Ulster Federation of Rambling Clubs

Ever thought about joining a walking club? Now is the perfect time to give it a go.

🚶To celebrate National Walking Month, we’re launching ‘Walk with Us’, giving you the chance to join a free, club-led walk during the last two weeks of May, as walking clubs across Northern Ireland open their doors to welcome new members.

🥾From 18-31 May, come along, try a walk and see what being part of a walking club is all about. Whether you’re brand new to walking or looking for a regular group to walk with, this is your chance to give a club walk a go and see where it leads.

👣Find a walk to suit you and take your first step: https://www.ulsterrambling.com/events/walk-with-us-18-31-may-26/

As the seasons continue to battle it out for top spot on the weather charts, it's great to see our clubs continuing to get outdoors and walking on the weekends!

Check out where some of our clubs ventured over the weekend:

Ulster Walking Club (MUWC) headed to the North Coast 🌊
Rambling Group were in the Slievenageogh area ⛰
Knockmany Forest Ramblers did more than just walking in Rossnowlagh and had their yoga mats on the beach too! 🧘‍♀️

Hopefully more sunshine and clear skies to follow in the Spring 🌦🌸

Happy faces on the hills for Basic Navigation training over the weekend!

Basic Navigation skills courses provide essential training for safe, independent hiking, typically covering navigation, planning, hazards, and equipment. It's perfect for the absolute beginner or those with some previous hillwalking experience who have relied on their friends or walking group to make all the decisions before now.

It’s a lot more fun when you know where you’re going!
Sport NI

It was another successful training day both in the classroom and out in the terrain for the Down Danderers this weekend as they participated in a Rescue Emergency Care (REC) Level 1 / Basic First Aid course.

Everyone was eager to learn and as you can see, there were some very convincing fake casualties! 🤕

This session was supported by funding from Sport NI and delivered by Ciaran Kinney. It's great to know these club members are more confident going forward should an emergency arise when out walking 🥾⛰.

A brilliant resource for our clubs to avail of. Click the link to read more and access the Keeping Adults Safe document 👏

A new pilot adult safeguarding service for the sporting sector has been launched in partnership with Volunteer Now.

This services increases our commitment to safe sport across Northern Ireland by providing advice, guidance and practical support to sports clubs, governing bodies and organisations.

Find out more: www.sportni.net/news/sport-ni-launches-new-adult-safeguarding-service-with-volunteer-now

We're celebrating the end of the week by celebrating 7 of our club members completing the Rescue Emergency Care (REC) Level 2 Qualification last weekend. 🎉⛰️

The Emergency First Aid Course is designed to introduce a systematic way of first aid for managing casualties in an outdoor and austere environment. The course is designed to be as practical as possible and provide participants with realistic and scenarios to equip them with the skills to effectively cope in an emergency situation.

If you belong to a UFRC affilliated walking group, check out the training opportunities on our website!

UFRC Club Update 📣

UFRC club Kilbroney Ramblers held their AGM on Friday 27 February at the Cloughmore Centre in Kilbroney Park, with 40 members in attendance.

The evening featured a guest talk from Harry Teggarty of the Mourne Mountain Rescue Team, who shared an update on progress with their new base in Newcastle and gave insight into the team’s callouts over the past year.

As part of the evening, Kilbroney Ramblers Chairperson William Mitchell presented Harry with a donation in support of the Mourne Mountain Rescue Team.

👏 It’s great to see clubs coming together and supporting the wider outdoor community.

Is your club AGM coming up? We’d love to hear about it; share your photos and highlights with us so we can feature them here!

Beautiful scenes at Meelmore at the end of last week for our members participating in Basic Navigation Training. 🧭

The next Basic Navigation training will be on 26th March.

UFRC affiliated club members can avail of a variety of training opportunities being hosted in March - check them out on our website!
https://www.ulsterrambling.com/training/

What a fantastic day at the UFRC Spring Gathering 2026 at Lough Neagh Discovery Centre!

It was great to bring together so many walking clubs from across Northern Ireland for a day of learning, discussion and connection.

The morning featured a series of informative updates including Sport NI project progress, developments with the OutdoorActive platform, and insights from Landscapes NI. A particular highlight was our keynote presentation from Nicola Fickling of The Ramblers, who shared valuable learnings from the work of Ramblers across Great Britain.

The afternoon workshops gave attendees the opportunity to explore important topics for clubs and walk leaders, including an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion session with Disability Sport NI and a Wildlife Awareness workshop delivered by the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime NI (PAW NI).

A big thank you to all of our speakers, workshop leads and everyone who attended and contributed to such a positive and engaging event. A special thanks to Barista Bar for supplying cups for the day too!

We look forward to continuing to support and grow the walking, hiking and rambling community across the North of Ireland.

A great walking festival! Be sure to check out the events by following the link below.

🌿 Sperrins Festival 2026 🌿
A brand-new three-day celebration of landscape, heritage and community is coming to the stunning Sperrin Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty from 20–22 March 2026.
With the 2026 festival hub at Gortin Activity Centre, the weekend will feature:
🥾 Guided walks for all abilities with Far and Wild
🎶 Talks, storytelling, music & crafts
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 A family fun day at the festival hub
🚌 Free transport to guided walks and events across the Sperrins
Led by Sperrins Partnership and supported by local councils and community groups, the festival aims to connect people with this remarkable landscape while promoting sustainable tourism and celebrating the area’s rich heritage.
📅 Save the date and book your place:
https://farandwild.org/land/
https://sperrinspartnershipproject.com/sperrins-festival/

Great to see some of our members participating in Hill and Moorland Night Navigation training this week with Margaret. 🌠

Navigation can be tricky even in daylight, well done to this group for tackling it in the dark! 🧭

There are lots more training opportunities being announced soon, stay tuned to find out more.