JJ describes a typical day out with himself and the Reluctant Ramblers [not entirely seriously – Ed]. “I have often  jokingly characterised long distance walks as two hours of optimistic chatter, followed by two hours of relaxed momentum and a sense of growing invulnerability, followed by two hours of creeping anxiety and painful niggles, followed by two hours of  “who the hell had the idea for doing this walk” and getting ready to kill someone..!! Keeping your body and mind together beyond 16/18 miles is a mental feat as well as a physical one. Niggles and pains come but you can walk through them and they go. Blisters are something else but even their raw pain becomes numb after a while…but the mind games go on and the erosion of confidence with each stumble, as each stile gets bigger and harder to get over, is much harder to deal with. Writing as someone who could dramatically flare up on tour if the white wine wasn’t cold enough (!), dealing with the mind games has been the hardest part and the most self-revelatory. Bursts of savage short temper, loss of energy, loss of confidence, out in the hills and mountains as the rain falls and dusk approaches, with 2 miles of knee-sapping descent still to go, all become redundant, pointless, even laughable…but most of all, self-defeating. Concentrate on foot-placement, avoid jarring steps, forget everything except getting down to the road, the car, the pub and the best pint of your life. Later, as you sit there, warmed through, talking endlessly, your knees are gone, you may never walk again…but you did it.. and that’s when we get up to sing.” JJ

NEW tour details here for May’s walking tour of Devon with John Jones and the Reluctant Ramblers: and initial draft walk details here.

JJ says: “I am pleased to announce that I have been asked to be President of The Powys Ramblers Association and have accepted. My walking has always been very individualistic and although this title sounds grand, ramblers are a very down-to earth bunch of people and they share a passion for the part of Mid-Wales where I do so much of my walking…and they are Oysterband fans!”

Do you have photos of the Song of The Downs walking tour? Can you let us have copies so we can share the best ones with other people and use them on Facebook and on this website? If you have just a few then you could email them to info@jj-rr.org; but if you have a larger number then there may be better options. (Dropbox is free, easy to use and works well for sending larger batches of photos).

Addendum: we also plan to produce another photo book from the tour so really would appreciate the original images and not have to copy them from posts on Facebook which are lower resolution and do not look so good when printed. Please use a “cloud” service such as dropbox or sugar sync, or copy them to a CD and post them. For the latter, please send an email to info@jj-rr.org and we will send you an address to post a CD to. Another alternative is to put them on a memory stick and lend it to Tom when you see him at a festival or gig. Send an email to make contact.

Owing to popular demand, we have decided to do one more print run for the t-shirt from JJ’s walking tour, and to make it available by mail order (limited period only). Details and orders here.

A solitary walk this morning with just the 2 dogs working the hedgerows in the distance, and me trying to finally free my head of the sights and sounds of last week…Moving, talking, singing, walking, map-reading, packing, playing tunes, listening, waiting, drinking…and then walking again.

The South Downs area is great walking country but it is more than that. There were some eyebrows raised when it became our latest National Park only a few years ago. Certainly it doesn’t have the wildness and remoteness of some of our other parks but it has a distinct shape and character and is just as precious, lying so close to a heavily populated area. Descending onto one of the busy roads you are immediately aware of the noise and pressure of ‘normal’ life – but up on the ridge you can find a peace and calm that is as timeless as the rolling chalk downlands themselves. From the emblematic cliffs of Beach Head and Seven Sisters, startlingly white on the day we were there, to the distant views across Sussex at Ditchling Beacon, the Graffham beech forests and the expansive views around the Meon Valley reminiscent of the Wessex Downs, this is a rural breathing space and a chance to live at a different pace.

With 30 walkers each day and 50 on one day and most of the gigs sold-out or full, this was a fantastic week. I am not sure how much bigger this can or should go, but everyone finds their pace and the ribbon of walkers stretches out and people find friends and meet their own personal goals. With the help of my walking mate Colin we try to keep it fun, even through the blisters. The fact that any of this can work is down to an incredible back-up team of Tom, Caz, Fran, Bev and many others, keeping us supplied at lunchtime and in the evenings; and the indefatigable Tim Porter, Oysterband sound-man, who was ready for us at every gig and made the transition from walking to gigging as easy as it could be.

For us in the Ramblers the transition is the most difficult part of the day. The hallowed, hidden, backstage area [as Boff put it] just disappears, with little time for preening and preparing and thankfully little time for nervousness and anxiety either. You have already achieved something that day so just roll into it and enjoy the gig…and we did. My huge thanks to Dil, Al, Tim, Benji, Boff and Rowan for special friendship and music.

For me it was wonderful to hear new songs like Black and White Bird, She Wrote her Name Today and Pierpoint’s Farewell come alive at night. Thanks to the woman who brought her chestnut horse to the pub at lunchtime. By day I just simply didn’t want some of the walks ever to stop. A great week. JJ

This walk was brought to you by Harvey’s Best, Seafarers, Aspalls cider, Compeed and factor 30 suncream, as the weather is now glorious. Hampshire’s South Downs have opened out with some magical views from Old Winchester Hill.

Great gig at the King’s Head, Wickham last night, big thanks to all who came and especially Peter Chegwyn for all his help with this venture. I am constantly amazed by the genuine enthusiasm and support for this strange project.

Last day. Great stop at Millbury’s pub. 100 miles down and heading into Winchester for the final night at The Railway. Meet you there. JJ