A Capital Idea (Saturday 13 March)

Metropolitan Walkers – a Hike group in London – can lay good claim to be the most successful Ramblers group of the last few years. Formed in 2002 from just a handful of eager walkers that organised 2 walks a month it now has over 1000 members and puts on at least 5 walks each and every week. So popular has it become that it is not unusual for their walks to have over 50 participants and for the leader they have now become more of a question of crowd control than navigation. Started as a group that targeted walkers in their 20’s and 30’s today they find a significant portion of their membership in their 40’s. These realities and more has led them consider the need to set up a new group that caters for those in their late 30’s through to early 50’s. (What we used to call middle aged – are we allowed to say that in these politically correct times?) They’re calling this group Capital Walkers.

It was a (relatively) early start Saturday morning ‘cos we had to get to Goring & Streatley station by 10 am. A morning of showering, listening to the Today programme, feeding the cat, getting the slow cooker packed and switched on, deciding 3 layers was plenty, lacing up the boots  and buying the Guardian on the way to Richmond station. Heading for Reading I had time to read the Sports section and peruse the property porn – we’re moving to Huddersfield this week. Went there once and quite liked it actually.
 

At the station there was 20 of us ready for our 12 mile (18 km) Goring circular walk. (I counted 21 which caused a bit of confusion later on. Note to everybody else, if the walk is nothing to do with me don’t let me head count!) Before you get to Goring you go through Pangbourne. This where Kenneth Grahame retired to and E H Shepherd’s famous illustrations from Wind in the Willows was supposedly inspired by the countryside round here. Goring is prime commuter country of about 4000 residents including at one time in its past, George Michael. The Goring Gap is an interesting geological feature caused by the River Thames breaking through the hills and so making its way to the sea east of London. The river runs from north to south here between the Berkshire Downs and the Chilterns. It was soon obvious that 3 layers was about 2 too many when the sun was out, it was warm enough to work up a sweat when walking uphill. Spotted some great clumps of snowdrops as we wound our way through the Oxfordshire/Berkshire countryside. There has been some comment lately that your south eastern variety are slow this year – way behind those up t’north in places like Skiddaw. These ones looked quite majestic in the warm spring sun to me though.

After lunch we briefly stopped at St Mary’s church, Aldworth to have a look at the effigies of the De La Beche family – known locally as the Aldworth Giants. They’re quite literal here ‘cos one of the knights would’ve been over 7 feet tall had this been an accurate representation of him. Anyway the family was famous back in the 1270’s when Edward I was on the throne. It was after this brief excursion that my miscounting caused a problem when we thought we’d lost somebody. Good job that ‘cos we’re a new group we take a register beforehand. (So we’ve got everybody’s email addresses to send them future walks programmes.) Checking this we found there were only 20 to start with – d’oh.

We continued to make good time through the gently undulating Chiltern Hills and when we reached the river decided to stop at the Beetle and Wedge. Here I had a nice pint of Henley Amber, most others had tea or hot chocolate – hmmm. We only had a couple miles to do after that – all alongside the Thames. Back in Goring a few of us stopped at the Catherine Wheel for a quick drink before catching our various trains home. This time it was Brakspeare’s Oxford Gold for me.

The walk was led by first-timers, James and Dawn, and a good job they made of it. The next walk is a Godalming circular starting from the station at 11 am on Saturday March 27. The new walks programme running from April to June is out next week. You can join the Capital Walkers group on their Facebook page and check out their web presence through the link below.
 
More information
Ramblers Business Plan 2009/10 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PWPm8-aLKw&feature=player_embedded 

Useful links:
o The Ramblers     http://www.ramblers.org.uk/
o Capital Walkers   http://capitalwalker.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html
o Capital Walkers Facebook  http://tinyurl.com/yzum8sw 
o Metropolitan Walkers: http://www.metropolitan-walkers.org.uk/
o Kenneth Grahame   http://www.kennethgrahamesociety.net/
o E H Shepherd    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._H._Shepard
o Goring     http://www.goring-gap.co.uk/
o George Michael    http://www.georgemichael.com/
o Aldworth Giants   http://tinyurl.com/yjde3ur
o Beetle and Wedge   http://www.beetleandwedge.co.uk/
o Henley Amber    http://www.lovibonds.co.uk/
o Brakspear’s Oxford Gold  http://www.brakspear.co.uk/

Listen to:

La Habitacion Roja – Capital
Simple Minds – Capital City
George Michael – Faith
Sieben – Spring Snowdrop
Sieben – Winter Snowdrop
Albion Dance Band – Snowdrop Polka

walk has teamed up with The Outdoors Show to offer you discounted entry. Tickets can be pre-booked for just £11, saving £7 on the door price. For yours, visit www.outdoorsshowextra.co.uk and quote WALK1.

Coed Ysgubor Wen is a new wood and a special one; the trees planted there count towards the approximately 32,000 trees that the Welsh Assembly Government is planting to mark every birth and adoption in Wales, as part of its Plant! project. To further boost the event’s eco-cred, there will be no parking at the site. Instead, Coed Cadw are organising a special free shuttle bus service between the wood and the car park in Bryncrug, calling in at Neuadd Egryn in Llanegryn in between and repeating the journey at approximately 30 minute intervals.

Nathan Sutcliffe, 16 years old, from Dolgellau is one of six young people selected by the Welsh Assembly Government to be a Climate Change Champion and will be participating on the day.

“I have planted around 3,500 [trees] so far,” he says, “and am hoping that my role as a Champion will help to fulfill my target [of 100,000 trees] and help preserve Wales’ native woodlands. I feel that the best way to educate people on any subject is by giving them hands on experience, and environmental issues are no exception to this. I hope that plenty of people will attend and gain valuable experience from the event, especially the younger generations. It will give children the opportunity to realise that these kinds of events are not only for adults, and that they can make a difference as well if they try.”

Like almost all other Coed Cadw woods, Coed Ysgubor Wen is open to the public to visit at any time, for free. Visit the wood’s website for more information, plus an interactive map, photographs and the site’s management plan.

As we reported in the Spring 2010 edition of walk, Saturday saw an unprecedented event across the north of England, as a thousand volunteers lit beacons along the length of Hadrian’s Wall. At the time, we could only show you a computer generated mock-up of what it might look like – as it’s never been attempted before!

According to organisers, more than 25,000 people turned out to witness the spectacular event along the 84-mile Hadrian’s Wall Path National Trail, which recreated the lights that once shone from  Roman turrets and milecastles stationed along the length of the Wall.

“Working in partnership with local people, we’ve done something really quite extraordinary to bring to life Britain’s longest and greatest World Heritage Site,” says Linda Tuttiett, Chief Executive of organisers Hadrian’s Wall Heritage Ltd. “It’s something that many of us will remember for a long time.”

4,000 people witnessed the first beacon being lit at Segedunum Roman Fort in Wallsend, where a procession of Roman soldiers escorted a torch to light the first beacon at the fort at 5.45pm, which was followed by a fireworks finale. The line of light ended at the Wall’s most westerly point at Bowness-on-Solway in Cumbria, with the last beacon being fired just after 7pm, marked by Roman re-enactors firing burning arrows into the air.

For more information about walking in Hadrian’s Wall Country visit www.hadrians-wall.org

Note: Flash is required to view the video above.
Click here to watch it directly on Vimeo.com

Shop online at Ramblers online bookshop and you’ll be supporting our vital work.

Shop online at Ramblers online bookshop and you’ll be supporting our vital work.

Shop online at Ramblers online bookshop and you’ll be supporting our vital work.

Shop online at Ramblers online bookshop and you’ll be supporting our vital work.

Book your free tickets to see the event at www.illuminatinghadrianswall.com

“Think of Britain’s celebrated endurance walkers, and you might think of Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Ffyona Campbell, or even the Amazon-trekking Ed Stafford. Well now you can add Morris the dog to that distinguished list. The 13-year-old collie-spaniel cross has escaped his home in a Yorkshire Dales pub so often to join ramblers tackling the Three Peaks Challenge, that he’s reckoned to have summited Ingleborough more than 32 times since last Easter. As a result he‘s been made an honorary Friend of the Three Peaks and awarded a medal by the national park authority. Morris, I salute you!”