PLEASE READ THESE IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS
1. It is your responsibility as a group member to follow the leader’s instructions for the benefit of the safety of the group as a whole. If you should leave the walk early, please notify the leader.
2. Keep in single file on all roads. Accidents or incidents during a walk should be reported to the leader at the time when they happen.
3. Dogs. Dogs are allowed on walks unless stated otherwise. However please remember:
• It is the owner's responsibility to ensure dogs are under control at all times; this will often require having the dog on a lead which will apply when on roads, where the dog may scare livestock or disturb sensitive wildlife, where the terrain requires careful footwork, where you cannot rely on your dog’s obedience, wherever the law requires it and when asked to do so by the walk leader. However, if your dog is chased by an animal it is safer to let your dog off the lead.
• That the dog owner is solely responsible for the dog's actions (and any resulting consequences) and that the Ramblers' insurance policy does not cover incidents caused by dogs.
• A walk leader may require your dog to be on a lead throughout the walk. This is indicated by the text “Dogs on leads please” in the walk detail or, “Dogs on short leads please”.
4. Pub stops. Unless stated otherwise, there will not be a pub stop.
IF THERE IS, PLEASE DO NOT EXPECT TO EAT YOUR OWN FOOD IN THE LANDLORD’S PREMISES!
5. Getting to the start of walks. In all cases the text at the beginning of the walk entry, under the bold heading, is the start place of the walk, even if the walk is linear and there is a different, earlier meeting place, typically the end place of the walk. Thus the prefix and figures after the times are the grid reference of that start place of the walk. If there is an earlier meeting place mentioned, that should quote its own time and ideally, its own grid reference. However, the text would usually use the word “Meet”. “Meet” might also be used if, for some reason, one has to park and then “meet” a short distance away, maybe for reasons of safety. If in doubt, check with the walk leader. In the case of linear walks where you turn up at the start place, rather than the meeting place, there is no guarantee that you will get a lift back from the end of the walk where the leader met other walkers. The leader is not expected, say, to lay on an extra car. However, the leader will tell you whether there is likely to be a spare seat, depending on the number of cars needed to ferry the other walkers to the start and hence the number of cars needed to take the drivers of those cars back to the start place at the end of the walk.
6. Inclement weather. It is the responsibility of walkers to contact the leader if they feel there is a doubt that the walk will take place. Typically, this would be in the event of very bad weather conditions. For example, heavy rain should not prevent a rendezvous, whereas ice, snow, flood or, the other extreme, scorching heat, would do so. Flooding might prevent access both to the start point and the route! Leaders are not expected to take risks getting to the start point in such weather.
7. Drivers. THINK GREEN, USE THE CAR-SHARE SCHEME. Anyone wanting a lift to the start of a walk, is expected to pay 5p per mile towards the driver’s expenses.
8. Schemes. Set out below are schemes offered by Oxford, Cherwell and Vale Groups.
Oxford: If you want a lift, please contact the walk leader. Meeting places at park-and-ride car parks are shown as follows: RB = Redbridge PT= Pear Tree TH = Thornhill SC= Seacourt
Banbury & North Oxfordshire:
CHF = Cinema Horse Fair, Banbury, for car-sharing. This also applies to Wednesday walks arranged by this group. If CHF is not shown, contact the walk leader.
Vale:
PC = Phone (for Car-sharing) to offer or request a lift. If PC is stated but no number given, phone the walk leader.
UYP = The USE YOUR PATHS CHALLENGE was the RA’s initiative for walking all public rights of way in the 21 months from Spring 2006. Some groups took on this Challenge by asking leaders to walk all the paths in their area using Parishes as their defining unit. Any walks in the programme marked UYP were part of this initiative and may not have been recce’d; they may have involved a certain amount of back tracking or repetition and the mileage would have been approximate. This was an exciting initiative, which is is hoped will be repeated every few years, a real chance to see that all public paths are accessible.
9. Public Transport. Where bus and train times are given, it is essential to check these with the most up-to-date timetables before coming on the walk.
10. Bus friendly? Some walks will be annotated “Bus friendly”. This is just a broad indication that there are buses which pass within a few hundred metres of the start place. The leader is not expected to give bus times , which may change anyway, or to time the start of the walk depending on the bus timetable. It will be up to you to check if the bus timetable is convenient. Just because a walk is not annotated “Bus friendly”, does not mean that it is not, only that the leader has not checked into public transport for the walk.
11. Grading.
• Easy Access: Walks for everyone, including people with conventional wheelchairs and pushchairs, using easy access paths. Comfortable shoes or trainers can be worn. Assistance may be needed to push wheelchairs on some sections: please enquire.
• Easy: Walks for anyone who does not have a mobility difficulty or a specific health problem or is seriously unfit. Suitable for pushchairs if they can be lifted over occasional obstructions. Comfortable shoes or trainers can be worn.
• Leisurely: Walks for reasonably fit people with at least a little country walking experience. May include un-surfaced rural paths. Walking boots and warm, waterproof clothing are recommended.
• Moderate: Walks for people with country walking experience and a good level of fitness. May include some steep paths and open country. Walking boots and warm, waterproof clothing are essential.
• Strenuous: Walks for experienced country walkers with an above average fitness level. May include hills and rough country. Walking boots and warm, waterproof clothing are essential. People in doubt about their fitness are advised to contact the organiser or leader in advance.
• Technical: Walks for experienced and very fit walkers with additional technical skills. May require scrambling and use of ropes, ice axes and crampons. You must contact the organiser or leader in advance for further details.
Important: Grades are provided as a general guide only: if you have any doubt about your fitness for a particular walk please contact the organiser or leader in advance.
You should also bear in mind the distance of the walk, regional differences in terrain and the possibility of bad weather, which can make a walk more difficult than planned. If you're unsure of your fitness level, try a short and easy walk first: it's much better to find a walk a little too slow and easy than to make yourself miserable and exhausted. Leaders may refuse to accept participants who in their opinion are inadequately equipped or unfit.
12. Leaders. However familiar you may be with the route of your walk, please carry a map and compass in any case, particularly for emergency purposes.