Ramblers Association adds its support

Following the launch of MyFavouritePubWalks.com on 29 March 2007, feedback has been very positive and the word is spreading. It's great to see that the Ramblers Association has added its support to the Quest for the Nation's Favourite Pub Walk by sponsoring some prizes. They are donating 10 copies of "The Walker's Companion", a light-hearted compendium of "facts, stats, quotes and notes of the greatest of British pastimes - walking". ). Keep a look out too for a mention of the quest in their magazine “Walk” which is distributed to their 140,000 members.

The Pub Walker
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MyFavouritePubWalks.com is Launched!

Well, in a few minutes MyFavouritePubWalks.com is officially launched and the Quest for the Nation's Favourite Pub Walk begins! The preparation has been a lot of hard work but a lot of fun too and now the excitement begins as we see all the entries stream in.

So why not join in the Quest for the The Nation's Favourite Pub Walk - propose a walk for the title, download as many of the pub walks as you like and then cast your votes and support our community pubs.

For more information visit MyFavouritePubWalks.com/competition.

The Pub Walker
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How to Save Your Community Pub

I saw yet another article today about a community pub being demolished for redevelopment as a 65-bed care home. The locals have gathered a 500 signature petition to try to preserve the pub and a planning decision regarding the change of use is imminent. Whether it is too late for this pub who knows but at least the community are fighting for its survival.

For anyone wanting to start a campaign to save their local pub, I recommend getting the action pack available from the Community Pubs Foundation website. The foundation also offers advice and small grants to local groups trying to save their pub so anyone in that position should visit their site.

The Pub Walker
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The Publican Awards - Winners

The winners of The Publican Awards have been announced and include the following two:

Pub Food Pub of the Year - The Fox, North Waltham, Hampshire
Family Pub of the Year - The Rose & Crown, Snettisham, King's Lynn

Hampshire is my home ground so I shall certainly be looking up The Fox to see if there is a good walk from there, so it could be featuring on MyFavouritePubWalks.com soon!

If you would like to see the full list then visit The Publican.

The Pub Walker
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The first day of Spring

It's official. Spring arrived yesterday with the Spring Equinox when the sun rises exactly in the east and sets exactly in the west and takes exactly 12 hours to do it. Not a very inspiring definition is it?

For most of us, Spring is heralded by new sights and sounds of nature, whether its the first cuckoo, the first swallow, butterflies, frogspawn, bluebells or whatever. For an interesting view of how nature's seasonal cycles are being viewed by ordinary people, take a look at naturescalendar.org.uk website.
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Hop to it! The hunt is on ...

I was trying to come up with something really special to celebrate the launch of MyFavouritePubWalks.com on 29 March 2007. And I’ve got it - the first-ever quest to find The Nation's Favourite Pub Walk!

With prizes for contributors, publicans and voters this competition has something for everyone. So if you have a favourite, now is the time to put it on the map and share it with the rest of us.

And what is really exciting is that all entries will be made on-line so that everyone can freely download as many pub walks as they like and then try them out before casting their votes. At the same time they will be helping to create a national on-line database of pub walks that can be continually updated for everyone’s ongoing enjoyment.

Entries for the title of “The Nation’s Favourite Pub Walk” have to be submitted by 30 June 2007 and the walks can be given a star rating by voters any time after they are loaded until voting closes on 31 July 2007. There will also be regional and special category winners.

Registering as a voter, proposer of a pub walk or as a participating pub is free and further details may be obtained by visiting www.myfavouritepubwalks.com/competition.

The Pub Walker
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Talking Bull

Is it me? I just get so annoyed by getting ¾ the way around a circular walk only to be faced with a stile and the ominous sign “Bull in field”. What does this mean? Bull in field is harmless? Bull in field so continue at your own peril? Or bull in field but hey, don’t worry, if it attacks you can always sue? Only the farmer knows and he is certainly not letting on.

Two recent walks were frustrated in this way. One required us to travel 3 sides of a very large square and the other had no viable alternative within our allotted time despite our being so close to our destined refreshments that the gastric juices were already flowing! On both occasions the same pre-printed laminated sign was used and it would have been easy to have included some additional information to indicate how the sign should be interpreted.

Maybe the farmer was just happy for us to be thwarted in our efforts to use the public footpaths across his land. Or maybe we should simply be made of sterner stuff. Somehow childhood memories of being chased by stampeding bullocks seem to linger on …

If you are unsure how to react when you encounter cattle or a bull in a field then the Ramblers give some good pointers in the “Cattle in fields with public access” section of their “Animals and Rights of Way”.

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Tranquility Maps

At a car boot sale on Sunday I came across a stall being run by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). The lady behind the table was enthusiastically proclaiming that they were about much more than protecting rural areas and this prompted me to check out their website.

Here I discovered their fascinating collection of "tranquility maps" which show the "likelihood that someone will experience tranquility in any locality". A nationwide survey to find what tranquility actually meant to people produced a top 10 list of what it is (e.g. seeing natural landscape and the stars at night, hearing natural sounds and running water) and also a top 10 list of what it most definitely is not (e.g. seeing urban development and light pollution, hearing constant noise of traffic and people).

I think it's facinating to take a look at these, starting with the national level map and then drilling down to county level ones. In some respects their results are not surprising but are graphically showing something that has never been presented this way on this scale before. CPRE wil use this to help protect tranquility and measure threats to it in the future. Something we would all support I am sure.

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Why Community Pubs Need Pub Walks

56 pubs are closing permanently in Britain every month, according to the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) with another 1300 currently under threat. These are shocking statistics given that so many of these are at the centre of a community that then loses something irreplaceable. This means pubs need to use every trick in the book to get thirsty and hungry punters beating a path to their door.

So why then do so few of them use pub walks to promote their business? It's not like they all have to be country pubs to have an enjoyable pub walk - most towns and cities have green spaces or a river or heritage trails or other themed walks - so they all share this opportunity to gain new customers.

It may be an ambitious hope, but I would like my website and this blog to help us all to stay alert to community pubs under threat and then encourage us all to support them by sharing our favourite walks centred on these pubs.

In the end their survival will depend upon how successfully they serve both their immediate communities and their visitors but at least we can help those visiting walkers find and enjoy some real gems.
See update...

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New Forest Walk

A favourite walking area of ours is the New Forest - one of those wonderful wilderness areas where by stepping away from the main tourist spots you can venture for miles without seeing another soul. Forever in your company of course are the New Forest ponies, donkeys and occasionally pigs that the commoners graze here and allow free to roam in this unique landscape.

With ready access from the M27 or via rail to Beaulieu Road Station, I have chosen an easy 90 minute pub walk from the popular Beaulieu Road Inn to kick off the MyFavouritePubWalks.com website ahead of its launch on 29 March. If you give it a try, please add your comments to let us all know what you thought.

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Another Countryside Crisis?

Me? I’m a morning person, up with the lark. Despite my head forever telling me otherwise, I can’t quite shake off the romantic notion that farming is a way of life to be (almost) envied. So, I’m up by 5:45am each morning to get my daily fix of “Farming Today” on Radio 4.

Despite what some may expect, it’s not all gripes and bird ‘flu. They get their share of airtime for sure but I listen for those unexpected nuggets that can otherwise go unnoticed but which have an impact on the countryside we all enjoy when we are out on our pub walks.

Take this morning’s program, for example. Apparently sheep shearing could be approaching a crisis. With a global shortage of shearers and 20 million sheep to shear between May and July, we rely on skilled contract shearers coming over from Australia and New Zealand to help. Problem is, a tightening of PAYE regulations means that many may not come this year, leading to concerns of sheep dying from being “eaten alive” out in the fields by blow fly maggots that have hatched from eggs laid in their unshorn fleeces. Not nice.

Highly skilled workers but not especially highly paid … and not a drain on our benefits system either given they stay for just the season. So, if the fears are well-founded, this must surely be bureaucracy at its worst. Let’s hope it’s just the sheep farmers crying wolf!

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My Favourite Pub Walks .com ... ready for launch!

We’ve all seen the numerous sites dedicated to walking enthusiasts, or to pub lovers, or to seekers of good food or real ale. Let’s be honest, there is a bewildering array to choose from. However I was looking for something a bit different – a site that combines all these elements and reaches out to the tens of thousands of pub walkers among us.

Guess what, I could not find one! So myfavouritepubwalks.com was born - somewhere for us all to publish our own favourite pub walks and download each other's favourites and comment on our experiences... and have a profit share based on the popularity of our own walks. Formal launch date is 29 March 2007 when all the pub walks submitted to date will appear overnight

I hope you’ll excuse me starting this blog by pointing you to my new site but if you are reading this then I guess you are interested in pub walks. The site is meant for you and needs your input as it develops so please feel free to speak your mind.

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