks and parachuting meadow pipits. It was an exhilarating sign of spring.

Looking north to Steps Hill, with skylarks and meadow pipits.

We passed Incombe Hole where, last autumn, I saw a ring ouzel with the Bucks Bird Club.

Incombe Hole.

Then it was the last climb to the top of Ivinghoe Beacon

Ivinghoe Beacon ahead.

On Ivinghoe Beacon looking north-east.

and the group photograph.

The group on Ivinghoe Beacon, the end of the Ridgeway.

We returned part of the way we had come, stopping for lunch on the slope of Steps Hill with a view over the vale of Aylesbury.

Leaving Ivinghoe Beacon.

View north-west from our lunch spot.

Then we turned through the woods and walked on the long track down to the Bridgewater monument and National Trust visitor centre. On the way we stopped so that I could tell the story of the trainload of navvies who, on the night of 6 March 1866, walked from Tring Station to Berkhamsted Common to fell Lord Brownlow’s illegal fencing.

The final stretch was down to Aldbury village where, fortuitously, a bus was waiting, so we took it back to Tring Station.

The bus was numbered 397 but I think it should have been 387—a number unchanged for at least 85 years when my partner Chris took the bus from his home in Aldbury to school in Tring.

On the bus.

It was a lovely walk, in good company as ever.

St David’s Day, women, and wheelchairs

On 1 March I visited the Newport wetlands nature reserve, to celebrate St David’s Day, National Wheelchair Day, and (a week early) International Women’s Day.

The event was organised by Ramblers Cymru, and I felt honoured to join some energetic and effective women to mark International Women’s Day (IWD): Leanne Wood, former leader of Plaid Cymru, and now co-executive director of Community Energy Wales, and Bethany Handley who champions the rights of disabled people to enjoy nature.

Bethany told us that our visit coincided with International Wheelchair Day. She had celebrated this with a moving poem, published on the Country Living website here.

We were joined by other inspiring women, Angela Charlton, director of Ramblers Cymru, and Rebecca Brough, its policy and advocacy manager. We were ably supported by Brân Devey, Ramblers Cymru’s engagement and communications manager. They are a fabulous team.

I had come armed with binoculars and camera, excited to be visiting this reserve for the first time. Sadly the weather did not comply. The plan was to walk and talk, and we had Mike Erskine to film us.

We set off when it wasn’t raining.

We stopped on a bridge over a strip of water bordered by reed beds. I recorded a little grebe, moorhen, and flying snipe and cormorant.

The view south-east.

The view north-west.

A little further on we stopped for another chat.

Rebecca, Bethany, Freya, and Leanne.

We came to the coast, with views over mudflats (10 shelduck and some Canada geese). Here Mike released a drone. We looked across the Bristol Channel to the Mendip Hills (ominous clouds rapidly moving our way) and round to Steepholm and Flatholm.

We might then have recorded some conversations but we were hit by a stinging hailstorm, so we had to abandon the filming.

Facing the storm.

We returned to the visitor centre, and when the weather had cleared we were each interviewed for a video to celebrate International Women’s Day, discussing how we became involved in campaigning, why we love the outdoors, and what needs to change.

Leanne.

Bethany.

As we posed for a group photo a Cetti’s warbler burst into song. Rebecca said that in future we should say ‘Cetti’s’ rather than ‘cheese’.

Rebecca, Angela, Bethany, me, and Leanne, in our Ramblers Cymru IWD hats.

I shall definitely return to this lovely place, and I have my new IWD hat as a memento of a day with some inspiring women. Diolch, Ramblers Cymru.

Here is the Ramblers Cymru video.

I made my own little video here.

‘Twas ever thus

Seventy years ago today there was a debate in the house of commons about the membership of the National Parks Commission, formed by the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act five years before. Questions were raised about the poor representation of open-air and recreation interests on the commission.

Geoffrey de Freitas (Labour MP for Lincoln) asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether he would appoint to the National Parks Commission someone with long experience of organisations representing walkers and cyclists.

Walkers at Thirlmere, Lake District National Park.

Barbara Castle (Labour MP for Blackburn East) asked what steps the minister had taken to see that open-air and amenity interests were adequately represented on the commission.

Arthur Blenkinsop (Labour MP for Newcastle-upon-Tyne, East) expressed concern that the minister was ‘now appointing persons without any knowledge or experience at all of national parks or of their real importance to the country’.

MPs publicising the idea of the Pennine Way, late 40s/early 50s. Left to right: Tom Stephenson (secretary of the Ramblers 1948-1969), Arthur Blenkinsop, George Chetwynd, Barbara Castle, Hugh Dalton, Geoffrey de Freitas, Fred Willey.

On behalf of the minister, parliamentary secretary Ernest Marples, pointed out that there had in the past been two who had represented the Ramblers, and there was still a member of the Ramblers on the commission. Moreover they had just appointed Francis Morgan of the Boy Scouts’ Association.

Mr Marples listed the members and their main interests. Francis Ritchie was the member from the Ramblers, chairman of its right of way committee, president of the Midland Area, who served on the special committee on footpaths and access to the countryside (a subcommittee of the Hobhouse committee). The access movement was fortunate to have Francis there, a wise and respected man who defended our cause doggedly and later served on many charity appointment committees (including the one which appointed Fiona Reynolds as head of the Council (now Campagn) for National Parks in 1980, and me to the Open Spaces Society in 1984). But he was only one voice among 14, many of them landowners, farmers, and ex-military.

Stackpole, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park

Subsequently this has always been so; recreation and access have been a poor relation on the body advising government on these matters, in England and Wales. And as for Natural England, today’s National Park Commission, there is no obviously access and recreation person on the board, yet that it is vital element of Natural England’s role. The same can be said for Natural Resources Wales.

Some things don’t change.