Eric Wheelbrace

"a man who apparently had walked just about everything bigger than a sheep track in the Near Ramtops" (Thud!)

Eric Wheelbrace is a well-known naturalist and author of books such as Walking in the Koom Valley and 100 Walks in the Ramtops. Would never let unimportant things like hereditary land rights or troll armies stand in the way of his Right to Roam. Eric believed that The Land Belonged To The People, and that he was more The People than anyone else was. He never travelled anywhere without a map, encased in waterproof material, on a string around his neck and a pair of bolt cutters to cut any wire fences blocking rights of way. Not to be trifled with.

Eric disappeared after announcing there was a Right of Way across the The Dancers, and expressing an intent to use it on Midsummer Eve. He may have discovered to which People some of the Land really belongs. No trace of Eric was ever found, but his boots were discovered, frozen solid, in a hedgerow half a mile away from the Dancers. (It is entirely possible that in keeping with elven practice in these matters, a barefoot and disoriented rambler may stagger out from the opposite side of the Dancers, with vague memories of two or three confused days and a nice lady who let him refill his trusty water-bottle, when about two hundred Discworld years have elapsed according to consensus time...)

Annotation

Probably the most famous rambling books ever published in England were the seven books entitled A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells by Alfred Wainwright. These were meticulously observed and beautifully hand-illustrated in pen. And what is a wainwright? One who builds and repairs wagons - especially the wheels.