UKC

Just out of interest, do any UKCers indentify with The Ramblers? I did try joining a local group but after one walk I decided that it wasn't for me.

In reply to FesteringSore:

No, I've been with ldwa for many years, there seems to be a world of difference between the two organisations - not just extra miles.

In reply to Moley:

Is there not a group that transcends the difference between the 'red sock brigade' and the 'long distance brigade'?

In reply to Moley:

My feeling, apart from anything else, is that although they were "rebranded" some years ago they still seem to retain the woolly bobble hat and plastic map case(blowing about in a gale force wind) image.

Maybe it's me but their tendency to walk across the countryside in large groups is anathema and flies in the face of quiet and solitary enjoyment of the hills. From what little I saw and experienced they seem far too regimented, with appointed "leaders" and head counts.

I tend to prefer walking as a "loner" or certainly with no more than two mates.

Just my take.

In reply to FesteringSore:

Yes, true there is some of that especially on the group "social walks" as they are categorised. They are put on as social group events and meant to be a stepping stone for those joining and everyone walks together.
Challenge events it is every man/woman for themselves, walk with or without a partner. Most of the ldwa walkers I have known are also happy peak bagging and undertaking solo walks in wild places. But I understand your point.

Having said all that, in near 20 years membership I have used the events for running and never really walked! Now I am old and knackered, more time is spent walking.

In reply to FesteringSore:


Vermin!

In reply to FesteringSore:

Not my cup of tea to trail along in a large group. However, I have every respect for all the tremendous hard work they put in during the early stages of the CROW access laws. Even now if there's an issue with an obstructed footpath the local group is the go-to body to notify after the local council.

In reply to FesteringSore:


They do or you do?

In reply to FesteringSore:

They're a pretty useful bunch in some ways- the local groups working to keep the network of public footpaths open for example.

But take Ramblers Scotland, and their campaign for a network of walkers' huts in remote places? Whilst I'm sure there are some who see this as democratic, to me it appears to be the desire to sanitise the wilder places, driven by suburban norms.
OK, maybe this is not the mission creep characteristic of the modern day National Trust, with the driver of financial imperatives, but, in terms of eroding a sense of remoteness, it probably amounts to much the same thing: The Ramblers organisation (and members?) see their drive as egalitarian, the NT use the green agenda to justify their stance.

The network of hostels that allowed all sorts of permutations of journey to roam the land has gone. As a society we no longer value that arrangement. Where once, people might have expended considerable effort to reach the remoter hostels, by contrast today, the norm is fast motorised access to the 'wilderness'. The Ramblers' Scotland proposal would only accelerate that tendency.

We're all out playing our own games in the British countryside- and that's fine, up to a point - I don't want to aim a cheap shot with the 'bobble hat' epithet- After all, Tom Weir was known for that headgear, and few people would describe his drive to share wild Scotland with a wide audience as slightly dull. But that's how the Ramblers' come across to me when thinking on their hut manifesto.
By contrast, the campaigning to keep local footpaths open is often done by selfless members of the Ramblers, wading through legislation and bureaucracy- Here, 'dull' is not the apt descriptor-'plodding' maybe- as a society we need plodders.

Stereotypically, many of them can only exist in the uplands where the grey mould culture of Alfred Wainwright is also present. Outbreaks do occur elsewhere, but are thankfully rare.

In reply to FesteringSore:


It is all GPS dangling round the neck now, I'm the only one left with a map case and compass

In reply to FesteringSore:

If it's anathema to you , why are you posting and showing the slightest interest?

In reply to Removed UserDeleted bagger:


That was my mum (ex-Director of the RA). She'll be grateful for the shout out

In reply to FesteringSore:

..... I did try joining a local group but after one walk I decided that it wasn't for me.



Well I guess that if you prefer walking as a loner then joining a group was never going to work for you.

In reply to FesteringSore:

Lovely people to chat to but can someone explain why they wear gaiters nearly everywhere? Always find it slightly amusing

In reply to m0unt41n:

The various walking associations cover important issues of access, information and other benefits that are perfectly applicable to solo walkers.

Someone above asked if anyone covers the gap betweeen the Rambers and LDWA... the BMC has considerably expanded its services for hillwalkers.

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/cats/Walking/

In reply to Cheese Monkey:

I know some of us (including myself) derive mild sardonic amusement from teasing the Ramblers as cosy collective path-bumblers. Even, apparently, as habitual wearers of gaiters. But on the other side of the coin we should record that as well as their work on CROW south of the Border, in Scotland our present enlightened right of responsible access to virtually all land is largely the result of years of dogged and determined campaigning and lobbying led by Ramblers Scotland, particularly by Dave Morris and Alan Blackshaw operating under the RAS aegis. Various current and growing threats to those hard-won access rights only confirm how important and how radical they are - and how valuable the Ramblers’ continuing role in helping to assert and maintain them is.

And no, I am not and never have been a member of the Ramblers Association …

In reply to Cheese Monkey:


To keep their boots / trousers mud and shit free and dry I would expect.

In reply to GrahamD:


Those are major problemson Keswick high street, I agree.

In reply to MG:

There's worse than gaiters to be seen on Keswick High Street; I haven't yet seen anyone there with a rope coiled round their shoulders, but it's only a matter of time.
On the subject of the Ramblers a friend of mine once told me that he'd been lectured by a group member on his irresponsibility for walking alone in mountainous terrain! Apart from that the Ramblers seem harmless enough to me and I'm glad that there's someone holding local authorities to account on their duty to maintain rights of way.

In reply to MG:

Ramblers tend to get around a bit more than most climbers so they are unlikely to be restricting their outing to just the high street though.

In reply to Cheese Monkey:


Not to mention the obligatory walking poles.

A bunch went past my work a bit back, walking along a tarmac path in Nottingham on a pleasant sunny day, wearing/carrying enough gear to stock a decent shop.

In reply to FesteringSore:
When I was a mountain biker (coming from a mountaineering background) I was a bit shocked at the nastiness shown to me by a small number of ramblers. Even recently, on a family ride with my wife and son, a rambler kicked a stone at my wife and exclaimed "got her!" It wasn't until we next stopped that we compared notes and realised, but by then it was too late to do anything about it.

Only a tiny minority of ramblers are rude and selfish though.

In reply to MG:


Well, gaiters help keep the Ramblers' long red socks from sticking together like velcro when the're in close proximity. I'm told they can agglutinate like frogspawn otherwise.

Either that, or they wear them in Keswick, on shoplifting sprees, to stash knocked off Kendal mint cake and postcards.

In reply to Rigid Raider:

I think you need to distinguish ramblers and Ramblers.

In reply to mcdougal:

That happened to me once - quite a laugh as it was a near whiteout on Carnedd Llewelyn and they were a group of 15 with one map reader.

Wound him up by honestly telling him that it was my first trip to North Wales (I was down from Edinburgh for the weekend).

In reply to Cheese Monkey:


You are very welcome to join my local Ramblers group and to sample the delights of winter walking through the endless saturated clay and mud of the Weald up to your knees without wearing gaiters. They are a friendly bunch and no one will criticise you for the omission, although we might find it slightly amusing......

In reply to Trangia:

Congratulations to your group on appropriate gaiter use

In reply to FesteringSore:

Oh you internets and your tribalism.

In reply to FesteringSore:

I really like the fact that ramblers and possibly Ramblers appear not to give a toss about having to appear everywhere in expensive designer gear like many 'climbers' have to do.

I costs a lot less to kit out as a stereotypical rambler than it does the modern stereotypical climber ! And they still get out on the hill in weather that has climbers huddled up in Petes Eats

In reply to toad:

I deliberately wrote ramblers because I don't think arrogance and selfishness are limited just to the leisure organisation called Ramblers.