The Ramblers crisis rumbles on. A scathing attack on the Ramblers’ London Board and their decision to get rid of the Scottish and Welsh offices was made by Ramblers Scotland convenor Denis Canavan and appeared on the Ramblers Scotland website.This has now disappeared and has been replaced by a less inflamatory statement, an appeal for £200,000 to help Ramblers Scotland get through the next year. I wonder who ordered the first statement to be removed?

I’ve also been trying to get information from the Welsh office to find out what they are doing about the proposals and as soon as I get some information I’ll post it here.

Meanwhile, while I understand The Ramblers, like many NGO’s are facing financial problems, I can’t get my head around the fact that they seem determined to get rid of their most effective asset, namely Dave Morris, Director of Ramblers Scotland. For two decades now Dave has been the most successful and effective operator in the Ramblers organisation and delivered a genuine freedom to roam in Scotland while Ramblers London rejoiced with a watered down version of freedom to roam called the CROW Act, a deeply flawed and ineffective piece of legislation when compared to the Land Reform (Scotland) Act.

Dave also spearheaded the Lurchers Gully case in the eighties, was at the sharp end of the Harris superquarry case and has fought, and won, dozens of environmental problems which threatened the rights of walkers and the general public. I once described him as the nearest thing we have to a modern day John Muir. And now the Ramblers board seem eager to get rid of him. What’s going on?

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