ORN was delighted that the 2024 guest lecture could be given by the Director of England (former Head of Paths) at Ramblers GB on his book long-listed for the Wainwright Prize 2024 for Nature Writing ‘The Lost Paths: A History of How We Walk From Here to There’.

Journey with us on this expert lecture to discover the rich history of Britain’s millennia-old network of pathways, and it will be impossible to take an unremarkable walk again. At the lecture, Jack talked about the history of the people who have used, and in some cases created, these paths – the drovers who herded their sheep and cattle to market; the wanderers who travelled between workhouses, seeking shelter and subsistence; the miners who ventured deep underground along the Cornish coast; the wartime heroes who built up Britain’s defensive infrastructure. This incredible ‘ordinary’ history of the land beneath our feet reminds us just how precious these paths are, and have been, to the human story of this island.