The Ramblers were important in my childhood.
When I was a boy, I lived in rural countryside, but had no "open land" nearby to explore like commons or moors/hills etc.
My parents at the time weren't walkers. Their idea of a holiday was a caravan at the seaside, or Butlins.
Aged 12, a friend and myself decided we wanted to be "walkers" , and he found out that the local Ramblers Association group met fortnightly in the city 15 miles away, to go for walks. We applied to join, and after a few phone calls, to set it up, our fathers took turns to drop us at the meeting place and hand us over to the Ramblers for the day who took us on their walks. (Via Carshare ).
As children, we were a sensation in the group, as the next oldest member was about 35, and most were middle aged or elderly. A real range of folk from different classes and backgrounds. They were very kind to us. It was an education. One older member I recall was quite militant, and always carried tools. If we ever came across obstructions on rights of way, (natural or man-made) he would unblock them and explain to us it was our right to do so.
We did it for 2 years, learning much about people (other than just from our world of family, friends and school) until we got into doing longer rougher walks on Dartmoor , and backpacking.
