Ramblings
Episodes
Rhiane Fatinikun of Black Girls Hike in the Peak District
13 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Rhiane Fatinikun takes Clare on one of her favourite walks in the Peak District. Starting in Edale they take in Hollins Cross, Lose Hill and Mam Tor. ...
Cressida Cowell in West Sussex
06 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The best-selling author Cressida Cowell takes Clare for a nostalgic walk near Chichester in West Sussex. As well as writing the whoppingly successful...
Stained Glass in Minsmere with Arabella Marshall
25 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Glass artist, Arabella Marshall, takes Clare for a walk at Minsmere in Suffolk. Their focus is an old chapel ‘bleak and broken’ which provided Ar...
Walking in Sound: Ellie Williams in North Somerset
18 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sound Recordist, Ellie Williams, takes Clare for an audio-rich wander at Abbots Pool in North Somerset. Walking, she says, is as essential to her as ...
Big Cats! Rick Minter in Gloucestershire
11 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Do big cats roam the British countryside? It’s a long running debate, one that’s never far from the headlines. A few years ago on Ramblings, Clar...
Reading the Landscape with Mary-Ann Ochota: Pegsdon Hills
04 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How many times have you been out for a walk and spotted intriguing shapes in the landscape? Your instinct tells you that these dips, hollows, lumps, b...
From Solicitor to Sculptor: Simon Gudgeon in Dorset
25 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Simon Gudgeon is one of our leading sculptors, but he didn't practice his art until his mid 40s. He'd worked as a solicitor, a photographer, and a l...
Oscar winner Gareth Ellis-Unwin on his local riverside route in Berkshire
18 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Oscar winning producer of The King’s Speech, Gareth Ellis-Unwin, takes Clare on one of his regular rambles from Pangbourne in Berkshire to Gorin...
Anneka Rice on the Thames Path in London
11 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Anneka Rice is a self-declared obsessive rambler who says she feels out of sorts if she doesn’t walk every day. Today she takes Clare on her favouri...
Anita Rani on Hackney and Walthamstow Marshes
15 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding walks with Anita Rani on Hackney and Walthamstow Marshes. They also explore Walthamstow Wetlands, an internationally important nature r...
Beachcombing on the Isle of Sheppey
08 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Clare goes beachcombing on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent with author Lisa Woollett. Lisa is fascinated by what we throw away and how it reflects our c...
Buckinghamshire with Professor David Wilson
01 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
David Wilson is a well known criminologist and former prison governor. Clare meets him in the village of Wicken on the Northamptonshire/Buckinghamshir...
Barry Farrimond, who plays Ed Grundy, on Dartmoor
24 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Barry Farrimond, who plays Ed Grundy in The Archers, takes Clare Balding for an adventurous hike across Dartmoor. As they navigate the granite boulde...
The Mendips with Professor Alice Roberts
17 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Gloucestershire with Dom Joly
10 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 Spoo...
Joyful Highlights Part 6: Extreme Walking
18 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Joyful Highlight Part 5: Walking Advice
11 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding continues her exploration of the archives and finds a selection of entertaining highlights which give some good advice to walkers both e...
Joyful Highlights Part 4: Singers & Writers
04 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding recalls her favourite walks with a colourful variety of writers and singers including Bill Bryson, Toyah Wilcox, folk duo Ninebarrow, an...
Joyful Highlights Part 3: Landscape
28 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 moment...
Joyful Highlights Part 2: Health and Happiness
21 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 moment...
Joyful Highlights Part 1: Friends and Family
14 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a joyful celebration of twenty years spent walking on air, Clare Balding digs deep into the exhilarating and exhausting archives of Ramblings to sh...
Herefordshire Interfaith Group on the Malverns
26 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding walks across a section of The Malverns, from Hollybush car park towards British Camp, with members of the Herefordshire Interfaith Group...
A brand new waymarked walking route in South Wales
19 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 establ...
Outdoor Counselling in Derbyshire
12 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Psychotherapist, Dr. Ruth Allen, explains how outdoor counselling works. She takes Clare Balding on a walk near Kelstedge in Derbyshire to discuss th...
Up to the labyrinth on St Catherine's Hill, Winchester
05 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 sou...
The Wilberforce Way with Inderjit Bhogal
27 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding walks with Sikh-turned-Methodist, Inderjit Bhogal, along part of the Wilberforce Way in East Yorkshire. Inderjit created this long dista...
Glastonbury Tor with Druids
20 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding explores Glastonbury with Druids Penny and Arthur Billington. Throughout this series of Ramblings, Clare is finding out how walking affe...
Steve Backshall & Helen Glover on Winter Hill
13 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Steve Backshall and Helen Glover walk with Clare Balding on Winter Hill in Berkshire.Throughout this series of Ramblings Clare Balding is exploring ho...
Ninebarrow in Dorset
28 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Walking The Pipe in Shropshire
15 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding walks part of the Elan Valley pipeline: 73 miles of Victorian engineering running water from mid Wales into the city of Birmingham. Cla...
Beeley Edge with David Blunkett
10 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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....
The Highest Hill in the Cotswolds
26 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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...
LGBT+ Outdoor Adventures Group
19 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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, t...
Ricky Ross and Lorraine Mcintosh of Deacon Blue in Fife
12 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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. ...
Going Dutch in Dorset
20 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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-la...
Going Wild in the West Country
13 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 ot...
Proud, Resilient & Native American in the UK
07 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 Gal...
Clare gets lost in Lancashire
30 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 c...
Here Comes the Summer - Feargal Sharkey
23 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding joins singer Feargal Sharkey for a river walk on the south London/Surrey border along the River Hogsmill one of just 200 chalk streams i...
An Aussie Walkabout... in Norfolk
16 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding goes walkabout with a group of Australian women who call themselves The Norfolk Broads. They include a Colman, of mustard fame, and one...
To the Lighthouse!
28 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Clare is walking to a land-based lighthouse on today’s Ramblings. Smeaton’s Tower was originally on the Eddystone Reef, twelve miles out to sea o...
Walking a Poem on The Malverns
21 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding is taking a poem for a walk on today’s Ramblings. Joining her is Jean Atkin, the newly appointed Troubadour of the Malvern Hills. Jean...
A Creative Soldier
14 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding walks across Dartmoor with a former soldier whose retirement has taken him in a surprising direction.Andy Salmon is a former soldier who...
A Cow Parsley Tattoo - Cambridgeshire
07 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The writer, Emma Mitchell, takes Clare Balding for a walk around the woods at the back of her house in Cambridgeshire and explains why exposure to the...
Long dresses, cloaks and bonnets. Cumbria.
28 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Why climb a snowy Cumbrian hill in a long dress, cloak and bonnet? Clare Balding finds out.It's all down to Dorothy Wordsworth, the sister of poet, Wi...
Gentle Slopes not Rolling Hills - Suffolk
21 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Our original plan for today’s walk fell apart. David Bradbury had invited us to join his lunch-time walking group. Instead of eating a sandwich at...
Old Maps and New Routes - Oxfordshire
14 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding starts the 20th year of Ramblings by walking with a listener who is so committed to exploring the countryside that she creates and publi...
Aviemore, Scotland
16 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Clare joins a group of recently graduated students of Agriculture from Newcastle University who are walking and canoeing along the Speyside Way from s...
Dartmoor, Devon
16 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding meets the writer Tom Cox for a walk on Dartmoor, the setting for many of his musings on walking and nature that are a humorous sometimes...
Wigtown, Dumfries and Galloway
16 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding walks the final part of the Whithorn Way with a local group of walking enthusiasts. It's an an an ancient pilgrim route from Glasgow dow...
Centurion Way, Chichester
27 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding hears the uplifting story of how walking helped a young man recover from a brain injury. At the age of 23, Matt Masson fell off a roof d...
The Hoo Peninsula, Kent
20 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding is walking in someone else’s shoes for this edition of Ramblings. She’s joined, on the Hoo Peninsula in Kent, by the artist, Clare ...
Herefordshire
13 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding walks on Hergest Ridge in Herefordshire with Dr. Kate Harding, who has a moving story to tell. This is the second time Clare has walked ...
Cairngorms
21 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A musical walk around the Cairngorms National Park with the self-taught composer, Alexander Chapman-Campbell. Alexander's latest album is inspired by ...
Laugharne
14 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding walks in beautiful sunshine with one of the longest standing groups we've had on Ramblings. For over 30 years, Derek Fawcett and friends...
Up to the Dashwood Mausoleum
07 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding walks to the extraordinary Dashwood Mausoleum, near High Wycombe, with Julia and Lee Clements and their daughter, Cerys. Cerys is nearly...
Church Stretton
31 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding is off to Little Switzerland in this week's programme, but she's not travelling far: Church Stretton, in Shropshire, earned its nick-nam...
Reigate, Surrey
24 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today Clare is walking in Surrey with a group of asylum seekers who are former detainees of the Gatwick Immigration Removal Centres. Alongside them ar...
Hembury Fort, Honiton
17 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A chaotic and lively dog-walk on Hembury Fort near Honiton in Devon kicks off the new series. Nigel, the rebellious Golden Doodle, upstages Clare Bald...
Purton, Gloucestershire
29 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding takes a walk along the banks of the Severn in the company of the country's most prolific travel writers, Christopher Somerville who's al...
York
22 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding joins Gill Callow, a teacher from York who takes her on a favourite six mile route around the city. Walking has always been an important...
Black Men's Walking for Health Group
16 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding walks in the Peaks with Maxwell Ayamba, who founded a rambling group for other black men, from Sheffield, to help improve their health a...
Crouch End to Bloomsbury, London
08 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding joins archaeologist, Charlotte Frearson and her dog, Indy, on their daily, five mile walk to work. A few years ago Charlotte was sufferi...
Aberlady Bay
02 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Clare explores the beautiful beaches of Aberlady Bay, East of Edinburgh. She joins the pupils, parents and staff of Saltersgate school which supports ...
Greens Norton, Northamptonshire
22 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding joins Christina Edwards as she returns to her childhood home in Greens Norton, Northamptonshire, to retrace the walk she took most night...
Stanton Moor and Robin Hood's Stride from Winster
15 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding joins comedian Ed Byrne as he takes her for one of his favourite walks in the Peak District; to Stanton Moor and Robin Hood's Stride fro...
Listeners' Walks: Stoke-on-Trent
19 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding meets a group of five friends from Stoke on Trent who have been walking The Two Saints Way www.twosaintsway.org.uk , a route that's take...
Listeners' Walks: Isle of Man, Kallow Point
12 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding continues her exploration of The Isle of Man by travelling south to walk the coastal path from Kallow Point to the Sound. She's joined b...
Listeners' Walks: Isle of Man, Glen Dhoo
05 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding's long-held wish, to sample the walking delights of the Isle of Man, is finally satisfied as she heads to the north of the Island to exp...
Overton Hill, The Ridgeway
02 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding joins Multiple sclerosis sufferer, Jo Fielder, on a training walk, just before she attempted to cover the entire length of the Ridgeway ...
Listeners' Walks: Blaenau Ffestiniog
21 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this series of Ramblings, Clare Balding is walking with people or in places recommended by listeners. Eryl Davies wrote to the programme suggesting...
Listeners' Walks: Cornwall
14 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding takes the Cornish coastal path from Constantine Bay to Harlyn, in the company of two women for whom walking has been the cement in their...
The Nidderdale Way: Brimham Rocks to Pateley Bridge
22 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding sadly says goodbye to The Nidderdale Way as she embarks on the last leg of this fifty three mile circular walking route. Her guides for ...
The Nidderdale Way: Birstwith to Thornton Moor
15 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding nears the end of her walk along The Nidderdale Way, a fifty three mile route, that starts and finishes in Pateley Bridge. Today she walk...
The Nidderdale Way: Bewerley to Dacre Banks
08 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding is walking The Nidderdale Way in North Yorkshire for this series and here she completes the fourth leg of the route from Bewerley to Dac...
The Nidderdale Way: Gouthwaite to Bewerley
01 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding is walking the whole of The Nidderdale Way, a circular fifty three mile walking route in North Yorkshire. In this edition she walks from...
The Nidderdale Way: Scar House Reservoir to Ramsgill
25 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding embarks on the second leg of the Nidderdale Way , a 53 mile circular walk that begins and ends in the North Yorkshire town of Pateley Br...
The Nidderdale Way: Pateley Bridge to Scar House Reservoir
18 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this series Clare Balding will walk the Nidderdale Way, a spectacular fifty- three mile route in North Yorkshire, encircling the valley of the Rive...
Mount Edgcumbe, Plymouth
30 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding joins some of the members of START - Students and Refugees Together, to explore some of the beautiful countryside in easy access of Plym...
Isaac's Tea Trail, Allendale
23 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding returns to her favourite county, Northumberland, to walk part of Isaac's Tea Trail, a thirty-six mile (58km) circular route, starting fr...
Hampshire Jane Austen
16 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding walks in the footsteps of Jane Austen as she takes a path regularly taken by Jane, from her home in Chawton, now a museum, to Farringdon...
Clwyd Hillforts
09 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding heads for the Clwyd Hills in North Wales as she joins the county's Archaeologist, Fiona Gale, to find out more about the many Iron Age h...
Great Hucklow, Derbyshire
02 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding is in the Derbyshire Peak District to meet a group of women who call themselves the Hucklow Howlers. They've been walking and running to...
Derrigimlagh, Ireland
23 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding explores a new pathway just outside Clifden in County Galway. This walking route, across the Derrigimlagh Bog, is a mosaic of tiny lakes...
The Doolough Famine Walk, County Mayo
16 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding travels to Ireland, County Mayo, to retrace the steps of those who walked from Louisburg to Delphi, in 1849 at the height of the potato ...
Suffolk with Geoff Nicholson
20 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding walks in Suffolk with the writer Geoff Nicholson. They talk of the history of walking, of flaneurs, pedestrianism and psychogeography. G...
The South Downs Way
13 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding walks the The South Downs, from Bo Peep to Alfriston, in the company of writers June Goodfield and Lynne Truss. They've both been involv...
Ripon to Ripley
06 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding marks the eightieth anniversary of the Jarrow crusade, when two hundred men walked from Tyneside to London to petition the British gover...
Hebden Bridge
29 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding continues her series of talking to, or about, those who have a real passion for walking. As a teacher, heavily involved with the Duke of...
The Pilgrims Way
22 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding explores part of The Pilgrims Way in the company of Canon Clare Edwards, who, as a member of the clergy at Canterbury Cathedral has the ...
Passionate Walkers: David Nicholls
15 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this new series of Ramblings, Clare Balding talks to those for whom walking is more than a leisure activity but a passion that's vital to their liv...
Northumberland: Bothy Bagging
23 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding meets Phoebe Smith, an expert in planning long walks and bagging bothies.
The Cotswold Way
16 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding joins Graham Hoyland and his partner, Gina Waggott, as they retrace the steps they took in 2015 along the Cotswold Way as part of their ...
Severn Way with Lucy Newcombe
09 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding continues this series of epic walks by meeting up with a retired RAF officer, Lucy Newcombe, who started walking round the coast of Brit...
Wayfarers Walk with Nigel Clifford
02 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding and the head of Ordnance Survey, Nigel Clifford walk along Wayfarers Walk from Coombe Gibbet to Highclere, on the Berkshire, Hampshire B...
The Essex Way
26 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding continues her series exploring epic walks, by joining four women as they take their final training walk before they set off to complete ...
Glyndwr's Way with Ursula Martin
19 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding gets serious in this new series of Ramblings as she discovers what it takes to be a more adventurous walker. Today she joins Ursula Mart...
Isle of Dogs
31 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
An unusual urban walk to finish the series: Clare Balding is in London on the Isle of Dogs for a ramble along the banks of the River Thames. It's not ...
Eyam, Derbyshire
24 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding walks to Eyam this week - the Derbyshire village best known for its heroic approach to the bubonic plague in the 17th century. She rambl...
Oxfordshire: In Memory of Catherine
17 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Balding joins a group of women in Oxfordshire, who meet every year to remember their friend Catherine, who died of breast cancer at forty-five. ...