Guidance for walk leaders: Introduction

Group walks are at the heart of the BWs’ activities, and we firmly believe that walk leading is something that anyone in the group should be able to do with a bit of guidance, rather than the preserve of a select few. It’s a great way to give something back to the group, boost your confidence, and spread the load of maintaining an exciting and varied programme.

Most of this guidance is not a list of “you must or must not do this or that”, but rather intended to help you ensure that your planned walk goes smoothly without any problems

We can’t possibly cover everything in a document like this, but there are further resources available on the Ramblers website, and feel free to ask the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., other committee members or regular leaders for further advice. We aim to run both sit-down sessions to talk about walk leading and plan potential walks, as well as more practical walk leader training sessions from time to time, to complement this guidance; you could also ask to shadow or work alongside a more experienced leader first before leading on your own. However useful we hope these will be, it’s absolutely not a requirement to wait for and undertake such training before leading your first walk.

If you feel anything is missing here, or are keen to get some training that isn’t currently advertised, please let the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. know.

Registering as a walk leader

Before submitting your first walk, you need to register your details as a walk leader, read the Ramblers Walk Leader Handbook, and complete two Ramblers e-learning modules: “Walk Leadership Foundations” and “Preventing and Managing Incidents”. These take about one hour each, and are mandatory for all new leaders since 15th May 2024 (existing leaders are not required to complete these, but may wish to do so anyway).