Shows / Ramblings
Ramblings
Clare Balding and guests share inspiring conversations while walking in the great outdoors.
Fresh air and nature, wonderful views and uplifting chat, each week Clare hikes in a different part of our glorious countryside. Walking side by side is the perfect way to cover a huge range of subjects: literature, art, wildlife, nature, taking on personal or physical challenges, dealing with grief, confronting preconceptions about the kind of people who love to ramble.
The conversations are as varied…
Episodes
- Ramblings
Upper Swaledale, North Yorkshire
Clare meets Karen Skeel who runs a bed and breakfast halfway along the Coast to Coast footpath. She and her partner, Neil, walked the entire route in 2010 and…
- Ramblings
Seatoller to Castle Crag
Clare meets Jamie Stott, an Emergency Medical Technician, for a circular walk to Castle Crag in the Lake District. Joining them are members of his North West…
- Ramblings
From Limpsfield Common to Everest with David Sullivan
Clare explores a circular route in the woodland of Limpsfield Common near Oxted in Surrey. With her is David Sullivan who recalls a recent adventure when he…
- Ramblings
Ham and Petersham, Richmond upon Thames
Clare Balding joins Zoe Mallett and Rose Eskafi for a walk in Richmond, London, exploring how urban green spaces can offer connection and community. Zoe and…
- Ramblings
In the Footsteps of Little Nell
Clare joins Alistair MacNichol for part of his long‑distance walk from Holborn in London to Tong in Shropshire as he recreates the journey made by Little Nell…
- Ramblings
Bosham to West Itchenor in West Sussex
Clare joins Marian Spain and Paula Brunt as they explore a stretch of the King Charles III England Coast Path in West Sussex. After more than forty years…
- Ramblings
The Wrekin with Marlon Patrice
Clare meets Marlon Patrice for a walk up The Wrekin in Shropshire. Marlon is the founder of We Go Outside Too, a community organisation he created in…
- Ramblings
Mending Footpaths in Eryri
Clare walks with a group of British Mountaineering Council volunteers who’ve been working to repair footpaths in Eryri, formerly known as Snowdonia National…
- Ramblings
Anglesey/Ynys Môn
Clare explores the south side of Anglesey / Ynys Môn with friends Emily Coates and Nic Parry. Beginning on the wide sands of Newborough beach, they follow the…
- Ramblings
Fetternear, Aberdeenshire
Clare Balding joins the Garioch 50+ Men’s Walking Group for a stroll through the scenic Fetternear Estate near Kemnay in Aberdeenshire. This long-running group…
- Ramblings
Bailies of Bennachie
Clare heads up Mither Tap, a distinctive hill in the Bennachie range in Aberdeenshire. Leading the way are the Bailies of Bennachie, a group of volunteer…
- Ramblings
Brockley and Ladywell with Hana Sutch
Clare Balding heads to Brockley and Ladywell for a leafy London wander with Hana Sutch, co founder of the walking app Go Jauntly. Growing up in a family that…
- Ramblings
Terminal Hillness in the north Lakes
Clare joins Ian Teasdale in the north Lake District for a very personal walk. Ian and his wife, Catherine, are on a mission to climb all 214 Wainwright fells…
- Ramblings
Ghosts of the Farm with Nicola Chester
Clare joins writer Nicola Chester for a circular walk from her home in the village of Inkpen in West Berkshire. Despite recently breaking her leg in an…
- Ramblings
Bredon Hill with Steve Boycott
Clare hikes up Bredon Hill with Steve Boycott, founder of the Be You Programme, an outdoor‑based initiative that helps young people build confidence and…
- Ramblings
Adventurer Pom Oliver in the Low Weald
Clare Balding meets the adventurer Pom Oliver for a woodland wander near her home in West Sussex. As they stroll amongst the trees, Pom recalls extraordinary…
- Ramblings
Walking Back to Happiness
Clare joins Glenn Meyer in Surrey’s Happy Valley for a walk that celebrates resilience and recovery. During lockdown, Glenn suffered a serious spinal injury…
- Ramblings
The Gower Peninsula to Antarctica
Clare Balding joins Rob Curtis for a walk across the dramatic landscape of Rhossili Bay on the Gower Peninsula. Rob, an electrician with a passion for nature…
- Ramblings
India in the Cotswolds with Corinne Fowler and Raj Pal
Clare is walking in the Cotswolds with author Corinne Fowler and historian Raj Pal, whose family has roots in both Britain and India. Corinne is leading the…
- Ramblings
Whispering Rocks with Anjana Khatwa
Clare joins Earth Scientist and author Anjana Khatwa for a cliffside walk in Dorset exploring the landscapes that shaped her life, and her book The Whispers of…
- Ramblings
Nick Wilson - the Disabled Adventurer
Clare joins Nick Wilson for a circuit around Pitsford Reservoir in Northamptonshire. A former soldier, Nick now uses a powerchair after a spinal injury and…
- Ramblings
Crime and Punishment in the Peak District
Clare joins writer Kate Morgan on a walk from Monsal Head to Tideswell in the Peak District. Along the way, they explore how the use of gallows and gibbets in…
- Ramblings
Walk for Wendy - Chater Valley
Clare explores a six-mile loop of the Chater Valley in this week’s Ramblings. Her companion is Will Hetherington who wrote to the programme inviting Clare to…
- Ramblings
Clare Balding's in Town!
Clare Balding’s In Town! To kick off the new series, Clare is walking in Rutland with comedian Mark Steel. Since they’re in the same place at the same time…
- Ramblings
Camino Memories with the Ciao Ciao Girls
Clare is in Northumberland today for the final episode of this Camino de Santiago themed series. She’s walking along a section of Hadrian’s Wall with a…
- Ramblings
Camino Memories in Penicuik
Clare is in Penicuik for the penultimate episode of this Camino de Santiago themed series. The first five programmes were recorded in Spain, and the final two…
- Ramblings
Arriving in Santiago de Compostela with Sharon, Shirley and friends
On Clare’s last day of walking sections of the Camino, she arrives into Santiago de Compostela with a wonderful group of friends who have been following the…
- Ramblings
Camino Inglés with Jannine and Sally
Clare is walking on the Camino Inglés today with Jannine Stoodley who is pushing her mother, Sally, in an off-road wheelchair. This entire series of Ramblings…
- Ramblings
Living on the Camino de Santiago
Clare meets a man who completely changed his life after walking the Camino de Santiago. Andrea Abbatemarco is originally from Milan, and first completed The…
- Ramblings
Camino Francés with Maggie McLean
Clare walks with Reverend Maggie McLean today on a stretch of the Camino de Santiago, the world famous pilgrimage route that concludes at Santiago de…
- Ramblings
Camino de Santiago with Manni Coe
This is a very special series of Ramblings. To mark Clare’s 25th year of presenting Radio 4’s walking programme she is off to Spain to fulfil her long held…
- Ramblings
Rerouting the Shropshire Way
Clare meets a group of passionate walkers responsible for the redesign and relaunch of the Shropshire Way long distance footpath. Back in 2016 they got…
- Ramblings
Capel y ffin and the Twmpa
Clare meets a passionate proponent of walking today on a hike around Capel y ffin and the Twmpa in the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park…
- Ramblings
Fife - Clatto Reservoir to Pitscottie
Clare is in the Kingdom of Fife today, hiking from Clatto Reservoir to Pitscottie. It’s a beautiful stretch of the Fife Pilgrim Way, a long-distance footpath…
- Ramblings
60-60-60 in the Southern Pentlands
Clare Balding is celebrating a listener’s birthday today. Not something we’ve done before, but when we heard that Lynda Pettit was marking her 60th birthday by…
- Ramblings
Trees in Winter near Abergavenny
This is Clare’s 25th year of making Ramblings and one thing she has always enjoyed is walking all year round, in any weather. No matter how windy, how cold or…
- Ramblings
Clare's 25th Year! Bakewell with the RamSoc
This is Clare's 25th year of walking and talking on Ramblings! To mark this, ahem, milestone her first hike of 2025 is with a group of students from the…
- Ramblings
Chief Scout Dwayne Fields in Epping Forest
Clare rambles around Epping Forest with the new Chief Scout, Dwayne Fields. He was appointed in September 2024, taking over from Bear Grylls, and has a wealth…
- Ramblings
The Old Lags - Bristol
Clare joins a long established group as they embark on their 100th walk. Their route takes them from Leigh Woods, under the Clifton Suspension Bridge, and into…
- Ramblings
River Itchen - Hampshire
Clare explores the banks of the River Itchen in Hampshire with Andrew Simkins who has just completed walking around the coast and borders of England. It’s…
- Ramblings
Lise Wortley - Woman with Altitude
Clare meets ‘Woman with Altitude’ Lise Wortley who recreates the adventures of overlooked and forgotten female explorers. As Lise takes Clare on a walk around…
- Ramblings
Alan Titchmarsh on the Isle of Wight
Alan Titchmarsh takes Clare Balding for his favourite stroll across Tennyson Down on the Isle of Wight. A keen and regular walker, Alan splits his time between…
- Ramblings
GM Ringway - a new 200-mile walking route
Clare hikes along a section of the GM Ringway, Greater Manchester’s new walking trail. It’s a 200 mile route split into 20 stages, starting and ending in…
- Ramblings
Arsenic and Fish Weirs on the Edge of Dartmoor
Clare explores the Lower Tavy Valley in Devon with Sharon Gedye a physical geographer who's spent years discovering how the area's rich history has shaped its…
- Ramblings
Amar Latif - President of the Ramblers in North Yorkshire
Clare and the ‘blind adventurer’ Amar Latif explore a circular route in Nidderdale, North Yorkshire. As the current President of the Ramblers, Amar is keen to…
- Ramblings
Surrey - from Oaks Park to Kingswood
Clare meets the founders of Walking Post on a hike from Oaks Park to Kingswood in Surrey. Walking Post is a not-for-profit website run by friends who have…
- Ramblings
Every Body Outdoors in Gloucestershire
Clare is in the Cotswolds this week with a fantastic group called Every Body Outdoors. They begin their walk in the village of King’s Stanley, Gloucestershire…
- Ramblings
Donegal with rock climber and mountain guide Iain Miller
In the second of two walks in the Republic of Ireland, Clare meets rock climber, mountain instructor and walking guide, Iain Miller, to explore a stretch of…
- Ramblings
Donegal with Nikki Bradley - Adaptive Adventurer and Amputee
In the first of two episodes recorded in the Republic of Ireland, Clare travels to Moyle Hill in County Donegal to meet adventurer and motivational speaker…
- Ramblings
Blowy Bamburgh Beach with David Almond
David Almond marks 25 years of his extraordinary book, Skellig, with a walk from Seahouses to Bamburgh in Northumberland. As he tells Clare, it's a landscape…
- Ramblings
Painting Bluebells in Shropshire
Clare walks to a glorious display of bluebells to capture them in watercolour in the company of artist Shelly Perkins. On a beautiful day in mid-May they set…
- Ramblings
Kingfishers on the River Frome with Nadeem Perera
Nadeem Perera is not your conventional image of a birdwatcher. In fact growing up in inner city London he was not raised as or encouraged to be a 'nature boy'…
- Ramblings
Walking at Night on the South Downs near Seaford
When author Annabel Abbs suffered a series of bereavements she found herself unable to sleep. Eventually she began getting up and walking around her garden and…
- Ramblings
Creaking Trees and a Full Rainbow at Innerleithen
The beautiful Borders of Scotland is the location for Clare’s walk this week. She’s exploring the area around Innerleithen with Stewart Wilson. After a career…
- Ramblings
On the Hoof with Hannah and Chico
Clare joins Hannah Engelkamp and her donkey, Chico, for a ramble in the Dyfi Valley a few miles east of Machynlleth in Powys. On the way Hannah tells Clare…
- Ramblings
The Wild Cliffs of St David's
A cliff edge walk at St. David's in Pembrokeshire with artists Jackie Morris and Tamsin Abbott who are creating a book of illuminated folk stories. Jackie is…
- Ramblings
Walking with resistance bands on the South Downs with Julie Ford
Clare joins PE Teacher Julie Ford for a bracing walk on the Seven Sisters near Eastbourne. It's a walk with a difference. Following a brush with breast cancer…
- Ramblings
We in Front!
A joyful hike up Castle Hill near Huddersfield with We In Front, an inspirational group of walkers. Leading the way is Errol Hamlet who, having retired, felt…
- Ramblings
Clare's Highlights
Clare chooses some favourite moments from her Ramblings year: Join brothers Manni and Reuben Coe who amble down to Hive Beach in Dorset on a calm summer's day…
- Ramblings
Hope Valley with Anita Sethi
In 2019 Anita Sethi was on a trans Pennine train journey when she was racially abused by a man who later pleaded guilty to the offence. During the attack he…