Amar Latif and I share a common love for walking in the Yorkshire Dales, but unlike me, he can’t see the glorious sweep of landscape all around him. Amar is blind but – as he proved in Beyond Boundaries, his debut television appearance years ago when he trekked 220 miles across Central America – he doesn’t let that stop him.
Since then he has featured in many other programmes (he was the first blind contestant on Celebrity Masterchef) and set up a travel agency for people with visual impairments. Now the man known as the Blind Adventurer has taken on another challenge, as president of Ramblers, the walking charity with around 100,000 members.
“This is such an incredible opportunity to help inspire people who think, for whatever reason, that walking is not for them,” he told me. “Having a blind guy as president communicates that rambling is for everyone.”
Glasgow-born Amar, aged 48, has an incurable eye condition; by his late teens he had lost 95% of his sight. He rambles with a sighted companion who describes the surroundings to him, but says he feels the ground and the wind, listens to the birds, smells the sheep and cattle and builds “an incredible 3D image” in his mind.
He is still settling into his new role – he was appointed on 1 April – but has already said: “The Ramblers mission to ensure equal access to nature for all is important for the health and wellbeing of people across Great Britain.”
With his passion for opening-up the countryside to everyone and his warm, forthright personality, I’m sure Amar will be more than a mere figurehead for the organisation, which has two major campaigns underway: saving lost footpaths and extending the freedom to roam.
Six hundred Ramblers volunteers are working against the clock to research 41,000 miles of footpaths that are missing from the map of England and have no legal protection. The Government-set deadline of 2031 to get these lost paths registered was scrapped last year, but then reintroduced. Ramblers condemned the U-turn as “another broken promise” and believe that, with the deadline looming, Whitehall has no plans to address the backlog of around 4,000 applications, putting huge pressure on local authorities that have to process them. Unless action is taken, it warns, historic paths will be lost for future generations.
The other campaign urges lawmakers to more than double the area designated as having ‘right to roam’ by including woodlands, watersides and more grassland. “This would directly benefit those who need it most, giving the most deprived groups easy access to the green spaces within a 20-minute walk of their front door,” says Ross Maloney, CEO of Ramblers.
“Research shows that access is not equal, with people on lower incomes, from ethnic minority groups or living with disabilities much less able to spend time in nature," adds Maloney. "We want to break down barriers to anyone enjoying walking.”
Amar Latif has pushed his way through many considerable barriers, becoming a leading accountant, an entrepreneur, a television presenter and an adventurer, who is quoted as saying: “Blindness has helped me see the world.” Ramblers has chosen well.
