The following points offer some guidance if you are considering of leading a walk with the South Devon Ramblers:

1. If you have not led a walk for the Ramblers before you will need to complete the Ramblers' Walk Leaders training course. You can do this online (in about two hours) or the Walks Co-ordinator can provide you with a printed copy of the course materials. Contact the Walks Co-ordinator for more information on doing this training course.

    

2. Choose what sort of walk you want to lead:

    

   • Thursday walk between 5 and 8 miles.
   • Sunday walk between 8 and 11 miles.
   • Tuesday Tea Shop walk up to 5 miles.
   • Oh So Easy walk of approximately 3 largely-flat miles, with no or very few stiles.

    

   All walks start at 10.30 am unless otherwise stated.

3. Recce the walk and establish a suitable place to stop for a coffee break (usually an hour or so into the walk), followed by a lunch stop (at around 12.30 - 1.00 pm). Also note any points of interest and any possible hazards such as busy road crossings. If your walk includes busy or tricky road crossings, contact a Committee member who will be able to supply you and the middle and back markers with high-vis vests for use on the day of the walk.

   If you would rather not recce a walk by yourself but don't have anybody to accompany you, we maintain a "Recce Buddies" WhatsApp group that you can use to find someone to do the recce with you. Contact the Vice Chair (see Contacts) to be added to the WhatsApp group.

4.  Establish the precise details of the meeting point, car parking, and use of public transport (if necessary). You will need to provide an OS grid reference for the meeting point. You may find this link UK Grid Reference finder helpful. Include a postcode only if this will be helpful - postcodes in rural locations can be misleading.

    

5. Email the details of the walk to the Walks Co-ordinator (see Contacts). You can use the Walk Leaders form if you like, or just include the details of the walk in your email. 

    

   The Walks Co-ordinator starts to plan a walks programme about two months before it starts, so you should send proposed walk details to the Walks Co-ordinator to give them enough time to do this. For example, if you want to include a walk in the May to October walks programme you should email the Walks Co-ordinator with details of the walk at the beginning of March. 

6. A week or so before the walk is scheduled to take place, do another recce of it to ensure that nothing has happened that could cause problems on the day of the walk. For example, a footpath might have been temporarily closed or there might be roadworks that walkers would need a detour for on the way to the start of the walk.

    

7. After you have done the final recce for the walk, submit a risk assessment to the Walks Co-ordinator. You can use any of the following documents for this:

    

   • OSE Risk Assessment Form
   • Risk Assessment Form
   • Risk Assessment Form (editable)

    

8. If on the day, or shortly before, you have concerns about the weather conditions, an obstruction to the route necessitating a detour, or if you are unable to lead, contact the Walks Co-ordinator (ideally no later than 8.15am on the day of the walk) or a member of the committee to see if a substitute leader can be organised. If the walk is cancelled, the Walks Co-ordinator will update the Walks Programme and the Facebook Group page to advertise the cancellation.

More information for walk leaders is available from The Ramblers Walk Leadership web pages.