Category Archives: National trail

A people’s charter 75 years on

Posted on 31/03/2024 by campaignerkate

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Access, AONB, campaigns, Countryside Council for Wales, Dartmoor, National parks, National trail, Natural England, Natural Resources Wales, Open country, parliament, planning, Public paths, walking, wild country | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Radical Ramblers and parachuting pipits

Posted on 10/03/2024 by campaignerkate

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Access, AONB, Birds, Chilterns, National trail, Radical Ramblers, walking, walks | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Poulenc in the hills

Posted on 16/11/2023 by campaignerkate

On a glorious November day, I walked with my visually-impaired friend Marika Kovacs, supported by Arthur Lee who met us in the car at road junctions, for another stretch of the Cotswold Way in Gloucestershire—and what a lovely stretch it … Continue reading →

Posted in AONB, commons, National trail, Public paths, walking, walks | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Vismigging at Ivinghoe

Posted on 22/10/2023 by campaignerkate

I pitched up at Ivinghoe Beacon car park before dawn today, to join members of the Bucks Bird Club in watching the visible migration (vismig) largely from the east. Ivinghoe Beacon, in the Bucks Chilterns, is the northern end of … Continue reading →

Posted in AONB, Birds, Bucks, Chilterns, National trail | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Ridgeway at 50

Posted on 10/10/2023 by campaignerkate

It could not have been a better day for the 50th-anniversary celebration of the Ridgeway as a national trail (originally known as a long-distance path). We met on Coombe Hill, near Wendover in the Chilterns, on 29 September, where the … Continue reading →

Posted in Access, AONB, campaigns, Chilterns, National trail, riding, walking | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Cooper’s Hill to Edgemoor

Posted on 30/09/2023 by campaignerkate

My visually-impaired friend Marika Kovacs and I set off on the next leg of the Cotswold Way national trail, from Cooper’s Hill, Gloucestershire, heading south, on 16 August. This is where we had finished last time. By the parking area … Continue reading →

Posted in AONB, National trail, Open Spaces Society, Public paths, walking, walks | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lovely landscape, bad braille

Posted on 27/08/2023 by campaignerkate

I walked with my visually-impaired friend, Marika Kovacs, on the Cotswold Way from Crickley Hill to Coopers Hill, but she wasn’t impressed with the braille. Continue reading →

Posted in Access, AONB, National trail, Public paths, walking, walks | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

From Steyning to the Ring

Posted on 06/08/2023 by campaignerkate

On a day of unpromising weather, I walked from Steyning to Chanctonbury Ring, and it was great. Continue reading →

Posted in Birds, National parks, National trail, Poetry, Public paths, South Downs, walking, walks | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Rivers of change

Posted on 05/02/2023 by campaignerkate

I joined one of Dadima’s walks along the Thames and learnt of the creative and destructive power of rivers, in lovely company. Continue reading →

Posted in Access, AONB, Bucks, Chilterns, Dadima's walks, Henley-on-Thames, National trail, Public paths, walking, walks | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The fight over the Wolds Way’s opening 40 years ago

Posted on 02/10/2022 by campaignerkate

Today is the fortieth anniversary of the Yorkshire Wolds Way national trail, but it was the Ramblers’ alternative opening which made the headlines. Continue reading →

Posted in Access, campaigns, National trail, Public paths, Ramblers, walking | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments