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
Anita Rani on Hackney and Walthamstow Marshes
Clare Balding walks with Anita Rani on Hackney and Walthamstow Marshes. They also explore Walthamstow Wetlands, an internationally important nature reserve…
- Ramblings
Beachcombing on the Isle of Sheppey
Clare goes beachcombing on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent with author Lisa Woollett. Lisa is fascinated by what we throw away and how it reflects our changing…
- Ramblings
Buckinghamshire with Professor David Wilson
David Wilson is a well known criminologist and former prison governor. Clare meets him in the village of Wicken on the Northamptonshire/Buckinghamshire border…
- Ramblings
Barry Farrimond, who plays Ed Grundy, on Dartmoor
Barry Farrimond, who plays Ed Grundy in The Archers, takes Clare Balding for an adventurous hike across Dartmoor. As they navigate the granite boulders of…
- Ramblings
The Mendips with Professor Alice Roberts
On a hot day, Clare and Alice Roberts walk from the village of Draycott in Somerset up through the Draycott Sleights Nature Reserve with views opening out…
- Ramblings
Gloucestershire with Dom Joly
Dom Joly, famous for Trigger Happy TV, takes Clare on a walk near to his home in Gloucestershire. Leaving the village of Winchcombe, they walk up Spoonley Hill…
- Ramblings
Joyful Highlights Part 6: Extreme Walking
Clare Balding digs into the archives to find the most dramatic weather conditions she's recorded in; she also hears from those walkers who've had had the…
- Ramblings
Joyful Highlight Part 5: Walking Advice
Clare Balding continues her exploration of the archives and finds a selection of entertaining highlights which give some good advice to walkers both…
- Ramblings
Joyful Highlights Part 4: Singers & Writers
Clare Balding recalls her favourite walks with a colourful variety of writers and singers including Bill Bryson, Toyah Wilcox, folk duo Ninebarrow, and the…
- Ramblings
Joyful Highlights Part 3: Landscape
In a joyful celebration of 20 years spent walking on air, Clare Balding digs deep into the exhilarating archives of Ramblings to share the best moments from…
- Ramblings
Joyful Highlights Part 2: Health and Happiness
In a joyful celebration of 20 years spent walking on air, Clare Balding digs deep into the exhilarating archives of Ramblings to share the best moments from…
- Ramblings
Joyful Highlights Part 1: Friends and Family
In a joyful celebration of twenty years spent walking on air, Clare Balding digs deep into the exhilarating and exhausting archives of Ramblings to share her…
- Ramblings
Herefordshire Interfaith Group on the Malverns
Clare Balding walks across a section of The Malverns, from Hollybush car park towards British Camp, with members of the Herefordshire Interfaith Group. In a…
- Ramblings
A brand new waymarked walking route in South Wales
In one of the rainiest Ramblings we've ever recorded, Clare Balding discovers a brand new waymarked walking route in South Wales which has been established on…
- Ramblings
Outdoor Counselling in Derbyshire
Psychotherapist, Dr. Ruth Allen, explains how outdoor counselling works. She takes Clare Balding on a walk near Kelstedge in Derbyshire to discuss the healing…
- Ramblings
Up to the labyrinth on St Catherine's Hill, Winchester
Clare Balding visits the ancient and mysterious labyrinth on top of St. Catherine's Hill in Winchester. Leading the walk is Brian Draper, who runs soulful…
- Ramblings
The Wilberforce Way with Inderjit Bhogal
Clare Balding walks with Sikh-turned-Methodist, Inderjit Bhogal, along part of the Wilberforce Way in East Yorkshire. Inderjit created this long distance…
- Ramblings
Glastonbury Tor with Druids
Clare Balding explores Glastonbury with Druids Penny and Arthur Billington. Throughout this series of Ramblings, Clare is finding out how walking affects our…
- Ramblings
Steve Backshall & Helen Glover on Winter Hill
Steve Backshall and Helen Glover walk with Clare Balding on Winter Hill in Berkshire. Throughout this series of Ramblings Clare Balding is exploring how…
- Ramblings
Ninebarrow in Dorset
Clare walks with Jon Whitley and James (Jay) La Bouchardiere, two childhood friends born and bred in Dorset who moved back there after university and began…
- Ramblings
Walking The Pipe in Shropshire
Clare Balding walks part of the Elan Valley pipeline: 73 miles of Victorian engineering running water from mid Wales into the city of Birmingham. Clare is…
- Ramblings
Beeley Edge with David Blunkett
David Blunkett takes Clare Balding for a walk across Beeley Edge in the Peak District. Joining them are his wife, Margaret, and his guide dog, Barley. Despite…
- Ramblings
The Highest Hill in the Cotswolds
Clare is climbing Cleeve Hill near Cheltenham in today’s Ramblings. At 330 metres above sea level it’s the highest point in Gloucestershire, and of the…
- Ramblings
LGBT+ Outdoor Adventures Group
Clare Balding is with a group of young LGBT+ ramblers who meet once a month to explore the green spaces close to Manchester. Run by The Proud Trust, the…
- Ramblings
Ricky Ross and Lorraine Mcintosh of Deacon Blue in Fife
Clare Balding is joined by singers Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh of the band Deacon Blue to walk one of their favourite coastal routes in Fife. Starting at…
- Ramblings
Going Dutch in Dorset
Clare Balding joins a unique family ramble in Dorset. She is walking from Osmington Mills to Weymouth with Simon Waley and his three Dutch sons-in-law. They…
- Ramblings
Going Wild in the West Country
Clare Balding walks with sisters Georgina and Rebecca - both mothers of young children - who started a group called Go Wild Go West to help inspire other young…
- Ramblings
Proud, Resilient & Native American in the UK
Clare Balding meets a group of native American women who live and work in the UK. A sense of isolation and homesickness led them to the Rainmaker Gallery in…
- Ramblings
Clare gets lost in Lancashire
Clare gets lost in the rain as she walks to meet two extraordinary sisters in their 90s. Both were code-breakers during WW2, and one invented the TV classic…
- Ramblings
Here Comes the Summer - Feargal Sharkey
Clare Balding joins singer Feargal Sharkey for a river walk on the south London/Surrey border along the River Hogsmill one of just 200 chalk streams in the…
- Ramblings
An Aussie Walkabout... in Norfolk
Clare Balding goes walkabout with a group of Australian women who call themselves The Norfolk Broads. They include a Colman, of mustard fame, and one ‘honorary…
- Ramblings
To the Lighthouse!
Clare is walking to a land-based lighthouse on today’s Ramblings. Smeaton’s Tower was originally on the Eddystone Reef, twelve miles out to sea on Plymouth…
- Ramblings
Walking a Poem on The Malverns
Clare Balding is taking a poem for a walk on today’s Ramblings. Joining her is Jean Atkin, the newly appointed Troubadour of the Malvern Hills. Jean takes…
- Ramblings
A Creative Soldier
Clare Balding walks across Dartmoor with a former soldier whose retirement has taken him in a surprising direction. Andy Salmon is a former soldier who now…
- Ramblings
A Cow Parsley Tattoo - Cambridgeshire
The writer, Emma Mitchell, takes Clare Balding for a walk around the woods at the back of her house in Cambridgeshire and explains why exposure to the natural…
- Ramblings
Long dresses, cloaks and bonnets. Cumbria.
Why climb a snowy Cumbrian hill in a long dress, cloak and bonnet? Clare Balding finds out. It's all down to Dorothy Wordsworth, the sister of poet, William…
- Ramblings
Gentle Slopes not Rolling Hills - Suffolk
Our original plan for today’s walk fell apart. David Bradbury had invited us to join his lunch-time walking group. Instead of eating a sandwich at their desks…
- Ramblings
Old Maps and New Routes - Oxfordshire
Clare Balding starts the 20th year of Ramblings by walking with a listener who is so committed to exploring the countryside that she creates and publishes her…
- Ramblings
Aviemore, Scotland
Clare joins a group of recently graduated students of Agriculture from Newcastle University who are walking and canoeing along the Speyside Way from source to…
- Ramblings
Dartmoor, Devon
Clare Balding meets the writer Tom Cox for a walk on Dartmoor, the setting for many of his musings on walking and nature that are a humorous sometimes spooky…
- Ramblings
Wigtown, Dumfries and Galloway
Clare Balding walks the final part of the Whithorn Way with a local group of walking enthusiasts. It's an an an ancient pilgrim route from Glasgow down along…
- Ramblings
Centurion Way, Chichester
Clare Balding hears the uplifting story of how walking helped a young man recover from a brain injury. At the age of 23, Matt Masson fell off a roof during a…
- Ramblings
The Hoo Peninsula, Kent
Clare Balding is walking in someone else’s shoes for this edition of Ramblings. She’s joined, on the Hoo Peninsula in Kent, by the artist, Clare Patey and the…
- Ramblings
Herefordshire
Clare Balding walks on Hergest Ridge in Herefordshire with Dr. Kate Harding, who has a moving story to tell. This is the second time Clare has walked with…
- Ramblings
Cairngorms
A musical walk around the Cairngorms National Park with the self-taught composer, Alexander Chapman-Campbell. Alexander's latest album is inspired by a 650km…
- Ramblings
Up to the Dashwood Mausoleum
Clare Balding walks to the extraordinary Dashwood Mausoleum, near High Wycombe, with Julia and Lee Clements and their daughter, Cerys. Cerys is nearly six…
- Ramblings
Church Stretton
Clare Balding is off to Little Switzerland in this week's programme, but she's not travelling far: Church Stretton, in Shropshire, earned its nick-name in…
- Ramblings
Reigate, Surrey
Today Clare is walking in Surrey with a group of asylum seekers who are former detainees of the Gatwick Immigration Removal Centres. Alongside them are…
- Ramblings
Hembury Fort, Honiton
A chaotic and lively dog-walk on Hembury Fort near Honiton in Devon kicks off the new series. Nigel, the rebellious Golden Doodle, upstages Clare Balding and…
- Ramblings
Purton, Gloucestershire
Clare Balding takes a walk along the banks of the Severn in the company of the country's most prolific travel writers, Christopher Somerville who's also the…
- Ramblings
Black Men's Walking for Health Group
Clare Balding walks in the Peaks with Maxwell Ayamba, who founded a rambling group for other black men, from Sheffield, to help improve their health and well…
- Ramblings
Crouch End to Bloomsbury, London
Clare Balding joins archaeologist, Charlotte Frearson and her dog, Indy, on their daily, five mile walk to work. A few years ago Charlotte was suffering from…
- Ramblings
Aberlady Bay
Clare explores the beautiful beaches of Aberlady Bay, East of Edinburgh. She joins the pupils, parents and staff of Saltersgate school which supports children…
- Ramblings
Greens Norton, Northamptonshire
Clare Balding joins Christina Edwards as she returns to her childhood home in Greens Norton, Northamptonshire, to retrace the walk she took most nights as a…
- Ramblings
Stanton Moor and Robin Hood's Stride from Winster
Clare Balding joins comedian Ed Byrne as he takes her for one of his favourite walks in the Peak District; to Stanton Moor and Robin Hood's Stride from…
- Ramblings
Listeners' Walks: Stoke-on-Trent
Clare Balding meets a group of five friends from Stoke on Trent who have been walking The Two Saints Way www.twosaintsway.org.uk , a route that's taken them…
- Ramblings
Listeners' Walks: Isle of Man, Kallow Point
Clare Balding continues her exploration of The Isle of Man by travelling south to walk the coastal path from Kallow Point to the Sound. She's joined by locals…
- Ramblings
Listeners' Walks: Isle of Man, Glen Dhoo
Clare Balding's long-held wish, to sample the walking delights of the Isle of Man, is finally satisfied as she heads to the north of the Island to explore Glen…