Ramblers in this country may harbour a reputation as a certain kind of staid Brit: lovers of the countryside’s tumbling hills and soft peaks, rhapsodic about the bucolic. This makes it easy to forget their radical history.
It was in April 1932 that Benny Rothman, a member of Manchester’s Young Communist League, stormed to the plateau of Kinder Scout in the Peak District and scrapped with its gamekeepers. Rothman and his ramblers committed this mass trespass to highlight the absence of the right to roam. Their march opened the way for the establishment of national parks and ensured that British grass, soil and rock became fodder for everyone’s feet, not just the landed.
Eighty-four years on, some peaks are too popular. Sir Chris Bonington, one of Britain’s finest mountaineers, is warning that funds are needed to repair many routes. On well-trodden paths, grass becomes mud and erosion produces wide gashes. In parts of the Lake District, winter flooding on its own caused a year’s worth of damage.
Funding cuts to park budgets mean that Sir Chris and the British Mountaineering Council are launching a campaign to crowdfund £100,000 for urgent maintenance to strengthen eight key mountain paths. Their cause is good, and they deserve plentiful support, not only from committed ramblers but also from those who hike only occasionally, perhaps on a bank holiday weekend.
But they must not become po-faced. Yes, erosion damages the natural environment. Sure, walkers should do more to repair damage themselves. Certainly, the British Mountaineering Council should seek funds far and wide. But make no mistake: that these repairs are needed is a success story. It is the fulfilment of Benny Rothman’s vision, radical then but quaint now: that the great British countryside be used by all of us.