Walkers celebrate Hebden Bridge's welcome

The West Yorkshire town of Hebden Bridge today celebrated gaining walker-friendly status with a day of events in and around the Pennine centre.The Calderdale town is the first in Britain to gain the Walkers Are Welcome designation.

Rally means Grizedale path closures

Grizedale’s forests will again reverberate to the sound of high powered engines next month.All footpaths, bridleways and unsurfaced roads between Coniston Water and the Satterthwaite to Hawkshead road will be closed as contestants in the Malcolm Wilson Rally blast through the area.The rally, on 3 March, will take place through Grizedale, Whinlatter and Wythrop Forests.

Natural England says coastline should be open to all

An official body said today it will tell the Government there should be public access to the entire coastline of England.England's coastline: public should have accessNatural England, the quango set up to advise on and manage the environment and recreation in the great outdoors, will recommend that a continuous corridor of access be set up along the whole of the country’s 4,000km of coast.In a phrase more redolent of a soapbox speech than a sentence from an official report, the organisation says: “Free access to its undeveloped coastline should be the birthright of an island race.” grough says: “Hear, hear!” The commitment to look at introducing legislation to allow coastal access was part of the Labour Government’s commitment following the introduction of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act, which gave limited right-to-roam in upland and moorland areas.

Two TV treats for Wainwright fans

Aficionados of Blackburn’s most famous literary son are in for a televisual treat.The BBC is screening not one, but two separate celebrations of the Grumpy Old Fellwalker known to his colleagues as AW and to the rest of the walking world as, simply, Wainwright.Right: a dog on Blencathra summit, one of the mountains featured in the BBC seriesYou’ll need digital telly to watch both, because they’re on BBC 4.

Skiddaw times ten equals Everest?

For a society formed in memory of one of the most pernickety and precise of writers, the Wainwright Society is surprisingly inexact in its latest charity venture.The laudable aim is to raise money for the Keswick Mountain Rescue Team (MRT) and the way of doing it is to scuttle up and down Skiddaw (pictured above) and pay £5 to the team.

Deadly bird flu: what you need to know

The outbreak of deadly bird flu at a Bernard Matthews farm in Suffolk has brought renewed fears that Britain’s great outdoors will once again be out-of-bounds.Tens of thousands of birds have been killed by gassing at the farm near Lowestoft.

Mountain councils' advice after Cairn Gorm deaths

Mountain experts have issued advice to those venturing into the high ground of the British Isles in the light of the five deaths on Cairn Gorm.The three home mountaineering councils have stressed the need to build up experience and not to go beyond your capabilities.One of the most significant pieces of advice issued by the British Mountaineering Council, the Mountaineering Council of Scotland and the Mountaineering Council of Ireland is not to be swayed by the hype which has built up around adventurous activities.

Views sought on bigger Cairngorm park

The Scottish Parliament wants views on plans to extend the Cairngorm National Park.A bill before the Scottish legislature proposes including the Forest of Atholl, Blair Atholl, the Beinn A’Ghlo range and Beinn Udlamain.

Cold War relic greets polar team

Three Britons are celebrating reaching one of the remotest places on Earth – and finding a Russian revolutionary leader.Henry Cookson, Rupert Longsdon and Rory Sweet battled against bone-chilling sub-zero temperatures and high winds to reach the Southern Pole of Inaccessibility, the furthest point from any ocean, in Antarctica.Above: Lenin watches over the team at the Southern Pole of InaccessibilityThe Canadian-British N2i expedition, led by Paul Landry, trekked more than 1,700km and discovered a bust of Soviet hero Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov – better known as Lenin.