THERE’S nothing like a walk to blow away the cobwebs during the cold crisp days of winter. Just a short stroll around your neighbourhood enables you to enjoy the fresh air while getting some essential exercise.

How about a walk through Chobham Water Meadows? Perhaps a stroll around Woking Park or along the Hoe Valley Path? Maybe a circuit or two of Goldsworth Park Lake or Brookwood Country Park to stretch your legs and see how much wildlife you can spot?

You may prefer to venture further afield to see some of the spectacular scenery – hills and heathland – in our county on a longer ramble, finishing as the sun sets in the late afternoon.

Walking is the perfect antidote to that full-up feeling if you’ve overindulged on turkey and mince pies over the Christmas and New Year breaks… and perhaps you’ll kick start some fitness resolutions too.

If rambling ticks your boxes, for walking ideas and perhaps to meet new like-minded friends you might try a guided walk hosted by one of the local groups affiliated to The Ramblers, formally known as The Ramblers’ Association.

The Ramblers is a charity dedicated to removing barriers so everyone can enjoy walking in green spaces and to preserving and improving hundreds of thousands of miles of well-loved paths, tracks and trails across England, Scotland and Wales.

You don’t have to join The Ramblers to take part in the first two or three walks with a local group – just turn up at the walk start.

There are 16 Ramblers’ groups across Surrey and South West London that organise walks of various distances. They know the best places to get out and about at this time of year, and all welcome new walkers.

The three serving the News & Mail’s circulation area are Surrey Heath, Woking and Guildford. For details of each, visit www.surreyramblers.org.uk/groups

If you enjoy walking with a local group, joining The Ramblers gives you access to an online library of thousands of tried-and-tested routes throughout the land, as well as unlimited free access to 50,000 Ramblers group walks, guided by a walk leader along safe, accessible routes.

You will also be part of The Ramblers movement towards providing more access to green spaces, opening up more places to walk and boosting Britain’s wellbeing.

There are three membership types: Individual (one adult), Joint (two adults) and Life (for individual members and joint members). For full details of The Ramblers and the organisation’s current membership fees, visit www.ramblers.org.uk.

As a Ramblers member, you can walk with any group, anywhere across Britain and it’s easy to change local groups if you wish to. Who knows, you may make new life-long friends during a walk.