TRAVEL HIKING IN THE UK

LANGUAGE LEVEL: BASIC

STANDARD: BRITISH ACCENT

RAMBLERS ASSOCIATION

SOURCE: SPEAK UP

TRAVEL HIKING IN THE UK

Hiking, humbling or trekking both means...going for a walking it is a popular activity in UK surrounding by extremely beauty. It is a good suggestion for alternative Holydays. Rigorously by foot.

The Rambles Association (RA) has a reputation as a club for middle aged people, dressed in shorts and hiking boots, who spend their time walking through Rural England. Imagine an athletic version of Mr. Bean, with naked hairy legs and a huge rucksack, walking vigorously up a mountain path. In fact the Ramblers Associations in a registered charity with 140.000 members; and today rumbling or walking for pleasure, is one of Britain’s most popular leisure activities. Clubs throughout the country organise walks and festivals, while working to protect the countryside and to keep its pathways open to the public.

LOCAL HERO

April 24^th is the 750^th anniversary of “ The Battle of Kinder Scout.” In 1932 a young idealist called Benny Goodman led a group of 400 protesters along a path in the heart of northwest England’s Peak District. The local Landowner refused to allow the public on his land, and send his men to stop the trespassers. Goodman and five others where sent to prison in a case that became a national scandal, and marks the beginning of the long fight for open footpaths throughout Britain. This month thousands of ramblers will return to the nine-mile path, which passes through some of England’s finest scenery. The area is now a National Park and part of the country’s oldest long-distance footpath: the 429 –kilometre Pennine Way.

DRESS SENSE

Why is walking so popular?

It’s a low-cost way to a healthy lifestyle: it helps reduce stress, lose weight and offers the chance to meet new people. The RA is working to break down barriers everywhere, even launching new clubs in cities London’s recent Get Walking programme encouraged ethnic minorities to take part. Rambler Caroline Watson says: “Some of my group haven’t been to the River Thames before; they didn’t know you could walk there.”

Rezwana Choudhury, one of the new ramblers, says: It’s great. We get good exercise without wearing one of those embarrassing leotards

Romantic Trails

1)  Rambling in the New Forest is the perfect way to spend a spring day; walk quietly though the trees and there’s a good chance you will see deer.

2)St. Cuthbert’s Way in Northumberland is a beautiful walk which follows the pilgrims’ path to Holy Island (Lindsfarne). When the tide is out, visitors can cross over to visit the Island and its castle.

2)  Another popular choice is the Ridgeway, a national trail across the Chiltern Hill. The trail lakes your through lovely countryside to Wallington Hill, where visitors can appreciate the incredible view across the Cotswolds, Berkshire Downs and Oxford.

3)  Finally, there’s the South West Coast Path; here yo’ll find the famous Smugglers Coast. Walk the paths that coastguards created many years ago in their attemps to catch smugglers at work.

Rambling Holidays

Ramblers Holidays which is run by volunteers, offers organised group holidays throughout the world. You can join the RA (membership cost 24,00 pounds) and find out more about in services on their website www.ramblers.org.uk Adress: 2^nd Floor Camelford House, 87 -90 Albert Embankment London SE1 7TW, UK Tel +44 (0) 20 7339 8500 e-mail: ramblers@ramblers.org.uk