The Ramblers' Association, (often shortened to RA,) in the UK promotes walking in the countryside, protects rights of way, campaigns for access to open country and defends the beauty of the countryside. This it has been doing over the past 70 years. It is a charity and receives no government funding, which means that members subscriptions are essential if this work is to continue. The walks arranged by the various rambling groups are done on a purely voluntary basis.

Besides the help a subscription to the RA brings, other reasons for joining the RA. are:

• to take part in planned walks in the countryside, discover new places and share the enjoyment of the experience with others,
• to have the opportunity to make new friends while on the walks,
• to get plenty of exercise in pleasant surroundings and so improve one's fitness.

The Penrith Group is in the Lake District Area and its membership is taken from a catchment area stretching from Ullswater through the Eden Valley to the Pennines and includes Alston, Appleby, Brough, Dufton, Kirkby Stephen, Kirkoswald, Penrith, Shap and Tebay. However, the walks put on by the group range well beyond this, stretching throughout Cumbria and into Durham, Northumberland, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Southern Scotland. Weekend trips to Central Scotland have been arranged in the past.
To get details of the walks put on by the Penrith Group go to:

• Walks' Programme, which is organised by and for Ramblers' Association members but new members are always welcome. Prospective members are free to sample two or three walks before deciding if they would like to join.

Before partaking on a particular walk listed in the programme, new or potential members are advised to read the information on:

• Guide lines to walks,
• Contacting Penrith Group and
• Walking Equipment, which gives suggestions on what to wear and carry on a fell walk. A sub-section on the Ordnance Survey map system and use of compass and GPS is included.

Because some walks are changed or a walk's route is unknown when the walks' programme is printed, it is intended to update the website and add notices as more information becomes available. To see if you need to update your printed copy of the walks' programme, note the date of the last update and, if this is later than your version of the programme, go to

• Updates, Notices + Ads, to find out what has changed.

Visitors to the site may like to get a flavour of the walks on offer by viewing a few photographs, taken on walks by members of the Penrith Ramblers. Thumbnail photos of larger photos can be found on:

• Penrith Ramblers Photos.

Enlargements of these photos can be viewed in sequence using a slideshow facility or, if you wish, specific enlargements can be selected instead. Past photos are not lost but are stored on the 'fotopic.net' website, to which a link is provided.

For the latest Penrith Ramblers newsletter, go to

• News Letter.

This can be read in HTML or PDF format. The latter shows the newsletter with its original layout but requires a PDF reader - a free download.

NOTE: the web site is split into two main sections, a section for those interested in fell walking, whose web pages are navigated using the dark green buttons and a second section giving information on attractions in the region, where the Penrith Group of Ramblers hold their walks. To enter the second section, click on a name of an area on the picture above. This will open a page of information for that area. Then use the light blue buttons to navigate between the various areas. The only way to cross between these two sections is via the Home page using the magenta coloured Back Home button. A 'site map', placed at the top of the most pages, indicates where you are on the web site.
The map itself does not provide links.

For more information on the design of the site go to:

• Site Management, which can only be reached from this Home page.

If you have visited this site recently, you may may not get the latest web pages and you may need to REFRESH or RELOAD your browser, so that it calls up the page from the web rather than from its own cache. With Mozilla Firefox, selecting 'Clear Private Data Now' on closing the browser, ensures that this happens next time you connect.

Instructions on how to print the walks' programme in tabular form and how to print Penrith Ramblers photos appear on their respective pages. To print out plain text, just highlight the text you want using your browser and select 'Print'. Alternatively you can select 'Copy' and then in M.S. Word, select 'Paste'.which will enable you to make modifications before printing.