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From overwhelmed to overjoyed: The mental health benefits of walking

Mental health is a demon that can affect anyone at any time. In a world that increasingly values resilience and productivity, acknowledging these struggles can sometimes feel like admitting weakness. Although mental health may be a demon that shouldn’t exist, it’s one that can be faced and conquered together.

In my case, mental health has been a struggle of mine for the last couple of years or so. On some days, it’s like I’m walking through thick fog and unsure of where to go, but other days feels like I’m fighting a battle that only I can see. It’s hard to admit when you’re not OK, especially in a world where we’re often expected to show only our best moments, but life isn’t always about these. Behind the smiles and the jokes, there are times when I feel a bit lost, overwhelmed, or just plain sad.

Like with many people who’ve shared their mental health struggles, I’ve recently shared my own struggles as I know how isolating they can feel at times. I’m working on taking things one step at a time, including reaching out for support through my work, finding moments of joy in small things, and being kinder to myself. It’s not easy, and I know I don’t have all the answers, but I’m trying, and that counts for something.

One thing that I find a lot of joy in is being a part of Berkshire Walkers, who have massively helped my mental health. Doing regular physical activity has helped me to prevent my mental health problems from getting worse, and there’s a lot of scientific evidence that walking can improve mental health in many ways. Some of these include:

  • Reducing stress and anxiety – Walking regularly helps to reduce stress and anxiety.
  • Improving your mood – Even a short walk helps to increase mental alertness, energy, and positive mood. 
  • Increasing self-esteem – Regular physical activity helps to increase self-esteem.
  • Improving quality of life – Regular physical activity improves the quality of life of people experiencing mental health problems.
  • Releasing endorphins – Walking releases endorphins, which contributes to the feeling of well-being and happiness.
  • Therapeutic – Walking in nature can be therapeutic, which is linked to the extra light and the experience itself.

If this blog has resonated with you, I hope it serves as a reminder that it’s OK not to be OK. It’s absolutely OK to ask for help as well as prioritising your well-being. If you ever need help, don’t be afraid to contact a mental health charity, such as Samaritans.

Please donate to the 2024 BW Walking Awards!

As most of you know, each December at the BW Christmas meal we like to have a bit of a competition, celebrating the highlights of the last year, and thanking the volunteers who have made it all happen.

We’re very excited to be planning the next BW Walking Awards (no Tom you can’t call them The Walkies) but we need your help! Buying these prizes requires money, so if you can, we’d really appreciate any donations to buying these prizes and thanking the hard working volunteers who will win these awards.

Previous awards include “Walk Leader of the Year”, “Trip of the Year” and “Volunteer of the Year”. Last year we gave the winners BW branded travel mugs, the year before, customised glass tankards, and the year before that, colourful BW mugs (see photos below).

2021
2022
2023

Typically, we spend around £10 on each prize: our goal is to raise at least £40, so we can award prizes for the main awards.

We’ll be setting up this years’ voting form soon, so keep an eye out for further announcements!

A New Walk Submission Process

In an effort to streamline our walk management process, we’re retiring our current Google Forms-based walk submission system, and moving over to using the central Ramblers Walks Manager system to submit walks. (See below for more detail on the reasons for this.)

What’s changing for walk leaders

This involves a number of behind-the-scenes changes, but for walk leaders this means that our “Submit a Walk” Google form is no more. Walks should now be submitted through the Ramblers Walks Manager, and we have a detailed page explaining the process, though hopefully you’ll quickly become used to it.

Two particular highlights from using a system that was specifically designed for the purpose, rather than generic Google Forms, are:

  • you can directly pinpoint the exact starting location via a map interface rather than specifying coordinates – please make sure you indicate e.g. the correct side of a railway station with multiple exits;
  • you can upload photos directly when you submit your walk, rather than having to email them separately afterwards – if you have any photos from the route, they really brighten up a walk listing.

Why are we changing?

Our current walk submission system was introduced in 2021, as part of an effort (largely by Shannon) to automate the manual effort that was involved in creating the sign-up forms that were required for each walk during the time of Covid restrictions – when all walks had to be limited and we were required to collect details in case contact tracing was required.

That system served us very well, but thankfully times have changed! Although a few walks still have limited numbers at the walk leader’s request, this is now handled through Meetup and everything related to running our own sign-up forms was decommissioned some time ago.

The other big change has been the introduction of the Ramblers Walks Manager, which provides a modern interface for submitting and editing walks at a national level, and directly provides the walk listings on the Ramblers website.

While our current system still works well in partially automating the process of formatting walks for the group website, Ramblers website, and Meetup, we have concluded that we can improve this further if walk leaders submit directly through the Ramblers Walks Manager and we generate the content for our group website and Meetup from there.

As we have a change of Walks Coordinator following the AGM, we’re also doing this now to avoid handing over a process that is more complex than it needs to be.

New Committee 2024/25!

Thank you to everyone who attended the AGM yesterday. Another year has flown by, but we are still being assisted by an amazing set of volunteers 😄

Thank you to Tom for leading a 4.5 mile walk in Reading to start the day’s events and all those members that fulfilled their roles in the last year.

If you weren’t able to attend the meeting, you can still view the minutes here. You can find the agenda, accounts and role descriptions on the AGM event page.

This year, we introduce some new faces to the 2024/25 Committee, as well as some returning volunteers. 🎉

New BW committee for 2024/25

Newly elected committee for 2024/25:

  • Chair: Grant
  • Secretary: Ed
  • Treasurer: Paul
  • Membership Secretary: Chris G
  • Walks Coordinator: Tom H
  • Trips Advisor: Shannon
  • Social Secretary: Michael
  • Publicity & Marketing Officer: Georgia
  • Website Officer: Will
  • Ordinary Members: Andrew & Zak

Walking & Railways: An Introduction to Railwalks

The first time I looked at joining a 20s-30s Ramblers group, I was at university in Liverpool. When I looked into it, if you didn’t have a car, most of the local group’s walks involved booking a space on a minibus well in advance. As an inexperienced and fair weather walker (ed: what’s changed, exactly?) I didn’t want to commit to a long walk in advance of knowing what the weather would be doing. Frankly, I was also a student, and planning ahead to that degree didn’t really work for me in general! 

I graduated, found a job in Reading, and found the Berkshire Walkers. Suddenly, I could just turn up to any walk I wanted. 

A big reason for the difference is Reading’s position as a railway junction, with lots of nearby stations that are close to the countryside. In an hour (or so) by train from Reading we can hit places as diverse as Bath, the Cotswolds, the New Forest and the Surrey Hills – not to mention more local rail destinations like Goring, Pangbourne, Aldermaston or Bramley. We can run a varied walks programme that is highly flexible to new members, especially those without access to a car. It’s also more sociable – easier to have a drink at the end of the walk without worrying about the drive home – and better for the environment! 

For all these reasons, I think walking and railways are a natural mix. I have recently started working with Railwalks, a new project attempting to build a national network of walks from and between railway stations. It has grown out of Slow Ways, itself a project to create a national walking network. So far, the project has collected a series of links to websites offering walks from railway stations in different parts of the country, and volunteers (including me) have started submitting their own routes. I hope this will become an invaluable resource for walk planning, encouraging others to experience the benefits of rail walks for themselves.

How can you help?

  1. Sign up to the Railwalks mailing list.
  2. Spread the word! (by sharing this blog post?) 
  3. (Perhaps most importantly) contribute routes! You need to submit a .gpx file and a brief description. Routes should follow the criteria here and should not duplicate walks that are on Slow Ways, or other sites (e.g. Saturday Walkers Club) – Railwalks offers links to these sites instead. 

August Committee Update

Your dedicated BW Committee Team met again on Monday 12th August online. Most of the discussion revolved around the upcoming AGM, which we will announce later.

Here’s our news from the last month…

  • The Ramblers app, which we used to use to take registers on walks, has finally been re-released with bug fixes, so we’ll be testing that out over the new few weeks.
  • We successfully met the minimum amount for our BW hats order, which should take a couple of weeks to be processed and delivered.
  • Our hardworking chair, Grant, has undertaken safeguarding training, and would like to remind all our volunteers that Ramblers host many training sessions via Eventbrite.
  • A special shout-out to Dave who has been leading a lot of walks lately.
  • We’ve had at least four people talking about potential trips next year, one of which might be abroad.
  • Our next meeting will be on Monday 10th September, which will be a good opportunity for those considering standing for the committee at the AGM to come along to.

Mountain and Hill Walking

Whilst most of our weekly local walks are relatively flat, or have a few small hills, some of our trips away have more challenging hills and even mountains. This blog provides some tips and advice for those of you who may be thinking of attending one of our trips away to areas with more challenging hills / mountains, such as Scotland, Snowdonia or the Lake District.

In the mountains the weather can be very unpredictable and may change quickly with temperatures decreasing as you gain height: typically 6°C per 1000m (see the following link for temperature changes at different elevations in the Lake District). Wind chill can also make it feel a lot colder, e.g. close to freezing, even when it’s warm in the valleys.

The terrain on these walks can be challenging and strenuous: it’s not uncommon to have to walk through rivers, fords, boulder fields, bogs, thick vegetation or hill sides with loose stone (known as scree). There is often no clearly defined path. Climbing up and down mountains also has more impact on muscles and stamina than local BW walks.

When walking in rugged terrain it is even more important that you have a sturdy pair of walking boots to wear. Try and ‘break-in’ these boots before the trip by wearing them a few times on local walks (this will reduce the chance of blisters). Also consider purchasing some walking poles which can keep you stable when climbing and descending.

Because of the unpredictable weather also ensure that you have waterproof trousers, jacket and waterproof cover for your backpack. It’s advisable to wear clothing that will either dry quickly (e.g. synthetics) or will still keep you warm when it’s wet (e.g. wool). Jeans are not suitable. Also pack some additional layers in case the weather changes and include woolly hat and gloves – even in summer! Gaiters are also useful for walking through bogs.

Make sure you bring plenty of energy-rich food on the walks, several litres of water (we suggest 2L), and eat a good-sized breakfast in the morning.

Other things to consider bringing are a backup battery for your mobile phone, a head torch, a whistle (there may be one built into the straps of your rucksack), and a small first aid kit with a foil blanket or survival bag.

For further guidance on purchasing walking equipment see the Ramblers Guidance and there is some further advice on mountain and hill walking here. Remember that as a Ramblers member you get access to various discounts including 15% off at Cotsworld Outdoor.

News from our June Committee Meeting

The Berkshire Walkers committee team met again last night (11th June) to discuss the group’s latest updates. Here’s a brief overview of what we discussed.

  • We began with an impromptu discussion about last month’s Scotland trip, and how exciting and challenging walking in the mountains can be. Everyone was pleased with how well prepared all the trip attendees were.
  • This led into some admin still to do on the trips – where the finances can often get confusing!
  • We discussed next year’s budget: this is our statement of the finances we expect to use over the next Ramblers financial year which starts on 1st October. We found we still have some money available to buy a new group banner, but sadly, we couldn’t convince Grant, our chair, to let us start a committee beer fund.
  • We also might have the money available to run another first aid course this year, so we need anyone interested to let us know please by filling out this form.
  • It’s full steam ahead for myself and Paul’s trip to the New Forest, which is planned for 2nd – 3rd November. Watch out for more details on this soon.
  • Zak, our walks coordindator, shared with us his plans to include whether a walk is “dog-friendly” into our walk descriptions, so that dog owners don’t always have to ask. He’ll be finalising his guidance for this in the coming weeks.
  • Finally, we agreed on dates for our next two meetings. We’ll be holding another “Drinks with the Committee” event on Friday 19th July at Reading Biscuit Factory, and the next standard meeting will be on Monday 12th August, online.

Photos from Group Walks

Hi everyone, there has been some queries regarding submitting photos from the walks for the BW page, so I’m here to help tidy things up 🙂

Please do not publish photos onto any of the BW WhatsApp groups (including the Walk Leader chat). If you wish to submit photos from your own walk to be used on social media, please email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or those with my number, can send me pictures on WhatsApp. 

Please ensure you stick to the limit of no more than 25 photos (I can help narrow these down to 10 photos for social media, or if you can send 10, that would be great). 😄

It also works well if there is any fun details or anecdotes you can give me about the walk, such as how many people and favourite parts; especially for the ones I do not get to attend 😄 if not, the description will be taken based off Meetup and the website details. 

Ideal photos to include:

  1. Group photo: please send with original photos and do not make me chase another member for this picture (this will delay your social post). 
  2. Photos of people/specific activities/ specific landmarks: if you have a café or pub stop, these make great photos 🙂 
  3. Scenic walk scenery: please limit to a few photos (unless there is people walking through the scenery). I do not require 100 pictures of the same tree or field (as much as I do this myself when taking photos) 🤣

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I wish you all happy walking 😄

Georgia
Publicity & Marketing Officer

News from our May Committee Meeting

Your dedicated committee members met again virtually on Tuesday 7th May to discuss some important updates for the group.

The new Ramblers walk leadership guidelines were discussed, as well as suggestions on how we might implement them as a group. If you’d like to hear more about this, Zak, our Walks Coordinator, has written a blog post explaining what these changes will be.

Grant, our Chair, gave us an update on the happenings of this year’s Ramblers General Council, which he attended as part of his additional voluntary role as Berkshire Area Secretary. He also shared with us his latest conversations about technology with Ramblers Head Office, encouraging them to make the Ramblers mobile app functional again to allow us to take registers on walks.

We heard several more proposals for trips later on this year, with one planned by myself and our Treasurer, Paul, for the Autumn in the New Forest, and a novel idea for a pre-Christmas trip by Michael, one of our walk leaders. Look out for more details of these in the coming weeks!

We also reviewed some minor changes to our email newsletter, which is dilligently prepared by our Membership Secretary Tom every week, to make it a little more fun and engaging. Keep and eye on your inbox this week to see the updates!

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 11th June. If you’re interested in attending, drop me an email and I’ll share the link with you.

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