IN February 13 walks from 4.5 to 11 miles were arranged. Venues were widely scattered across Wiltshire and western Hampshire.

In spite of occasionally inclement weather the walks have been well supported. Even on a snowy day in the New Forest 10 intrepid souls turned up.

Particularly encouraging has been the increasing numbers attending the longer weekend walks.

Leaders put a considerable amount of thought into designing a walk.

Equipped with a thorough knowledge of the area and adept at reading maps they know which areas should be avoided during the winter months when conditions underfoot are likely to be wet and conversely at the height of summer they design walks and choose picnic sites where there is likely to be shade.

However, leaders cannot control the weather and with walking programmes and routes being arranged months in advance they are sometimes caught out by downpours on the one hand and Sahara-like conditions on the other. Leaders are also encouraged to describe any features of interest that are likely to be seen during the walk.

The Heavy and Light Gangs have again been active over the last month, the former installing six new kissing gates to replace old stiles and the latter clearing 600 metres of undergrowth to clear stiles and paths.

Due to their schedule the weekend walkers prefer a packed lunch but one of the attractive features at the end of each mid-week walk is a pub lunch.

The danger is, of course, that you will put on more calories in the pub than you lose during the walk.

Have a look at our upcoming programme at ramblers.org.uk/south-wiltshire or ring the membership secretary on 01722 341786.