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)
|
2010 Group Holiday
This is advance notice of the piece that will appear in the March edition of our newsletter and April-July programme.
Neil Parker says: I am organising our week’s holiday ramble in Jersey - circumnavigating the island in much the same way as we did in Anglesey in 2008. The dates for this holiday will be Wednesday 8th until Wednesday 15th September. (In case you should wonder why Wednesday-Wednesday, it is because the boats are 12:00 out, 14:30 return, whilst most other days are 05:30 or 06:30 out and about 20:30 return.) I quote from the organising company:
" We can hold the price of £449 per person double/twin occupancy for walking the Jersey Coastal Footpath in September 2010. The single occupancy price is £559 per person. These prices includes:
- 7 nights’ accommodation at high quality 3 star guest house on a bed and breakfast basis
- room with en-suite (where available) or private bathroom, tea and coffee making facilities
- return transfer on fast ferry from Weymouth or Poole to St Helier
- return transfer accommodation/ferry terminal
- 6 days return transfer between walking route and accommodation
- support on the route
- detailed itineraries and maps
We can also offer your group return transfer Taunton/Weymouth in one of our minibuses for £14.50 per person. This offer is limited to a group size of between 10 and 14 people. I would be grateful if those of you that are interested will let me know before the end of March - and those of you who are single, whether you would be willing to share a twin-bedded room, or would wish to go for the single supplement. You may wish to visit the organising company’s website: www.letsgowalking.com. Please let Neil know here. |
| Ham Bridge now open |
After a year of shilly shallying Ham Bridge is now 
open, not as in the photo below – which was
taken in Novembre but with a proper deck
and handrails. |
Photos (and reports) always welcomed.
We always welcome pictures and reports of course from members: don't be shy. Just email them to the webmaster here. They don't have to be large files – resample to 400px is fine. Some words of explanation always help.
Here's one from Philip Bisatt that I rather like taken in May 2009 of a walk around Castle Neroche. |
| TV clears blocked path. |
The Daily Telegraph of 27 August 2009 carried a story about group member Dave Patten – and as it happens your webmaster – about his efforts to keep a footpath clear at Helland, N. Curry. Three times he had written to the Rights of Way Dept at County Hall with no response whatever. So a press release was sent out, a pro photographer drove from Bristol, and this is the result (click on image to enlarge):
And click on this link to take you to the Mail On-line (while it's up): particularly read the hilarious reader's comments.
Later that day he was filmed by BBC and ITV consecutively.
The story on right was in the County Gazette (sorry about the hat).
(Click on image to enlarge).
And on YouTube (5 minute clip) |
|
Poetry Corner
While one of our members was walking through Dorset recently he was stopped by . . well read on:
Confessions of a rambler....
There once was a lass with a strimmer,
Was buxom and no longer a slimmer,
Thought she needed some help
From a chap with a whelp
Ah,the memory grows dimmer and dimmer !
Anon |
| How old is your hedge? Help us date the hedgerows of Somerset |
Hedgerows have been part of our beautiful British landscape for centuries. But how many centuries? With your help, we can find out together. Did you know that, just as we can estimate the age of trees by measuring their girth, we can also estimate the age of hedgerows by identifying the plant species living within them? Starting with a small pilot project looking at parish hedgerows around Taunton Deane, we hope the participants may go on to launch projects in villages throughout Somerset.
Since identifying all the species in a hedgerow can be very complicated, we will be learning to use an easy method of rapid assessment. Once we have gathered the botanical data, we hope to link up with local farmers and historians to get a more complete picture.
Ian Clark, Heritage & Landscape Manager at Taunton Deane Borough Council, has kindly agreed to be our leader in this "all-volunteer" project, and for further information, please contact Barbara on 0117-904-39-51, or 0791-087-01-87. |
| 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. |
| Link to advice on all aspects of planning, organising and leading walks. (pdf) |
| 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. |
| 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/ |
The Basset Hound Walkers.
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 12 walks a year. 33 have been seen at one time. Details here.
Or see the video.
|
| Walk Magazine website can be reached by clicking on the image: |
|
