UKH

If you can access iPlayer on the BBC then the new series of Winter Walks is well worth watching. I found Alistair Campbell's episode particularly good. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0012290/winter-walks-series-2-2-alas...

More great 'slow TV' and a good antidote to the alternative.

See it's Campbell on Wednesday. Shame I would have watched it otherwise. I detest the man. 

I've watched a few of them in both series. They are a bit formulaic - stressed/busy celeb discovers walking is a boon to mental fortitude. Still, the scenery's good. I reckon I knew every stone and tree root on the Arnside episode. It'd be interesting to know how they navigate as no-one seems to carry a map or look at a phone. And who chooses the route?

A period of silence from Alastair Campbell would be welcome.

I quite like them. As you say, they are a bit formulaic, but they are a good reminder to slow down and takes one's time, and enjoy the environment. Even when you know it's good for you, it's all to easy to get caught up in whatever else is going on in your life and go about things in too much of a hurry. 

With regard to navigation, you'll have noticed that the time from start to finish usually spans most of the available daylight hours, so I suspect there's a support person with a map pointing in the right direction. 

They must have to duck out of sight when the drone's overhead? Campbell didn't cut past Attermire Scar in the mist and descended into Settle which suggests he's alone. Perhaps they get prompts via a phone.

They will be doing multiple takes, and it will all be done with a sizable crew. That's the 'magic of television' ...

Nihal Arthanayake brightens many an afternoon for me.

I despised him during the later New Labour spin years, but in recent years, he is more a voice of reason...

I enjoyed Kate Garraway's walk/talk, and have huge admiration for the dignified way she talked about and was dealing with the awful situation with her husband in a coma following catching Covid. The great outdoors and the walk she did was a real antidote for her circumstances.

Thanks for this - I hadn't picked this series up on iplayer.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001111l

I love this, and also 'Walking With...'....they're essentially exactly the same programme, not sure why there's two. When you are stuck in a city it's lovely to watch and dream/plan. I thought it was notable how much busier Shaparak Khorsandi's walk along the Monsal Trail was compared to the walks in Yorkshire.

I found it quite funny when Alistair Campbell met a woman running and told her his full name and then, when she didn't appear to react/recognise him at all, told her 'Tony Blair calls me Ally', which she still didn't react to.