Features
The Features section is an ever so exciting collection of thoughts and stuff on long distance walking.
Alternatively, it is where we shove all the stuff that simply doesn't fit anywhere else, like some sort of horrible leaking bucket.
Take your pick.
Improving your navigational skills
Published 3 December 2023
Want to improve your navigation skills? There’s plenty out there to help you if you know where to look.
Coming up with a Wainwright completion plan
Published 17 September 2023
With 75 fells left to do, I’ve realised I need a plan.
I’ll keep on walking, no matter what
Published 23 July 2023
I get knocked down, I get up again, ain’t never gonna keep me down.
National Trails – from old to new
Published 25 June 2023
In 2025 we’ll be getting a new National Trail. But how long have the others been around?
Booking accommodation for a walk was not always so simple
Published 9 April 2023
Multiple phone calls, printed accommodation lists, a plethora of deposit cheques to write and send. Thankfully it’s easier to book accommodation now than ever.
Completing all the Wainwrights in the Central Fells
Published 12 March 2023
Summing up the now completed Central Fells.
The Rambling Man Trail Walking and Wainwright Bagging Review, 2022
Published 18 December 2022
It’s that time of the year when we review, reflect, and create pointless charts about fellbagging.
10 More Ethels
Published 2 October 2022
When you’ve done ten Ethels, you might as well do another ten, surely?
10 Ethels
Published 18 September 2022
The world of walking seems to like a good list. And a bad list too. The Ethels is a good list, and here are ten Ethels I have been to.
A walking trail based around public transport is great. But only if the public transport actually works.
Published 10 July 2022
It really shouldn’t be so hard to get round a major city so you can go for a walk at weekend.
The Eyemouth Disaster
Published 10 April 2022
14 October 1881 saw one of the country’s worst fishing disasters, on the Berwickshire coastline.
The Northumberland Coast Path Passport – an experience with trying to use it
Published 13 March 2022
As you pass through towns and villages, get a stamp on your passport. Well, that’s the idea.
The Pennine Challenge
Published 6 March 2022
In 1984 the BBC challenged four teenagers to walk the Pennine Way. for a four part documentary that chronicles the Pennine Way in the early 1980s.
Now you can walk the whole length of the River Thames, from source to sea
Published 30 January 2022
The Thames Path itself may stop at the Thames Barrier, but now there’s one waymarked path that will take you along the Thames to the sea.
The Rambling Man Trail Walking and Wainwright Bagging Review, 2021
Published 19 December 2021
It’s the end of the year. Time to look back and see what happened. Or didn’t happen. Or both.
An epic adventure just to get to the start of a walk?
Published 12 September 2021
When getting to the start of a walk, and back home from the end of the walk, can be almost as much of an adventure as the walk itself.
My advice for long distance walking trips in the summer of 2021? Book your table for the pub before you go
Published 18 July 2021
This one simple trick can save you from going hungry!
The National Trails Register
Published 13 June 2021
How many trails have you done? The LDWA’s National Trail Register wants to know.
Three days of walking I’d rather forget about
Published 9 May 2021
When you’re out doing a walking trail you have to be prepared for the rough as well as the smooth. But that doesn’t mean you’ll want to remember every single bit of it.
The Children’s Inn
Published 2 May 2021
Nestling on the edge of the Peak District is an old coaching inn that now houses children, and that has a link to a certain mass trespass.
Five things I like about walking
Published 18 April 2021
A recent interview for a podcast made me think about what I like about walking.
Planning for 2021
Published 21 February 2021
I was asked recently if I had any walking plans this year. It’s a fair question. It’s usually this time of year that people start making plans for the year ahead. Planning holidays is the obvious on. But for lovers of trail walking, the mind may also think about what walks they are going to do.
The Rambling Man Wainwrights stats, 2020
Published 27 December 2020
2020 may not have been the best of years, but I did at least get to go up some Wainwrights! And that means it’s time for some graphs and charts!
A Rambling Man Review of 2020
Published 20 December 2020
Most years I do that with a post looking back at my walking year. Relive the walks! Reflect on the mud! Shudder with the memories of the rain! But 2020… So instead I thought I’d share a few of my favourite photographs from 2020.
A Monument to Summer Time
Published 25 October 2020
As British Summer Time ends, it’s time to admire a monument to someone who tried to make it all happen.
My favourite Lake District fell? How on earth do you decide?
Published 18 October 2020
I have a feeling that trying to do so, really is just the route to madness.
The Mountains of Britain
Published 4 October 2020
Where are the mountains of Britain? It seemed like a good time to try and find out.
Three Men In a Boat (To Say Nothing of Another Writer Reading It For Bits He Could Quote In His Own Work)
Published 27 September 2020
Quotes from JK Jerome that I nearly used when writing up my own Thames Path journey. But ultimately didn’t.
Not in Fochabers
Published 20 September 2020
Today I was due to wake up in the village of Fochabers, in the north of Scotland. With some friends, we’d breakfast then head out to walk our second day on the Speyside Way. Disappointingly it was not to be.
Go out for a walk, yes. But please don’t travel too far.
Published 13 May 2020
From today I can drive a hundred miles up the M6 and go for a walk in the Lake District. Even five hour drive to get from Manchester to Dartmoor National Park, for a nice stroll. But this is not sensible. And I won’t be doing this.
Don’t Lose Your Way – helping to bring lost footpaths back to life
Published 22 March 2020
A couple of weeks ago, walkers charity Ramblers launched Don’t Lose Your Way. It’s a project to help find thousands of miles of footpath that could be lost forever.
The power of a good walk
Published 19 March 2020
These are strange times we’re living through. Hopefully they are times of the like that we won’t see again. But we’re living through them none-the-less.
The Rambling Man Review of 2019: Part 2 – Wainwrights
Published 19 December 2019
In the second part of the Rambling Man Review of the Year, it’s time to turn attention to the Lake District.
The Rambling Man Review of 2019: Part 1 – trails
Published 15 December 2019
The year is ending, and inevitably our minds turn back to what happened. And go, boy was it wet.
Save money with hostel membership – and more
Published 8 December 2019
Got a walk planned? Planning to stay in a few hostels on the way? Why not consider joining your local youth hostel association?
The Rambling Man Bakewell Pudding Taste Test
Published 13 October 2019
Bakewell is famous for something. Something cake related. And it’s definitely NOT for its tarts.
Wayfarer – the rover ticket for Manchester and the Peak District, and beyond!
Published 25 August 2019
Wayfarer is the bus/train/tram ticket that many people in the North of England didn’t know they needed, but actually do. Especially walkers.
The Rambling Man guide to getting a holiday company to book your long distance walk
Published 21 July 2019
What are walking holiday companies? What to they do? And is it worth using one?
