Footpaths - an endangered species
John Harrison
- Regions:
- Surrey, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire
- Notice Period:
- Short (maybe less than one month's notice)
- Type:
- Subject enthusiast, experienced speaker
- Fee:
- Unknown: Depends on the group
- Category:
- Nature
- Updated:
- 18th October 2025
Footpaths evolve to meet human needs, with an organic form that grows and changes, especially for upland footpaths - vital arteries for walkers that enable us to enjoy wild places. But as walkers take to the hills in ever greater numbers many paths suffer from over-use and become degraded. Millions of boots have turned pleasant grassy paths in the '60s and '70s into ugly rock-strewn hillside scars. Bodies like the National Trust and National Parks do a lot of repair but it is a never-ending task. I have observed paths for many years in all terrain in UK and abroad and seen them respond to both use and mis-use. This talk is a pictorial essay showing the diversity, as well as the fragility, of a very 'natural', but at the same time man-made, upland phenomenon. See: jaharrison.me.uk/Talks/#Footpath
Views: 948 | Enquiries: 0About John Harrison
My career was half Chartered Engineer and half Chartered Ergonomics & Human Factors Consultant but I have many other interestes including: photography, fell walking, bell ringing, railways, bricks, human perception and maths. My talks draw on these wide interests and I have given over 250 talks to over 150 different groups. I'm based in Wokingham, Berkshire and can give in-person talks in the surrounding area. I'm also happy to do online talks. Details of each of my talks are on my website at: jaharrison.me.uk/Talks
Other Talks on SpeakerNet by John Harrison
- Living Heritage
- English-style bells and bellringing
- The Settle to Carlisle railway
- Bricks and Brickwork
- Iceland - land of ice and fire
- The Pennine Way
- I'll Take the High Road
- More than meets the eye
- The Human Factor
- An evolving garden
- The music of bellringing
- The maths of bellringing
- The Technology of Bellringing
- The maths of sea waves
- The evolution of electronic displays
- On Growth and Form
- Wheels within wheels
- Lidar in Gorrick Wood
- Changing landscape
Send a message to the speaker
If you are interested in this talk and wish to contact the speaker, please complete the following form: