PRESS RELEASE FROM RAMBLERS

FOOTLINE PRESS

PRESS RELEASE

RAMBLING AWAY FROM ‘THE SMOKE’

This new book from recently established Footline Press tells the fascinating story of a 20th century phenomenon: the great ramblers’ excursions that started in 1932, taking hundreds of Londoners out of ‘The Smoke’ every Sunday to walk in the lovely surrounding countryside.  Here they could forget their work and troubles in good company, with stops at a country inn for lunch and a tea-room for a cream tea, then back to the station for a quick pint at an adjacent pub before scrambling back onto the train, tired but elated.

 

With a foreword by Ramblers campaigner Kate Ashbrook, the book charts their dramatic rise and fall and tells how the pre-war pioneers provided imaginative days out, sometimes with all-night walks, midnight fireworks or tea-dances, even a trip to France for a walk along the cliffs before a mad dash back to the ferry.  Then war intervened and things were never quite the same afterwards.  The spark had gone, but the excursions kept going.  Then, from about the end of the 1960s, they were hit by a multitude of successive whammies and gradually fizzled out, coming to a complete halt at the end of 2004.

 

The story is brought to life with reminiscences from those who were closely involved, including organisers, leaders and ramblers.

 

Author Colin Saunders started his walking ‘career’ on these excursions in 1967.  He became a leader and went on to make a tenuous living out of walking by organising holidays and events, managing London’s Capital Ring trail and eventually writing guides to the Capital Ring, London Loop, North Downs Way and Vanguard Way.

 

The standard price is £8.00, but a special price of £6.00 (plus £2.00 P&P) is offered to members of The Ramblers and Long Distance Walkers Association until the end of 2014.  All profits (with a guaranteed minimum £1 for each book sold) go the Ramblers.

 

Copies can be obtained from Footline Press Limited, 35 Gerrards Close, Oakwood, London, N14 4RH, phone 020 8886 8285.