For Leaders

GUIDANCE FOR WALK LEADERS

The walk should keep to public rights of way, open access land and permissive paths.  Choose a start location with adequate parking. Consider season, terrain, heights and climbs.  The Club programme will show the length and ‘terrain’ (easy, moderate, etc).  Feel free to liaise with the relevant Walks Co-ordinator.

CAR SHARING: Sunday walks: Assess the most convenient car-share meeting point, for both Highworth and Swindon walkers, based on the walk start point. Sunday and Wednesday walks: Whenever possible you should plan to be at the meeting point to coordinate lift sharing and welcome new/trial walkers, if this is impracticable, you should try and delegate this task to another member on your walk.

WALK RECCE: This is to familiarise yourself with the route; check the walking conditions and ensure that there are no obstructions, diversions or errors in the map or guide book. Make a note of points of interest and suitable points for drinks and lunch stops, as well as comfort breaks.  Assess risky places such as overly-steep slippery slopes, possible floods, etc.  If you are unhappy about walking alone or your map reading ability, ask another Club member to go with you.

IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THE WALK: Obtain a local weather forecast for the walk period. Take a map, foil blanket and simple first aid kit with you (the club supplies these). If you have a mobile phone, make sure that it is fully charged. Please take it with you and keep it switched on (and not on “silent”) for the period before and during the walk, when walkers may need to contact you.

ON THE MORNING OF THE WALK: Assess the weather conditions and decide whether to shorten the walk, or exceptionally to cancel it.  

AT THE WALK START: Walkers, either car sharing or individually, should arrive at the start point of the walk allowing time to get booted etc. For larger groups ask a volunteer to act as back marker to ensure nobody drops too far behind.  Preferably, you should be able to communicate with the back. Guests walk at the discretion of the leader: if a walker appears unable to complete the walk, you are entitled to refuse them, though this is extremely rare.

DURING THE WALK: Stay in contact with your fellow walkers and keep the party together, particularly at stiles, gates, roads, difficult terrain and fields with livestock. Stop as necessary to allow slower walkers to catch up, preferably at places of interest and certainly where the route may be unclear to prevent the rear walkers losing sight of the front walkers (and vice versa). At the stop, check that nobody is missing. Drinks and lunch breaks are at the leader’s discretion, but a 10 – 15 minute drinks break (and on longer walks also a 30 minute lunch break) is traditional.  On roads with no pavement or suitable verge, walk on the right unless approaching a blind bend.

LIVESTOCK: The advice to walkers section of the web site includes information from the Ramblers. They recommend grouping the walkers together and walking round the livestock if possible. It may be sensible to have a couple of walkers who are ‘livestock confident’ to encourage the animals to move away. Ensure that you manage the situation by doing your best to shield the walkers who have expressed their concerns. If the livestock have proved to be more than a minor nuisance on a marked Public right of Way, then please contact the appropriate Walk Coordinator and fill in an Incident Report Form so that we can contact the appropriate Footpath Officer who will assess the situation and take into account any other reports and may contact the farmer and may even initiate prosecution.

CANCELLING A WALK: If a few days in advance, inform your walks coordinator (Sue or Marilyn), in case they can help find an alternative leader (if the reason isn’t the weather).  Otherwise (the day before, or morning of the walk) text both Pete Saunders 07504 461982 and Andrew Snowden 07745 292985 saying that the walk is cancelled. The one of them that sees this message first will immediately email all members.  In addition to that, if you’re a member of the Sunday Walks or Wednesday Walks WhatsApp Group post a message on the relevant group; otherwise phone or text the relevant coordinator who will make that post.

ACCIDENTS AND INJURIES: The walk leader should take charge and manage the situation, delegating responsibilities as appropriate and ensuring that someone is with the patient at all times until a medical professional takes over.  Make your first aid kit available for minor injuries.  Use facemask, hand sanitiser and gloves if close contact is needed.  Preferably, first aid should be rendered by a qualified First Aider, if there is one in the group.  For more serious incidents, summon assistance by mobile phone dialling 999.  If unable to make contact by mobile phone, then send two volunteers to seek assistance. Do not move the casualty unless he or she is in a dangerous position. Use the foil blanket to keep the casualty warm until expert help arrives.  Afterwards, ensure an Incident Report Form is completed and sent to the Club’s chairman.

RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES: An obstruction is anything that prevents walkers from exercising their legal right to pass along a Public Rights of Way (PRoW). You are allowed to remove as much of the obstruction as is strictly necessary. You are entitled to walk through crops on a right of way, but keep as close as possible to the correct line. If a landowner objects to a walk, be courteous and comply with the request, remembering that you are seeking an enjoyable walk. Reporting blocked paths: The walks co-ordinators – Sue and Marilyn – will report blocked/unusable PRoW to the relevant Local Authority. So if this occurs on a Club walk, the leader – or another walker as agreed – should notify one of them. NB this only applies to PRoW, and not to permissive paths, forest tracks etc.

INSURANCE: All members when engaged in HSWC activities are protected by Public Liability Insurance for injury to third parties and damage to property of third parties caused by acts of negligence.  Personal injury cover is the responsibility of the individual walker.

July 2023