Walk Leaders’ Guide

PRIOR TO THE WALK 

1. Work out the route before the walk day using books and/or maps, and make sure that it is all on public Rights of Way or permitted paths. If you are unsure about selecting a route our walks co-ordinator, Dave Thomas (davethomas04@hotmail.co.uk), is available to give guidance. 

Note: All walks depart from the school lay-by in Oakley Lane unless notified otherwise. 

2. Arrange a safe place to park and select a venue / pub for after walk refreshments / lunch. Contact the eating venue in advance to discuss food – it may be necessary to provisionally book a certain number of places for lunch and to circulate a copy of the menu with the walk details.  Note: Organising a pub / refreshment stop is optional.

3. Recce the walk close to the actual date, especially after bad weather to make sure it is still passable.

4. As soon as you know where the walk is going to be, even just as a rough outline (time, distance and planned location) please pass this information walks co-ordinator who will add the details to the walk’s diary. Ideally this should be at least a month in advance of the walk date, to help other club members plan their attendance on your walk.  We are aware that details may change nearer the time particularly after the recce.  At least 10 days before the date of the walk send completed Walk Detail Template to Julie Shawley (julie.shawley@yahoo.co.uk) & Carolyn Currie (carolyn_currie2000@yahoo.co.uk) who will post onto the ORC website.

Link to Walk Detail Template Document – ramblers-walk-template-Sept-2022

4. Make sure you have the First Aid Kit from the previous walk leader. (First Aid Kit contains usual first aid items, plus 2 High-Vis jackets for use on busy roads, and forms for visitors/potential new members to fill in their contact details-pass to Secretary).

DAY OF THE WALK

1. Walks normally start from the School Lay-by in Oakley.  However, some members may for convenience, go straight to the start point (they will normally advise you in advance).
2. Give a short briefing before the walk. This should include a brief outline of the route including length, stiles, difficulty and any potential hazards to be aware of..
3. Count the number in the party.
4. Appoint a back marker.
5. Periodically, stop to allow everybody to regroup, and have a refreshment stop if needed.
6. On roads walk on footpaths/pavements if available. If not, then small groups walk on the right hand side of the road in single file (i.e. facing the oncoming traffic), and large groups should keep to the left with a look-out at the front and back of the group wearing high visibility tabards.  For more information see ORC Risk Assessment document.
7. Always cross roads as a group.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 

1. There is a very useful app for your phone in the event that a walker was to be injured and you need to accurately find your location.  It is particularly recommended by mountain rescue, as What3Words can sometimes be interpreted wrongly, if words are similar.  The recommended app is OS Locate.   It is free to download and uses map reference locations, which are much more accurate.

AFTER THE WALK

1. Write up a brief report (100 words max.) on the walk (including numbers attending, with photo if possible) and send it to Corrine Thomas (corrinethetrekker@gmail.com) for the Link magazine and to Julie Shawley (julie.shawley@yahoo.co.uk) for the website.
2. Pass First Aid Kit to next walk Leader.

NB:-  For more guidance please refer to the Oakley Ramblers Club Risk Assessment Document

Updated November 2022