At this time of year families get together to eat, drink and be merry. But what does being merry consist of exactly? One activity that lots of families will be doing is going for a walk and I wanted to give you some ideas of useful websites to look at.

A great website to visit is walkhiglands.co.uk. We live in Lanarkshire, so why am I recommending walkhighlands.co.uk to you? The title is slightly misleading; they actually cover all of Scotland. This great website is packed with information. They have walk routes, photographs, reviews, you can download GPS data and they have walks suitable for all abilities. There’s a great route up Tinto from Wiston which is a nice alternative to the usual route.

The Ramblers website (ramblers.org.uk/scotland) has access to lots of routes and if you’re a member you can see even more. It is good for folk who want to go on organised walks and you get to meet interesting like-minded people in the process. Our closest groups are Biggar, Clyde Valley and Strathven. You can go on three walks for free to help you decide if you want to join this great charity.

The Walking in Lanarkshire guide is great for shorter walks across the county, if you don’t want to travel far then I’d recommend you take a look at this. It contains the New Lanark circular which will take you on a 6mile circuit that begins by walking through the Falls of Clyde reserve. To find it, do a web search for, ‘walking in Lanarkshire.’

Oh and if the weather is truly awful and you can’t bear to go outside, my recommendation would be to go see the Hobbit at your local cinema!

Laura Preston – Scottish Wildlife Trust, Falls of Clyde Ranger