Summary
Clare Balding meets those who have found love and companionship through walking when she joins a group to walk a section of the Greensand Way in Surrey.
She speaks to Liz and James who explain how walking side-by-side took the awkwardness out of their first meeting. Liz said she knew James liked her when he started flirting like a teenager over lunch, even though she was wearing her Mum's over-sized waterproof at the time.
Margaret explains how walking transformed her retirement and led to a wider range of social activities. She adds, "London can be very lonely when you live on your own".
Clare hears how walk-leader Roger met his wife Sue thirty years ago on a walk, and that this history can provide a map of a relationship both literally and metaphorically. Although they walk at a different pace, Sue's keen to point out that Roger never forgets she's on the walk.
Producer: Toby Field.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | 11 climbers appeared to have died on the world's second highest mountain K2. |
| 0:06.4 | It was one of the deadliest days in mountaineering history. |
| 0:09.9 | Rock falls, avalanches. |
| 0:11.6 | Huge pieces of ice. |
| 0:12.9 | All are big enough to kill you. |
| 0:14.3 | He just flew out into Devoid, and he was gone. |
| 0:17.3 | How did it all go so wrong? |
| 0:19.2 | And is it really worth risking death to feel alive? Why would somebody |
| 0:23.5 | pay to go to a place called the death zone on vacation? Extreme, peak danger. With me, |
| 0:29.9 | Natalia Melman Petrazella. Listen to the full series now, first on BBC Sounds. This is a BBC Radio |
| 0:36.4 | for download. |
| 0:38.3 | You're listening to me. |
| 0:40.9 | Claire Balding with another edition of Ramblings. |
| 0:57.7 | I've been doing ramblings now for, gosh, 14 years. |
| 1:04.5 | And over that time, we have walked for the benefit of mental health, physical health. |
| 1:05.6 | We've walked for friendship. |
| 1:07.4 | We've walked for great views. |
| 1:09.3 | We've done long-distance walks. |
| 1:14.8 | But this is the first time that we've walked in search of love. |
| 1:20.6 | Because thinking about it, walking together is a very good way of working out whether or not you like somebody, |
| 1:22.8 | whether you want to spend the rest of your life with them. |
| 1:25.9 | And I'm waiting at Whitley Station for a train to come in. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.