Get Off The Beaten Track With Tracker and The Woodland Trust
Going for walks is a daily routine for me, you can often find me walking my two dogs in the countryside or find me scrambling up a side of a mountain on a monthly basis. When Tracker got in touch with their new campaign to mark 30 years partnership to get people walking more and get off the beaten track in collaboration with Olympian James Cracknell and The Woodland Trust it was an easy campaign to get on board with.
“To mark 30 years of partnership with the great outdoors Tracker®, with the help of James Cracknell and the Woodland Trust, is encouraging the nation to get off the beaten track with the aim of walking 30,000 miles together. Here you’ll find everything you need to make your first step. Get involved with your family and pledge how many miles you will walk by the end of 2015. Whether it’s your local park, woodland, beach or hillside there are adventures to be had just around the corner, so get off the beaten track and walk your way to an adventure today! All pledgers will be in with a chance of winning an assortment of Tracker….You can register your miles here“
For us as a family, getting off the beaten track is quite easy as we’re based in the heart of the countryside, a favourite is to try to find somewhere secluded that we can take the dogs and have a more relaxing walk. Choosing a local wood a short drive away we soon got to exploring the many different trails and paths we could take…which way should we go was a question I asked the boys at every crossroad, this made them feel more in control of the walk and got them more excited (sometimes this can be a struggle with younger children!).
At this time of year we were on the look out for blackberries and fungi, both of which we found in abundance, silly mummy however forgot to bring a bag to collect the berries!
Taking a short break to refuel with Tracker Bars of course, we were ready to carry on exploring..
Tips on how to make your walks more enjoyable with children:
- Make leaf faces and muddy smiles
- Become a tree tracker
- Track animal footprints
- Let your child lead the walk, let them decide on where to go next
- Research what you’re likely to find at the tie of year you are going, i.e fungi and woodpeckers
Top 10 Get off the beaten track activities:
- The Woodland Trust has more than 1,000 woods, all free to visit.
- Join over 5 million children who have planted their own trees.
- Ancient trees can be measured in hugs.
- The UK’s 3 most common tree species are Birch, Beech and Ash.
- Bluebells are a sign of ancient woodland from over 400 years ago.
- Ash trees were used to make the iconic Mosquito planes in World War 2.
- Willow branches are so bendy that you can weave with them as well as create the bows for bows and arrows.
- Have you spotted a bird creeping up a tree trunk? It’s probably a Treecreeper.
- Have you spotted a bird creeping down a tree trunk? It’s probably a Nuthatch.
- Wild garlic found in woodlands can be used to make tasty sauce for your pasta.
And just because winter is coming, doesn’t mean you need to hibernate…take advantage of the lovely winter sunshine we get here in the UK and get out and explore some more of your local countryside!
For me I love walking in the mountains in the winter months, there’s something refreshing and exhilarating about the crisp winter air.
Will you be pledging to walk 30,000 miles together? Download this guide to walking from James Cracknell to help you get going!
