Distance: 13km/8 miles
Time: 3hrs
Type: Country
Where: Circular walk from the picturesque village of Kippen, near Stirling.
Start/End: War memorial, The Cross, Kippen (NS653947).
Terrain: Country lanes, grassy paths, farm tracks and minor roads. A couple of stiles and gates to negotiate
Maps: OS Explorer 366; OS Landranger 57.

The ample and very pleasant countryside on the north side of the Campsie Fells has always been popular with both walkers and wealthy commuter-belt residents seeking peace and privacy in the beautiful surroundings. So it’s perhaps no surprise that it was here that the broad public access rights enjoyed in Scotland – and recently enshrined in the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, legislation fought hard for by Ramblers Scotland – faced one of their sternest challenges. In 2005, Euan Snowie locked his gates to his 70-acre Boquhan Estate on the edge of Kippen and applied to the courts to have his estate declared to be land over which access rights should not apply. He claimed that the order was needed to protect his family from the risk of kidnap and to allow shooting on the grounds. Ramblers Scotland, together with Stirling Council, successfully challenged the order in the courts (the sheriff judged that only 13 acres right beside the house should be regarded as private), and earlier this year Mr Snowie dropped his appeal against the decision. As well as passing by the Boquhan Estate, this gentle circular walk highlights some of Kippen’s most attractive surrounding countryside, which can and should be enjoyed by everyone.

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Distance: 17km/10½ miles
Time: 5hrs
Type: Valley, moorland ridge and woodland
Where: Circular walk from Low Mill, Farndale, in North York Moors National Park.
Start/End: Low Mill (SE672952).
Terrain: Paved path, moorland tracks and farm lanes. Includes a steady climb and numerous stiles.
Maps: OS Explorer OL26; Landranger 100.

The lovely Dove Valley is renowned for its countless wild daffodils, which blanket its flanks in yellow each spring. But it’s thanks to the campaigning efforts of West Riding Ramblers that this beautiful part of Upper Farndale isn’t submerged beneath the waters of a vast reservoir. Proposed by the regional water board in the late 1960s, the plans were successfully seen off by the Ramblers and other groups after three years of parliamentary lobbying (see p8 for more details). This circular route shows why the tranquil dale has been so popular with walkers for decades, rising from Farndale to offer immense panoramas across endless seas of heather. With its lattice of grey stone walls, the landscape is a patchwork of pastures, pocket woodlands and bold ridge-tops. The red-pantiled cottages, farms and barns give a hint of Tuscany on the hottest days; age-old hamlets, mills and villages are linked by sinuous lanes and tracks shimmer in a purple haze.

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Distance: 5km/3 miles
Time: 2hrs
Type: Short, urban
Where: Circular walk around Sheffield city centre via Weston Park and
Crookes Valley Park.
Start/End: Cathedral Supertram stop (SK354874).
Terrain: Mainly pavements, park paths and pedestrian areas.
Maps: OS Explorer 278; Landranger 111.

This route is one of hundreds written by volunteers – many of whom are Ramblers – for the Get Walking Keep Walking scheme, a Ramblers-led initiative to encourage more people to walk every day and improve their health. In the two years since it started, hundreds of people have enjoyed the 12-week walking programme in cities across England, and thousands more have taken up Get Walking packs to do it on their own. This Sheffield-based walk is written by the veteran Ramblers volunteer Terry Howard, who has been laying on outreach walks with the Ramblers for over 25 years (read more about him on p38). It’s pretty flat by Sheffield standards, and takes you from the medieval part of town to where it expanded westwards and uphill. Along the way you’ll see some of Sheffield’s most famous buildings: the cathedral, where you start and finish; the oldest brick building in Sheffield, Old Bank House; the City Hall; the City Museum; and parts of the University of Sheffield. You’ll also visit two popular parks – Weston Park and Crookes Valley Park. Many more easy walking routes like this are available free at www.getwalking.org.uk – just one of the many ways in which the Ramblers is trying to encourage a healthier Britain.

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Distance: 8km/4½ miles
Time: 2hrs
Type: Urban, coastal
Where: A linear walk from Cardiff railway station, along the Taff and across Cardiff Bay on the barrage, finishing in Penarth.
Start/End: Cardiff Central Railway Station (ST182758). Penarth Railway Station (ST185714).
Terrain: Mostly level pavements throughout, along watersides.
Maps: OS Explorer 151; Landranger 171.

This lovely all-inclusive walk around Cardiff Bay and over the spectacular barrage was only made possible in 2007, thanks to the campaigning efforts of Ramblers Cymru. They resulted in a new bridge being installed between Penarth and the barrage, making a complete coastal route in the capital possible for the first time, which will form a key part of the All Wales Coast Path scheduled to open in 2012. (Much of this national route is being surveyed and monitored by Ramblers volunteers.) The views across the Bristol Channel on this walk are superb, stretching to Somerset and the islands of Flat Holm and Steep Holm. Various landmarks, including the Millennium Stadium, the Wales Millennium Centre, the Welsh Assembly and the Pierhead building, can be seen along the route. Some of these locations may be recognisable from TV’s Dr Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Children’s author Roald Dahl was born in Cardiff and baptised in the Norwegian Church. It’s now used as an arts centre and café.

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Distance: 17km/10½ miles
Time: 5-6hrs
Type: Hill and valley
Where: Circular walk from Loggerheads Country Park via Moel Famau and the famous Clwydian Way.
Start/End: Loggerheads Country Park (SJ198626) off the A494 Ruthin-to- Mold road.
Terrain: Well-marked paths and tracks, plus a short stretch of country lane and two crossings of a main road.
Maps: OS Exporer 265; Landranger 116.

The Clwydian Way is a 195km/122-mile circular route through some of North Wales’ finest countryside, created to celebrate the new millennium. It was devised by David Hollett when he was secretary of the Denbighshire Ramblers footpath committee, and starts and ends in the seaside resort of Prestatyn. Volunteers from Denbighshire and members of Wirral Ramblers assisted in surveying and waymarking the trail with its distinctive white disc featuring a buzzard. The local Ramblers’ guidebook to the trail includes 12 short circular routes based on sections of the route, and this walk does likewise. It combines a stretch of the Clwydian Way over the Clwydian Range’s highest point – Moel Famau – with another along the Leete Path in Alyn Valley. The circuit is completed by a section of the Offa’s Dyke Path and a linking bridleway.

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Distance: 15km/9¼ miles
Time: 4½hrs
Type: Woodland, sheep-pasture & moorland
Where: Circular walk from Bridges in the Shropshire Hills AONB.
Start/End: Bridges (SO393965).
Terrain: Minor roads, tracks and paths, with no steep climbs. Waymarking is generally excellent.
Maps: OS Explorer 217; Landranger 137.

Established in 1980, the Shropshire Way was a labour of love for local Ramblers groups, who put in the extensive groundwork of plotting, preparing and waymarking the route with its distinctive buzzard waymark. The idea was for a route that would loop the county and showcase its many highlights. And this it does amply, visiting the Ironbridge Gorge and Wenlock Edge and charming towns like Ludlow, Bishop’s Castle and Much Wenlock. A particularly memorable section includes the lofty Long Mynd and the secluded valleys cut by the River East Onny and its tributaries, at the very heart of AE Housman’s “blue remembered hills” – his “land of lost content”. This walk explores hamlets and hilltops that are the epitome of the Welsh Marches at their most serene – an airy circuit in one of England’s quietest areas.

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Distance: 11km/7 miles
Time: 3½hr
Type: River valley
Where: Circular walk from Dedham via Flatford and Manningtree.
Start/End: Dedham Car Park, Mill Lane (TM058334).
Terrain: Firm paths and farm tracks, with some trails over fields. Numerous stiles, latch gates and bridle gates.
Maps: OS Explorer 196; Landranger 168.

Ramblers volunteer Fred Matthews – who died last year, aged 85 – was a veteran campaigner for footpaths in Essex. As well as organising an annual 160km/100-mile walk round the county’s rights of way to make sure the council was doing its job, he pioneered the creation of the 130km/81-mile Essex Way in 1972, writing the route’s first guidebook. The Epping-to-Harwich footpath is now an Essex institution, and this circular walk includes a stretch of it that goes through Dedham Vale and the Stour Valley AONB, in the area known as Constable Country. Its picturesque water meadows and gentle rolling hills have been a magnet for artists over the centuries, and little seems to have changed since the days of the painter John Constable, who was born locally. The tranquility of the countryside depicted in The Haywain is as real today as when he painted it nearly 200 years ago. Bridge Cottage at Flatford has been transformed into a small museum dedicated to the artist’s work. Constable, however, is not the area’s only artistic son. Behind the village of Dedham stands the grand property once occupied by the painter Sir Alfred Munnings, now run as a museum, housing a large collection of his paintings, including some of horses and horse fairs – his favourite subjects.

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Distance: 13km/8 miles
Time: 4-5hrs
Type: Countryside and woodland
Where: Circular walk from Charlbury via Wychwood Forest.
Start/End: Charlbury railway station (SP352195).
Terrain: Field tracks, woodland paths and quiet country lanes.
Maps: OS Explorer 180 & 191; Landranger 164.

Charlbury lies at the heart of what was once the royal Forest of Wychwood, which covered much of what is now west Oxfordshire, and where the deer were reserved for the king to hunt. Over the centuries, much of the woodland was cleared for farmland and settlements. The largest remaining piece of this ancient woodland, which lies to the south-west of Charlbury, was – until the 1980s – out of bounds to walkers, as no official right of way was recorded by the local authority on its definitive map, drawn up in the 1950s, despite evidence of woodland trails having been used by locals for centuries. Thanks to a seven-year campaign by Oxfordshire Ramblers, a public footpath was finally created through Wychwood Forest in 1988, saving a long walk round the perimeter and providing an essential link for a very pleasant circular route from Charlbury. As well as Wychwood’s unspoilt oak, beech and ash woodland, it visits a charming 12th-century church in Shorthampton and the grand parkland of Cornbury Deer Park.

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Distance: 10km/6 miles
Time: 3½hrs
Type: City, art themed
Where: Circular tour of Bristol, including street art and graffiti.
Start/End: Clifton Suspension Bridge (ST 565732)
Terrain: Pavements and alleyways, with steep hills throughout and some steps.
Maps: OS Explorer 155; Landranger 172

From the middle of the Clifton Suspension Bridge, head east towards Bristol. The bridge was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, although he never saw it finished as funding problems delayed its completion until 5 years after his death. Turn R immediately leaving the bridge, following the sign for the Visitor Centre. Turn L here, with the gorge on your R. At this point the gorge is 213m/700ft wide and 91m/300ft deep. Quarries on the Bristol side are popular with both climbers and peregrine falcons. Cross the road at Princes Buildings and then climb steps to Royal York Crescent. This Georgian terrace of 46 houses is reputed to be the longest in Europe. Exit into Regent Street turning R. This becomes Clifton Hill and at the end turn R into Constitution Hill. When you reach Jacobs Wells Road, cross over to the steps opposite.

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Distance: 19½km/12 miles
Time: 6½hrs
Type: High moorland
Where: Circular walk from Edale to Kinder Scout.
Start/End: Edale station (SK123853).
Terrain: High open ground, with peat and rocky sections involving some steep ascents and descents.
Maps: OS Explorer OL 1; Landranger 110.

Britain’s first official long-distance path, the Pennine Way finally opened in 1965, 30 years after Tom Stephenson – journalist, walkers’ champion and first fulltime secretary of the Ramblers – proposed it, primarily as a means of resolving the long-standing problems of access to Kinder and Bleaklow. He had witnessed the battles fought there between ramblers and local gamekeepers at the 1932 Mass Trespass. One of the route’s main challenges is the first section, across Derbyshire’s notorious peat bogs, but this invigorating circular day-long walk lets you sample the best of Kinder Scout by skirting the southern and western edges of the 636m/2,086ft massif. Indeed, after a stiff ascent from Edale, it’s a relatively straightforward and level walk, with newly paved sections dodging the worst of the eroded peat. You can trace the original route of the Pennine Way from Edale, joining it above Grindsbrook Clough, then return on the current path down Jacob’s Ladder into the lush Edale valley. Apart from the panoramic views, the highlight of the section is probably Kinder Downfall, a high and exposed rocky chasm that eats into the hillside. As always, be properly equipped and remember that conditions on the tops can be very different from those in the valley below.

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