WITH boots, rucksacks and their best foot forward, a clutch of rangers set off on the first leg of a 159-mile trek on Friday.

The 10-day epic to conquer the entire boundary of the Lake District National Park Authority area got underway from its Murley Moss headquarters.

Striding out were a gang of long-established members of the Lake District Volunteers Service - the new name for what used to be the Lake District National Park Authority Wardens.

As well as commemorating the 50th anniversary of the volunteer service being set up to rid the Lake District of litter, the trek was an opportunity to promote the vast range of help volunteers now provide, and to encourage more people to become one.

Derek Tunstall, who has volunteered for the authority for 32 years, explained that the first day's leg of the walk would take in Scout Scar, Brigsteer, Gilpin Bridge, Meathop Moss and Castle Head Field Centre near Grange.

Mr Tunstall, who until recently was the chairman of the voluntary warden service, is now a voluntary ranger. A s he readied himself for the off, he said: "It's the biggest national park, it's the best and it's a marvellous landscape."

Taking part along with Mr Tunstall were rangers Pat Liddell, Alan Farnsworth, Geraldine Fardon, Elfyn Gittins, Phil Dover, Lionel Bidwell, Dick Trepte, Graham Sanderson, Sue Allison, support vehicle driver Dave Tyson and National Park Officer Paul Tiplady.

Mrs Fardon said: "What I am looking forward to is visiting areas I couldn't normally visit, because often we just go onto the fells and ignore the wider perimeters of the national park. I just feel very lucky to live here and very lucky to be a voluntary ranger. A lot of people join the voluntary ranger service because they want to put something back."

The authority boundary circles some of England's finest landscape, stretching from Caldbeck in the north to Lindale in the south, Gilpin Bridge to the east and Calder Bridge in the west.

Along the route there were opportunities for people to join the walk and to see some of the volunteer services, such as footpath maintenance, stream clearance, culvert cleaning and coppicing.

Under the new volunteer service structure, those unable to dedicate vast amounts of time can now pledge a few hours or a certain amount of duties every year.

For more information on becoming a voluntary ranger and an application form, contact Kay Dixon on 01539 446892, or write to her at the LDNPA, Lake District Visitor Centre, Brockhole, Windermere, Cumbria, LA23 1LJ.