The scene is idyllic. A Scandinavian forest bathed in the light of a low evening sun. Fit young walkers are striding out, their poles jabbing into the ground behind them with each purposeful step.

Except it isn’t Scandinavia – it’s Alice Holt Forest on the Surrey- Hampshire border. And the walkers today are mostly middleaged English ladies, laughing uproariously at themselves as they try to keep their ‘ski poles’ in order on their first attempt at Nordic walking.

Nordic walking was developed in Finland to enable cross-country skiers to train throughout the year. Amazingly, it has become a bit of a craze in Britain becoming a very popular form of exercise for all ages.

“Last year’s series of courses were all fully booked,” said instructor Jane Booth, who learned how to teach the sport on a course in Richmond Park. As one of Alice Holt Forest’s Education Officers and one of around 500 people in the UK who have become qualified instructors, Jane appreciates firsthand the health benefits of this low-impact exercise.

She has also been responsible for much of the laughter as she gets the group doing warm-up exercises. “Just a minute, you’ve still got your paws on,” she tells one of the group. She takes the novice’s pole and pulls off the little rubber ‘sock’ at the end. “Those are only for when you want to walk down the high street,” she says, deadpan. “You need the pointy end for out here!”

Instructions follow on how to hold the poles, release them from the wrist straps when necessary, and how far forward and backward the arms should swing follow.

“Now pair up and hold the poles horizontally. Your partner at the back has to move those poles for you – pretend you’re a train,” she says, using Sam (the only man in our group) to demonstrate. “We haven’t had any accidents – yet,” she adds, mock-serious, but during the following hour she is at pains to warn the group not to raise the poles too high and risk stabbing a fellow walker.

I was pretty sure I would find some intrepid WI members among the group and I wasn’t wrong.

“My grand-daughter told me she’d seen a group of Nordic walkers one day when she was with her friends and she thought it was the most hilarious thing she’d ever seen,” Sylvia Goodall told me. A member of Selborne WI, Sylvia didn’t admit to her grand-daughter then that she had signed up for the course of four classes. She enjoys walking and takes keep fit classes with other members of her WI.

In fact, because Nordic walking is so much more aerobic than ordinary walking and you are literally pushing yourself forward by planting your poles behind you, anyone who is really unfit will feel the effort. Two ladies keen to make the most of the experience were Janet Radley, President of Rowledge WI, and her neighbour and fellow WI member,  Teresa Howell. Both of them did well in the first lesson. I asked Janet how she got on in lesson number two the following week.

“Several members of the group said that they’d had aching arms the day after the fi rst class,” she said. “Although I’m 72, I was fi ne because I play a lot of tennis, take Pilates and get exercise doing the garden. On our second, longer walk round the forest tracks we went up hills at quite a pace. I wasn’t breathless at the top of them, but some of the group were.”

Towards the end of the walk our instructor told the group to lift their poles and walk without them “to feel the travellator eff ect”.  e group expressed amazement at their decrease in speed. “You can certainly feel the diff erence between ordinary walking and this,” said Sam, walking beside me. Having had an operation on his knee, he was looking for a way of keeping weight off and thought Nordic walking might be the answer.

Jane confirmed that it was an excellent way to burn calories and tone up, and she reassured the group, “You’re taking 25 per cent of your weight load off your joints with this form of walking.”

Janet Radley and Teresa Howell think they might form a small WI taster group for Nordic walking – their WI already has an ambling group and a rambling group for the more energetic members. “We understand poles, especially the good ones, can cost a lot, so we will have to make enquiries” At Alice Holt the pole hire was £1 on top of the £5 cost of each class.

Numbers growing

An estimated 10,000 people were Nordic walking across the UK in 2007. By the end of 2008 that fi gure had rocketed to almost 50,000. Last year a new organisation – British Nordic Walking – was launched to coordinate and manage training courses for instructors and provide information.  e founders Karen Ingram and Catherine Hughes with their team across the UK have collectively trained about 300 individuals.

Among those taking up the activity are people looking to lose weight, athletes recovering from injury or those wanting to maintain energy levels as they get older – and thousands of others who choose Nordic walking just because they enjoy a challenging and sociable pursuit in the great outdoors. Certainly the sociable aspect of this activity was what attracted many of the group at Alice Holt.

“Nordic walking is an excellent form of exercise that combines great results thanks to the use of 90 per cent of muscles in the body, while remaining very lowimpact on joints because of the use of poles,” says British Nordic Walking Director Karen Ingram. “

There is less strain on the knees and hips, and they also give you an upper body workout that helps to reduce shoulder, neck and back pain. Basically, the harder you push down and the smoother your technique, the greater the workout.”

Some facts about Nordic walking

• More than 10 million people globally enjoy this outdoor activity all year-round.
• Nordic walking uses specially designed poles to enhance your natural walking experience. They build upper body muscles and make it feel easier even though it’s working the body harder.
• There are three levels – health level that anyone can do, fitness level for full body workout and sport level for athletes.
• It’s an ideal activity for people who haven’t exercised for a while or who dislike traditional sports or gym activities.
• Nordic walking is part of GP referral schemes, cardiac rehab, working to combat obesity, helping to avoid osteoporosis, keeping older people active, and in deprived areas encouraging people into exercise.

Pick up sticks

Nordic walking poles are very different from trekking or walking poles. They are a much lighter weight and have a specialist strap as opposed to just a looped strap. They may have an ergonomically shaped handle, be height-adjustable and be left- and right-hand specific. A removable shaped rubber ‘paw’ covers the tungsten carbide tip of the pole to facilitate walking on hard surfaces such as pavements.

You can find a pair of poles on ebay for around £20 but goodquality poles, costing from around £50 to £100 a pair, will have an element of carbon in their composition. The carbon content of the pole affects weight, the power transfer and the shock absorbency. Look for a carbon content of at least 40 per cent.

Further information

These are the two main organisations

• British Nordic Walking www.britishnordicwalking.org.uk and Nordic walking UK www.nordicwalking.co.uk
• Alice Holt Forest is owned and managed by the Forestry Commission, at Bucks Horn Oak, Farnham, Surrey GU10 4LS, www.forestry.gov.uk/aliceholt Some general instruction before the group sets off.