RAMBLE ON EPUB ED EB

Sinclair McKay

• Publisher: Fourth Estate
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9780007428656
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: British History

A history of walking over the British countryside.

Published to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Ramblers' Association, 'Ramble On' tells the story of how country walks were transformed from a small and often illegal pastime to the most popular recreational activity in the country.

From the brave band of hikers who scaled the off-limits peak Kinder Scout in 1932, via the intricate Lake District guides of Alfred Wainwright, to the resistant landowners (including the notorious Nicholas Van Hoogstraten, Madonna and Jeremy Clarkson) who have done their level best (and worst) to keep walkers off their land – this is the definitive history of rambling.

Perfectly capturing the sense of exhilaration on reaching the summit of a blustery hill-top path, 'Ramble On' is for anyone who has ever pulled on a pair of walking boots or is partial to the taste of Kendal mintcake.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Edale to Kinder Scout: The Peak District and the First Modern Rambling Battle
• Chapter 2 Rannoch to Corrour Shooting Lodge in a Howling storm: An investigation of the Lure of Wilderness, and the Earliest Days of Organised Rambling
• Chapter 3 Dorking to Box Hill: Introducing Jane Austen, and the Subsequent Rise of the Victorian Walking Club
• Chapter 4 A Swift Detour: To Briefly Examine Walkers as Deviants, Outcasts and Fugitives – and as Doomed, Wandering Souls
• Chapter 5 A Day Out Among The Tors and Mires of Dartmoor: The Prototype National Park
• Chapter 6 Seatoller to Haystacks, Underskiddaw to Dodd Point: The Lake District and the Cults of Wordsworth, Wainwright and Withnail
• Chapter 7 Rhossili to Llanrhidian: In the Gower Peninsula to Consider the Surprisingly Long History of Walking Gear – While Wearing Quite Unsuitable Clothes
• Chapter 8 Higham to Cooling: The Hoo Peninsula, North Kent, in Search of Beauty in Ugliness
• Chapter 9 A Brief Detour into the Lures and Attractions of Walking at Night
• Chapter 10 Exploring the Preternatural Forest of Dean and Woodland Legends – While Examining the Beguiling History of Youth Hostels and B & Bs
• Chapter 11 A Quick Detour Through Regenerated Cities and the Art of Urban Rambling
• Chapter 12 In the Steps of Tom Stephenson Along Britain’s Many Ways – and Paying Tribute to Generations of Self-Taught Botanists
• Chapter 13 Wendover to Princes Risborough: Chilterns and the History of Trespass, Via Some Very Private Property
• Chapter 14 Warminster to Battlebury Fort, Salisbury Plain – an Effort to Reach England’s Inland Atlantis
• Chapter 15 A Diversionary Walk on the Weird Side: A Brief Flit from Ley Lines to Stone Circles to Pan
• Chapter 16 Exploring the Lures of Solitude and Dodging The Grey Man of Ben Macdhui
• Chapter 17 A Day Out in Brontë Country – What Happens When Much-Treasured Walking Landscapes Become Theme Parks
• Chapter 18 Recent Furious Countryside Battles: The Patches of Forbidden Land that Remain and an Unsuccessful Attempt on the River Path at Windsor
• Chapter 19 From Chilham to Canterbury along the North Downs Way: The Future of Walking and of the Countryside Rolled into one Ancient Pilgrimage
• Endnotes
• Further Reading
• Acknowledgements
• Other Books by Sinclair McKay
• About the Publisher