COUNTRY RAMBLES
COUNTRY RAMBLES
To contact the Leaders click Rambles for David and the longer walks or Walking for Colin and the morning walks. If you are not a member please remember to include your telephone number.
Would be walkers must be members of the group, must have booked in advance and must have accepted the then prevailing rules and should not attend of feeling unwell
Our aim is to enjoy sociable walking in the wonderful countryside within and within reasonable striking distance of our home patch. We are not route marchers, we do it for relaxation and fun. The group has two parts but sharing a single list of members.
Country Walks led by Colin meets on the fourth Thursday of each month for circular walks of up to 7 miles, starting at 10 a.m. from locations within about a 30 minute drive from the Walton on Thames / Molesey area and finishing at about 1 p.m. Colin emails details to group members a week or so in advance of each of his walks.
Rambling, organised by David, runs one walk each month, usually on the second Thursday, starting at 10.15 a.m. from a point not more than an hour from Molesey and finishing no later than 4.00 p.m. or earlier in the Winter. Distance eight to ten miles. David publishes a 6 month programme for the longer walks. It is attached here January to June and to the Events page of this web site.
Our Health and Safety Policy can be viewed at Walking-H&S. For your own and others’ safety, please abide by any advice and guidelines issued with regard to each walk. Please also remember that you are walking entirely at your own risk. It is for you to decide whether or not you will be able to keep up with the group and complete the walks. If you are unsure do discuss it with us in advance – we reserve the right to turn you away if necessary. Also, remember that it is your responsibility to behave sensibly to minimise the potential for accidents to occur. Although walking is inherently one of the safest outdoor activities no activity is completely without risk.
Guidance for walk leaders is available at Country Walks Group Leaders Guidance.
We encourage submission of photographs to us to help us keep our noticeboards etc fresh. However, if they are submitted we will assume that we have the permission of those shown in them to publish them in the Bulletin, on our Noticeboards, on our web site and in our other media. Please, therefore, always ask those who do not want to appear in photos to tell you and to stay out of shot
Country Rambles - History and Plans.
We are fortunate to live in an area with easy access to some wonderful countryside and a huge paths network so there is a very wide range of choice open to us.
The start point for each of the Country Walks is described in emails sent out a week or so beforehand. Rambling publishes a new programme every 6 months and it is posted on this website, copies being attached to each relevant Event on the Events page. This programme is also downloadable and printable.
On the longer walks, there is normally the option of either a quick lunchtime pub snack or a picnic taken nearby. For all the walks, there are short breaks to allow walkers to refresh themselves in mid-morning and also, for the longer walks, in mid-afternoon.
Nowadays the group has over 100 registered members but, fortunately, not all of them actually come every time. Usually there are only 14 to 20 but we sometimes see as many as 24. In these Covid blighted times we ask members to register in advance for each walk on a first come first served basis, both for track and trace purposes and to allow us to control numbers. The only other qualification for participation is “be at the start on time” and, of course, “be capable of doing the walk”. Members occasionally bring well behaved, well controlled, dogs.
Country Walks started in late 2008, Rambling in early 2010. Both groups were started because the leaders enjoyed walking and, especially, doing so with like-minded company. For a long time they each designed and led all of their own walks but nowadays other members contribute to the programmes.
Our future plans are simply to deliver more of the same whilst trying not to repeat walks too often – an ambition which we achieve, mostly. We observe that, if too many people start turning out for walks, we would need to start new groups.
Click on a picture below to see it full-size with more details.
