We've discussed the possibility of longer walks for a while so I'm giving it a go to see what happens.
I'm proposing to follow one of Christopher Summerville's walks in May. You might know of his walking notes published in The Times. His East Dean and South Downs walk stands out as a good one for us.
You can see the 8 mile route on his web site here and in a mapping web site here (you can use the 'Graph' options on the left hand side to show elevation and gradient graphs).
I estimate the walk will take around 4 hours. There's no pubs or cafes to stop at en route and, if we start at a civilised time, we won't get back to the pub in time for lunch. I therefore suggest a 10am start, as usual, with breaks for elevenses and a picnic lunch - hopefully with glorious views from the top of the Downs. That would get us back to the pub around 3pm in time for some well-earned refreshment.
I suggest Thursday 10th May for this first walk. That doesn't interfere with the Walking Group's regular slot and conflicts with just one other group that doesn't include any regular walkers. A Thursday walk might allow some people to join us who are normally unavailable.
To start with, I'm sending this note out to the Walking Group members to find out:
- Who might be interested
- What issues there might be with the suggested date
- Suggestions for improvement to my proposal
Depending on feedback I'll update the proposal and send it out with the next all-member email and include an entry in the next HIU3A newsletter.
If reaction is positive, we can consider additional, longer walks for the Summer - suggestions welcome.
Andy
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