About the interviewees

Initial interviews took place May 2011 to November 2011 when twelve people were interviewed. In the second phase of the study, interviews were carried out between November 2013 to April 2014 with ten of the original sample plus an additional five interviewees. In total seventeen people were interviewed including four males and thirteen females; including five people who walked on their own or with a small number of friends and family; and twelve who were members of the walking group. The

sampling had a range of people who went on different lengths of walk (ranging from 5 to 17 miles), different physical difficulty of walks (according to height ascended and routes), people who habitually walk alone or with one or two close friends and/or family, and people who were members of a walking group. Most interviews were conducted in respondents’ houses. Four interviewees opted to have an interview whilst walking, and two of these opted to have a joint interview whilst walking. All walkers walked habitually in Yorkshire and Northumberland with occasional walks in the Lake District or walking holidays in Europe and further afield.

Those interviewees who were part of a walking group were from a Rambler’s group based in North East. The group has been long established and includes members who have been walking with the group for over 20 years. Members can choose to do a walk ranging in length (5-17 miles) and difficulty as follows:

 Easy Up to 8 miles with little climbing

 Leisurely 8 to10 miles with up to 1000 feet of climbing, slow pace  Moderate 9 to 13 miles with up to 1500 feet of climbing, steady pace  Hard Over 13 miles or over 1500 feet of climbing, brisk pace These categories were used to describe the different types of walkers in the study.

Respondents were categorized into groups (hard/moderate/easy) walkers. This was based on the categorization used by the Ramblers. The groups were chosen because it had been hypothesised that the harder walkers might not be interested in looking at or engaging with the landscape other than in landscape as something to be traversed or overcome, with an emphasis on the physical aspects of landscape. Those who were not

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members of the Ramblers were also assigned to these groups, again to give some indication of the types of walking they did. Those doing harder walks, having to cover many miles, might not have time to stop or think about the landscape and perhaps thought of walking in the countryside as a green gym. Others, who went on easy or moderate walks, might well be expected to have different relations with and

understandings of the landscape, perhaps choosing less demanding walks so there would be time to look at and reflect upon different landscapes. The groupings from the

Ramblers provided a useful framework for separating out those who might go on longer walks with those who might go on shorter walks. However, the findings showed there were few differences between the groups. Nevertheless, it was thought important to retain these groupings (and to attach them to quotations) to show how different

emerging themes and categories rarely related to one group or another (where this does happen, this is highlighted in the text) but instead often cut across the different

groupings. The groupings were retained to show that where one might have expected someone from a particular grouping to react in a certain way, this was often not the case.

Group walks take place twice a week and a coach takes walkers regularly to different areas, alternating between going North one week to the Cheviots and North East coast up to Berwick; West to the North Pennines the next, Upper Weardale and Upper

Teesdale, and Lake District the following week; South to the Yorkshire Dales and North York moors the fourth week. There are also occasional trips into the borders and

Scotland. Not everyone interviewed went on the same types of walk every week, in that some members could choose to go on a hard walk one week, and a leisurely the next. They were categorised by the types of walks they usually did. There can be on average between three and twenty walkers doing a particular walk. Walkers go out walking for the whole day, returning back to the coach between 5-6.30 pm (depending on hours of daylight).

The Rambler’s group is formally constituted with regular committee meetings and an Annual General Meeting where officers are elected. There is a Chair and secretary with regular reports from the Coach leaders, Footpath Secretary, Treasurer, Publicity Officer, Web Officer. Walks’ leaders meet separately twice a year to plan the walks’

programme. The group is part of Northumbria Area Ramblers who also meet regularly with a similar formal constitution. The group meets in a Methodist Church Hall in the

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centre of a city and has been doing so since the club was constituted in the 1930s. It has then its roots in traditional Rambler’s groups and links with non-conformist groups. One of the interviewees spoke warmly about a previous Chair of the Ramblers, who was working class and used to try to recruit everyone who came into his watch repair shop. This was different from the more middle class characteristics of the national Ramblers. Access to land is still important and the group is committed to the aims of the Ramblers i.e.:

“The Ramblers is a charity whose goal is to protect the ability of people to enjoy the sense of freedom and benefits that come from being outdoors on foot. We’re an association of people and groups who come together to both enjoy walking and other outdoor pursuits and also to ensure that we protect and expand the infrastructure and places people go walking.” Benedict Southworth, Ramblers CEO – Mission statement http://www.ramblers.org.uk/what-we-do/

There is a Footpath Secretary for the group who is responsible for alerting local councils about paths being blocked off or footbridges and paths being in poor states of repair.

The walkers interviewed from the Ramblers’ group were all retired except one (two others retired over the course of the study). The Ramblers’ group does have members in their 40s and 50s who are still working but these were not interviewed. This was not deliberate but followed the original intention of having a mixed group of easy and moderate/difficult walkers, rather than focussing on workers/non-workers or age differences. Interviewees had been employed or were still employed in a range of occupations: teaching, social services, shipyard foreman, engineering, libraries, administration, accountancy. There was a mix of mostly middle class and some working class, as far as this can be defined by previous occupation. However, here Bauman’s ideas of the fluidity of identity (Bauman 2004) needs to be borne in mind, especially as being retired presents a whole new fluidity in terms of class.

Groups are sociable, sharing picnic lunches, afternoon “fruit breaks”, and a cup of tea at a café or pint of beer in a pub at the end of the walk. New members have joined the group and old members have left during the time of this project. Nevertheless, there is much shared history and experience of walks with some core members who come out week after week. Many friendships continue outside the walks. Four of the

interviewees were walks’ leaders able to navigate using map, compass and GPS, and very knowledgeable about safety whilst walking. This bears out Edensor’s observation of how walking has become a restrictive practice with monitoring of direction and

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safety (Edensor 2000). It is interesting to note though that some members, who were not leaders, were content to be led and just go for a “nice walk”, without caring about where they were going.

Those who walked on their own or with close friends and family were on average younger and still working. Some had joined a walking group at an earlier stage e.g. as a student. Some went on holidays with a walking group but they had no allegiance to a specific group. Instead they were flexible (“fluid” in Bauman’s sense of the

word(Bauman 2004)), joining a group for a holiday but more usually walking with one of two people. Four of these were used to and liked walking on their own. This was something that was not evident in those interviewed from the Ramblers’ group.