Popularity and participation

According to an ICM research survey in February 2000, 77% of UK adults say they walk for pleasure at least once a month and 62% say that walking is their main form of exercise.  62% was also the percentage of those who said they walked more than two miles when they walk for pleasure.

This compares with figures from The General Household Survey for 1996 (HMSO, 1997) which showed that "44.5% of all adults ...... had gone for a walk of two or more miles in the previous four weeks."

(For the purposes of the survey, 'walking' is defined as walking for its own sake.) The figure of 44.5% compares with 41% in 1993 and 38% in 1987. No other activity was mentioned by more than 15% of respondents, and in fact only swimming, cue sports (snooker/pool/billiards), keep fit/yoga and cycling attracted more than 1 in 10 adults in a 4-week period on average during the year.

Walking remains the most popular physical activity that is carried out for leisure over the four surveys conducted in the last 20 years, and walking has consistently scored more than double the second-ranked pastime (indoor swimming in the last three surveys). The pattern of participation has remained fairly constant over the years. Walking appears to be popular with all age groups and with both sexes, unlike other activities where the popularity rate declines with ascending age groups, or the sport/activity is predominantly favoured by one sex. The median age of adult participants who regularly walk two or more miles is 43.

The popularity of walking is inevitably reflected in the impressive growth in membership of the Ramblers' Association. In 1935, when the association was founded, there were approximately 1,200 members. By 1980 it stood at 35,700, 1997 it had soared to 120,000 and currently it stands at just over 130,000.

Fitness and health

Regular walking assists in the control of weight, tones up the body's muscles, and helps avert aching joints and potential bone problems such as osteoporosis (it can reduce the risk of hip fractures by half). All-round stamina is improved, and you will get fit and stay fit by walking on a regular basis - three or four times a week if possible. Indeed, doctors have found that people are more likely to continue walking than they are to go on with other forms of exercise, since walking is enjoyable in itself and requires the minimum of special clothes or equipment.

It also follows that a pleasurable outdoor exercise such as walking, especially in relaxing and enjoyable surroundings such as the countryside, is good for the mind as well as the body! Stress and anxiety can be reduced, and it is true that the fitter you get the more alert you feel.

It is widely recognised that regular, brisk walking reduces blood pressure and then keeps it down; it encourages the production of HDL cholesterol in the blood (HDL or high density lipoprotein is the 'good' protective cholesterol) while at the same time lowering the level of 'bad' LDL cholesterol (LDL is the fat in the blood linked with heart disease).

Walking is very low-risk and allows the heart muscles to grow stronger, while at the same time lowering your resting pulse. A recent study found that men who regularly walk fast have less than half the rate of coronary heart disease and heart attacks than others. It has been found, for instance, that a brisk walk a few hours before eating hastens the clearance of dietary fat from the blood, so potentially helping in the prevention of coronary disease. (Source: The British Heart Foundation: Put Your Heart Into Walking, 1990.)

Children should be encouraged to take up walking as much as adults, since obesity is a problem for growing numbers of young people. Recent research by Professor Neil Armstrong of Exeter University has found that more than 40% of 11 to 16 year olds have levels of blood fat that in adults would signal a risk of coronary heart disease, and nearly half took less exercise in a three-day period than the equivalent of a 10-minute walk. In addition, Britain's schools allot hardly more than half as much time to physical education as do schools in many other European countries, and a survey by the Institute for Policy Studies shows that children's opportunities for exercise and play outside the home fell sharply between 1971 and 1990.

Walking in the countryside

In 1996 there were 856 million "leisure day visits from home" that specifically involved walking or rambling; and, compared to the 1992 survey, walking/rambling has leapt from eighth to third position in popularity. The Countryside Recreation Network (Network News Vol 2, No 1, Feb 1994) also revealed that - in the context of general day visits - walking and rambling remains by far the most popular activity in the "wider countryside" (36%), in forests and woodland (73%), canals and rivers (30%) and at the seaside/coast (25%). The average sum spent per visit (for all activities) was found to be £9.10, and so assuming that walkers spend the same it can be concluded that they contributed an impressive total of £7,789 million in the year surveyed.

The value and significance of walkers' spending in the rural community has also been borne out by other studies. The Countryside Commission's Pennine Way Survey 1990: Use and Economic Impact, estimated that over 12,000 long-distance walkers and over 250,000 day ramblers use the Pennine Way National Trail every year, and between them they directly spend about £2 million along the route's 250 miles, which helps create or support 156 jobs.

A more recent survey of South West Coast Path users found that the trail was bringing in almost £16 million a year for the communities it passed through, with visitors spending an average of £5.37 a day on or around the path, plus £13.91 on accommodation. Over 1 million visits are made to the coast path each year, and 44% of holidaymakers said that the existence of the national trail was a factor in choosing to visit the area. (Source: User Survey Report, South West Coast Path Project, 1994.) A survey of the Peddars Way/Norfolk Coast Path National Trail found a more modest, but still impressive, 91,668 user days were spent on the trail (87% with trips of a day or less), spending an average of around £16 a day. Of short-distance users, 67% used private transport to reach the trail, with only 2% using public transport; this latter figure rose to around a quarter with longer distance users (‘Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast Path National Trail User Survey Summary of Results', 1996)

The Countryside Council for Wales undertook a similar survey of the Offa's Dyke Path, and found that 120,000 people walk on this handsome national trail each year. Of these, 98,500 were just out for the day, and the trail was especially popular with local people (as much as 30% of the short distance walkers). Total spending by Offa's Dyke Path walkers was over £2 million a year.

Meanwhile, in Scotland, walkers and mountaineers generated an estimated £327 million for the rural economy in 1989. In the same year, sheep farming in Scotland contributed only £202 million. (Source: State of the Scottish Environment 1991 by TCD Dargie and DJ Briggs.) Another survey (for Scottish Natural Heritage in 1994) found that 50,000 people enjoyed a walk along some or all of the West Highland Way over the course of one year, generating as much as £3.5 million and supporting more than 120 full-time jobs in the local economy.

Most recently, a detailed survey found that between 1995-96 about 767,000 people from Great Britain climbed or walked in the high hills (ie over 2,500 feet) of the Scottish Highlands and Islands, spending a total of £164 million at a rate of £19-£23 a day, and supporting an estimated 6,100 jobs in the region. Interestingly, those involved in sport shooting across the whole of Scotland spend about £35 million, salmon fishing brings in around £33 million, and ski-iers on Cairngorm spend about £14 million. (Source: The Economic Impact of Hill Walking, Mountaineering and Associated Activities in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland by Watson and Jones, Highlands and Islands Enterprise Board, 1996.)

Equipment sales

	1980	1985	1990	1992
Clothing	£7m	£15m	£25m	£27m
Footwear	£15m	£24m	£30m	£32m
Equipment	£3m	£6m	£7m	£8m

Owing to the nature of the British weather walking clothing consists mainly of waterproofs. There appears to be a growing market for multi-purpose, lightweight waterproof and windproof clothing. The branded sector is worth £25 million. Meanwhile the market for branded walking boots is estimated to be worth 350,000 pairs in 1990, valued in excess of £19 million. (Source: Jordans: Sporting Goods Industry into the 1990s (1991))

A more recent survey (1995) puts the manufacturing/import turnover of UK outdoor manufacturers and retailers specialising in walking/climbing/camping at an estimated £465 million. (Source: Camping and Outdoor Leisure Market Report, Camping & Outdoor Leisure Association, 1995.) Further details from the Camping & Outdoor Leisure Association, Morritt House, 58 Station Approach, South Ruislip, Middx HA4 6SA.

Path problems

In 1996 the Countryside Agency published the Second National Rights of Way Survey (its findings from 1993/94). Amongst other things it found that, of the 170,000km of public paths in England:

• 26% of footpaths leaving metalled roads were not signposted nor easy to locate (highway authorities are required by law to signpost every right of way where it leaves a road)
• 38% of paths were not easy to follow
• 26% of paths were obstructed and not 'satisfactory to use'

The figures mean that there is a 1-in-10 chance of finding all the paths satisfactory in a 2-mile walk in England (in 1988 it was as poor as 1-in-25).

The Countryside Council for Wales is to produce separate figures for Wales, but in the last survey (1988) it was found that there was an incredible 85% chance of not being able to complete a 2-mile walk on public paths in Wales because of obstructions and other difficulties.