YOUR SPRING CALENDAR

MARCH 1

Celebrate St David’s Day with a walk to the final resting place of Wales’ patron saint at the cathedral in the tiny Pembrokeshire city that bears his name. In the Middle Ages two pilgrimages here were considered equivalent to one to Rome, and a walk along the rugged coast path from Newgale* also passes his birthplace at St Non’s.

MARCH 22

It’s Mothering Sunday which started as a Christian tradition of visiting the ‘mother’ church (the one of your baptism or local parish church) on the fourth Sunday of Lent. Those in service were given the day off to visit with their families, so it’s the perfect day to gather yours for a walk.

APRIL 17

It’s 69 years since Britain’s first national park – the Peak District – was designated. Head to Hayfield and up on to Kinder Scout* where a mass trespass in April 1932 paved the way for national park legislation.

MAY 9

This would have been Richard

Adams’ 100th birthday, the writer who brought us the magical, gripping tales of rabbits at

Watership Down*. Head to Hampshire to walk the titular down, in the pawprints of Hazel, Fiver and Bigwig.

MARCH 17

Ireland’s patron saint fasted and prayed for 40 days and 40 nights on the summit of Croagh Patrick in County Mayo in 441 AD. Up to 30,000 pilgrims climb it barefoot on Reek Sunday in July, but it’s beautiful – and quieter – as a springtime walk on St Patrick’s Day.

MARCH 29

The clocks spring forward and we move on to British Summer Time. Make the most of those lighter evenings – Greenwich sunset is now 19:29 – with a long walk after work on the next Monday night! Or head to Petts Wood in the London Borough of Bromley, where there’s a memorial to William Willett. His pamphlet A waste of daylight paved the way for the clock change and he’s remembered with a stone sundial set forever to British Summer Time.

APRIL 23

It’s the turn of England’s patron saint and St George’s Day. Walk to the chalky white horse of Uffington* in Oxfordshire and you’ll see a knoll below. This is Dragon Hill, where George is said to have bested the fire-breathing serpent, and no grass will grow where the dragon’s blood fell.

MAY 25

Spring Bank

Holiday and a chance to enjoy one of England’s eccentric festivals – the

Cooper’s Hill CheeseRolling. A nine-pound wheel of Double Gloucester is set rolling down the hill’s 50% gradient, with competitors hurling themselves down in pursuit. The goal is to catch it but that’s nigh on impossible so the winner is the first to the bottom. Injuries do occur; you can take a safer walk to the hill through the beautiful Cotswolds from Painswick.*

MARCH 21

Take a walk in the woods to celebrate all things arboreal on the International Day

of Forests. Find gorgeous ones near you at the Woodland Trust – woodlandtrust. org.uk/visiting-woods/find-woods/

APRIL 10

Good Friday and the start of the four-day Easter weekend – perfect for a walking break!

MAY 8

The early May bank holiday moves to a Friday to coincide with the 75th anniversary of VE Day. There will be nationwide celebrations so walk to your local pub for the Nation’s Toast and raise a glass to the heroes of World War II, listen for church and cathedral bells ringing out across the countryside, or climb to the top of one of the Four Peaks – Ben Nevis, Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Slieve Donard – where buglers will play The Last Post at 2:55pm. See veday75.org for more information.

MAY 29

It’s 67 years since the first ascent of Everest when Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay stood on top of the world. You don’t have to go to Nepal to celebrate; members of the 1953 expedition trained in the mountains of Snowdonia, based at the

Pen-y-Gwryd

Hotel and testing themselves on the crags of

Snowdon and the Glyderau.*