Balloons, Batons a bit of Booze: Cornwall to launch 75th Baton Walks!

16/12/2009

Date: 31st December 2009; Time: 10:30am; Place: Ludgvan, Cornwall

West Cornwall’s (in)famous annual ‘Trencrom Tipsy Toddle’ has been chosen to launch the national 75th Anniversary year celebrations of Britain’s walking charity, the Ramblers.

Hoards of Ho-Ho-Ho-ing walkers will be toasting in the Ramblers Anniversary year, as they set off on the ‘Tipsy Toddle’ to Trencrom on 31st December 2009. The walk will launch the Ramblers nationwide programme of Anniversary ‘Baton Walks’, which will see local Ramblers groups ‘walk’ a baton around England, Scotland and Wales throughout 2010. Starting off from Trencrom, the baton will pass around the South West in January, before being handed over to the West Midlands region in February.

Join the hundred+ walkers of all ages, for a boisterous balloons and batons launch, followed by a stroll to the giant megalith at Trencrom for mulled wine, soup and mince pies.

Tipsy Toddle organisers, Sylvia Ronan (Penwith, Cornwall), commented: “We’re delighted that the toddle has been chosen to kick start the Ramblers’ 75th Anniversary celebrations, and highlight their 75 years of work at the heart of walking in Britain.”

Cornwall’s rights of way system has been the focus of a vigorous, high profile 5 year Ramblers campaign. The campaign has focussed on the council’s infamous ‘Gold, Silver and Bronze’ path prioritisation system, which has left Cornwall with one of the country’s best paths, around the South West coast, and some of the worst in the rest of the region. Although the ‘Gold, Silver, Bronze’ classification system has now been nominally dropped, the practice of prioritisation still exists.

Graham Ronan comments: “The South West has Britain’s best funded and best known coastal path on its doorstep; it also has some of the country’s most neglected, damaged and underfunded paths elsewhere that bring financial loss, accident and even injury to residents and visitors alike. The beautiful Cornish coastal region is the perfect place to showcase the benefits of really investing in paths, and the pitfalls of neglecting them.

For more information contact the Ramblers press office 0207 339 8532/ 07801 749 385 press@ramblers.org.uk.