Notice board
Here are all the general announcements about calls for help, working parties, cottages to let, and member's items for sale (no more old boots please). Offers of romantic entanglements in strict confidence, after vetting by the webmaster. Comments and contributions invited by email, no handwritten notes please (photos need be no bigger than 400px)
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Area Holiday Cotswolds 2009 Sept
The hotel for next year's area holiday (Sept 11th to 14th) has been booked with details on the area website (www.somersetramblers.co.uk). Cost is £127 and we'll be based at the Prince of Wales in Berkeley.
Deposits of £25 per person should be made out to "Ramblers Association -- Somerset Area" and sent to Owen Starr 14 Down's Orchard, Meare, Glastonbury, Somerset BA6 9SQ with an application form (which can be printed off from the web). |
| Lost and found:
The area treasurer found a navy blue sweatshirt, with a T D Ramblers logo on it, at the Ashcott Nature Reserve, Ham Wall, some weeks ago. If anyone has lost such an item, contact Roger on 01823 270754. |
| Advance notice of the Sunday half day project for 2009: The Liberty Trail: from Ham Hill to Lyme Regis |
28 miles in 6 stages following one of the routes taken by the supporters of the Duke of Monmouth during the Pitchfork Rebellion in 1685. This is a progressive linear walk, with different starting and finishing points each time. There will be a minibus available for transport from Taunton and the leader will also be coordinating car sharing as necessary. The stages will be approximately 5 miles each although there will be adjustments to allow easy road access and parking for start and finish each time. Following the pattern of 2008 it is hoped that each leg will end with a tea stop. Provisional dates for the stages are:- April 12 & 26, May 10, July 5 & 19, August 9. Further details:- Roger 01823 270754 or rogertherambler@googlemail.com. |
| Learn to walk. In case you are troubled which foot to move after the left (or right), don't worry, help is at hand. You can go on a course. Yes for just £24 you can learn Nordic Walking for beginners (advanced course later). Held at various venues across the county you can learn in only six easy lessons each one lasting an hour. And once you've mastered that, why not be an instructor? Yes there's a course to teach others how to walk. This does take, as you might expect, 16 hours spread over two weeks – and must be bargain of the year at £350. (No duckie, you pay them, not the other way round.) More details on www.learnsomerset.co.uk. Next week: How to tie your laces. |
Blocked paths. Having knocked off the Paths Challenge,  set by Paul Wright our Footpath Secretary where some hundreds of paths were collectively walked and checked, he reminds the group that
"it is important that individual members register the problem rather than expecting the Footpath Sec to do it. SCC take more notice if more than one person registers complaints rather than one Footpath Sec doing it all the time. Also if several people register a problem they will take even more notice of it. Now that the SCC Interactive Mapping is running a bit better I would hope that those members who find their way onto their website could give it a go."
Log on and follow the instructions to enter the footpath problems onto the SCC database. If they can not work out how to use the map then they should email the details of the obstruction, broken stile, collapsed footbridge etc to rightsofway@somerset.gov.uk. It would be useful, but not essential if they could let Paul know about the problem after they have registered it. |
| Get your programme first. Help us to help you - As the programme, newsletter and other papers are now available on this website (and usually a couple of weeks before the postal distribution) you can opt to receive an email telling you that the latest editions are up on the site rather than wait to have them sent to you in the post. This will save the Group considerable time, effort and money.
If you would like to receive your information this way, just email with the word WEBMAIL in the subject line and we will do the rest. Thanks. |
| Link to advice on all aspects of planning, organising and leading walks. (pdf) |
Footpath Maintenance & Clearance
While good and noble work has been carried out by members in Taunton Deane, the current programme has been suspended due to budget constraints (ie SCC can't afford the manpower to supervise us.) |
| Roger Conway has been appointed to the Somerset Local Access Forum (SLAF), a statutory body that watches over the issues that relate to public access to the countryside. He has also become the SLAF rep to the Quantock Hills Joint Advisory Committee. For more info see here. |
| Walk leaders please submit your walk reports. Use this link to download the standard form. Also you can download the walker signing in sheet. |
| Use your paths challenge. Many of you will have read in the Spring edition of "Walk" of the Use your Paths Challenge, which is to walk all footpaths in England and Wales between the Spring Equinox this year and the Autumn equinox next year. OS maps divide the country into 1km x 1km grid squares and the RA want all the paths in every grid square walked in those eighteen moths. For more details go Paths Challenge |
| Lyme disease (correctly termed Borreliosis) has been a worry, particularly on the Quantocks, for some time now. You might like to look at this excellent and informative guide to the disease (pdf format, 225kb) |
| Country Code published. Use this links to get a downloadable copy
http://www.countrysideaccess.gov.uk/countryside_code/
. The main web site: http://www.countrysideaccess.gov.uk/ |
| Is there anyone out there who would like to go Boat Fishing from Porlock Weir for a day. Unfortunately it would be at short notice because of weather. If you are at all interested and would like more details, please ring Nigel on 01823 257030 or mobile 07808860242 |
Basset Hounds. If you just happen to have one of these 
adorable creatures and also like walking there is a new group
in the West Country that runs six walks a year. 20 have been seen at one time. Details here.
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