So much more than a walk ...

There’s no doubt about it, walking is good for you! It’s good for your heart, it’s good for your lungs, it’s good for the muscles and it’s good for your feeling of wellbeing. Strong scientific evidence now supports the many benefits to health of regular walking. Walking sociably, with friends or in a group, can also improve your mental health and quality of life. For more information, please take a look at the Walking for Health page on the Ramblers' Association website.

In addition to the health benefits, walking with the Andover Ramblers has also given me the chance to see - and hear - things that I would otherwise have missed, as well as visit places that I wouldn't otherwise have visited.

Here are some examples of the things I have seen, heard and experienced, and places I've visited, since joining the Andover Ramblers seven years ago.

Wildlife

I've seen kingfishers, macaws, a green woodpecker, buzzards, kestrels and heard a cuckoo. I've also witnessed pipistrelle bats being caught and ringed, and I've seen foxes, badgers, hares, deer, mountain goats, a stoat, highland cattle, saddleback pigs, llamas, alpacas, a camel, a red squirrel, a muntjac and a pine marten.

Places

I've walked on Watership Down; visited Florence Nightingale's, Little John's and William Wordworth's graves; drank in Britain's highest pub; walked behind a waterfall; seen the 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' film set; walked up and down the cobbled street featured in the Hovis advert; seen where Kevin Costner buried his father - then showered - in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves; visited the source of the Thames; walked along a nudist beach; crossed an active runway; seen the Milky Way; walked in the area immortalised by R. D. Blackmore's classic novel, Lorna Doone; climbed the highest peak in England and Wales; walked at night; visited the Alhambra Palace; and walked from one side of England to the other.

I've walked in the Cotswolds, the Elan Valley, the Forest of Dean, the Lake District; the New Forest, the Peak District, the Scottish Highlands, Snowdonia, Upper Teesdale and the Yorkshire Dales. I've also walked on Bodmin Moor, the Brecon Beacons, the Cheviot Hills, Dartmoor, Exmoor, the Howgill Fells, the Isle of Wight, the Isles of Scilly, Land's End, the Long Mynd, the Malvern Hills, the North York Moors and Purbeck.

But for me, the best part about being an Andover Rambler is walking regularly with some of the friendliest people you could ever wish to meet, and having a really great time ... whatever the weather!

Clive