Meet some of our holiday experts

Our tour leaders are as passionate about walking and discovering the world as you are. Experienced in leading, usually, but not necessarily in the area of the holiday, each has their own individual style and particular talents. All are first-aid trained, holding walking qualifications commensurate with the holiday grade they lead and often have good foreign languages skills.

They’re supported by a back-office team who seek to ensure that you’ve got the best itinerary and all holiday arrangements are in place for you to enjoy.

What is unsurpassed is their wide travel knowledge and commitment to making your holiday as friendly and pleasurable as possible. We’d like to introduce you to some of them below.

Local Leaders and Guides

We also employ and train some local leaders as well as working with local area guides on many of our long-haul destinations.Native to the area, their friendly welcomes and special insights are hugely popular, adding real character and flavour - and keep our clients coming back for more!

Peter Cooper

He feels that the countryside has much to offer, and Britain has so much variety even in Essex there are dramatic changes in the countryside which you do not notice unless you are walking. Peter likes to share the excitement of all aspects of our countryside and its life with as many people as possible. Even showing his young grand daughter what fun it is exploring on foot is part of the pleasure of walking.

Diane Dejaeghere

Diane likes nothing better than sharing a good walk with like minded people. Fluent in a handful of European languages (and willing to have a go at any language), she has led tours in more than a dozen countries. Her favourite destination? The next one, of course.

Paul Sackin

I have been leading since 1997. Having had a career as a GP I like the idea of generalism so do not keep returning to a special favourite place. Instead I love sharing my enthusiasm at discovering new places, mainly in Europe.

Karen Groenewald

Karen Groenewald leads mainly in Italy and in South Africa where for many years she was based and met her husband Fred - also a tour leader with Ramblers Worldwide. A prolific explorer of (usually) wonderful places, Karen is one of our most travelled and experienced tour leaders. Fluent in several languages and a commited traveller, Karen’s specialities are wild flowers, birds and mammals; her husband Fred seems to know something about everything.

Angus Russell

Angus spent 12 years pretty much continuously travelling the world as a mountain walking leader, ski tour leader, holiday rep and ship’s officer. He is now Contracts Manager as well as Brand Manager for the Ramblers Countrywide Holidays UK programme and is particularly interested the safety and legal aspects of holiday travel. He’s keen on holidays to Austria or Germany and is unusual in his enthusiasm for walking surrounded by millions of trees in the north-eastern US.

Sally Haycock

Sally used to analyse clay in a lab in Stowmarket. Now she lives in St Lucia and strolls down to the beach every morning for a swim. Sally loves the islands incredibly varied terrain and the easy going people. Her relaxed style of leadership reflects this, and she has the happy knack of tailoring the walks to suit all abilities. When we can tempt her over here, she leads in Italy and Greece.

Clive Scott

Clive has been leading for Ramblers Worldwide since 1992, with over 210 tours on five continents. His regular destinations nowadays are Dubrovnik, France, Germany, Tuscany, and the Channel Islands. He often surveys new destinations, is always delighted to discuss and brief other leaders on tours he has led, and is an avid proofchecker of our brochures, website and documentation.

Julian Wilkes

Weekend walking became more important than a corporate career in management for Julian, so he quit and qualified as a full time tour leader for Ramblers Worldwide Holidays. He believes that it's the best way to discover and observe the world and meet like minded people.

David Kay

Spent 5 years leading RWH holidays all over the world and still travels as much as possible, now more often with his wife and daughter. Recent trips include Russia, Peru, Ecuador, Central America and Mexico, Armenia and Argentina. Dave is Contracts Manager for Latin America, Nepal, Italy and Eastern Europe. He is also pretty well acquainted with our North American and New Zealand programmes.