John and Mandy, recent retirees from the USA, share a few diary extracts from their month spent car-free walking around Cheltenham. "So, in the end, I walk 12.8 miles. From our place in Cheltenham, I walk through the town, up and over the hills and into the town of Winchcombe. I like Winchcombe so much that it’s now on our schedule for thi

For late October, the weather hadn’t been too bad. Honestly. The walk from Threlkeld to Helvellyn via the Dodds on Monday had been grey and windy, but mostly dry. The tops east of Patterdale – Beda Head then across to High Raise – had been greyer and windier, but with occasional bursts of sunshine through the low cloud.

Cheshire’s Sandstone Trail is a 32-mile waymarked hike starting in Frodsham and ending in Whitchurch. It’s a gentle enough route with a high point of just 227 metres. But don’t let the lack of height fool you, the route follows a sandstone ridge (hence the name) that gives sweeping vistas over the Cheshire Plain and Dee Valley below.