Walking Back to Happiness
Ramblings
BBC
4.5 • 768 Ratings
🗓️ 8 January 2026
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Clare joins Glenn Meyer in Surrey’s Happy Valley for a walk that celebrates resilience and recovery. During lockdown, Glenn suffered a serious spinal injury after a simple movement on a sun lounger. Over time he lost the ability to walk and became reliant on a wheelchair. Three major operations at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital rebuilt his spine with an internal frame anchored by bolts into his hips. Against the odds, Glenn can now stand and walk and is in training for a 3 day, 37 mile hike from his home in Caterham to the hospital in Stanmore that helped him get back on his feet.
Today’s training walk with Clare is a scenic circuit of around 5 miles, starting at The Fox pub on Coulsdon Common. Glenn and his wife, Hilary, lead Clare into Happy Valley, skirt the Surrey National Golf Course, and pause at Chaldon Church, famed for its medieval mural. The walk continues across Farthing Downs before looping back to Coulsdon Common.
Presenter: Clare Balding Producer: Karen Gregor
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast, The Traitors Uncloaked. |
| 0:12.7 | But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's Saturday bonus episodes, |
| 0:18.2 | The Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Rylan, and comedy specials |
| 0:22.2 | from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffle and Rommashranganathan. However, and maybe I'm biased, |
| 0:27.9 | it's really all about the traitors uncoaked. So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and podcasts, |
| 0:33.4 | listen only on BBC Sounds. The weather forecast was for pouring rain. |
| 0:39.2 | Luckily, it's wrong. |
| 0:41.2 | And although there's quite a strong breeze, |
| 0:42.8 | the sky above is bright blue. |
| 0:45.8 | Contrails from the aeroplanes crossing over from Gatwick Airport, |
| 0:50.0 | which isn't far away, marking out these bright lines. |
| 0:54.8 | And you may hear the rhythmical thud of poles, |
| 0:58.3 | and that is because Glenn Mayer, who I'm walking with today, |
| 1:01.4 | it's not so much the weather that is what you're thankful for. |
| 1:05.5 | It's the fact that you can walk, Glenn. |
| 1:07.7 | Absolutely right, Claire. |
| 1:09.0 | It's great to be getting out and exercising really and |
| 1:13.9 | building back my stamina because having been stuck in a wheelchair for a while, when I got my back |
| 1:21.2 | fixed, I was so grateful to the hospital, the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, that we have decided to walk from home in catering to Stanmore, which is a journey of 37 miles, which we're going to do over three days. |
| 1:40.4 | In order to do that, I've got to get fit. |
| 1:42.9 | So you are taking me on one of your training walks. |
... |
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