Weekend Trip to the North Downs, Friday 31st January to Sunday 2nd February 2025 (2 nights)

The Club will be visiting the North Downs on the Hampshire/Surrey border for its first weekend trip of 2025. Based in Aldershot we will be close to some lovely walking near Farnham and Guildford which we can access by train or car. Frensham Ponds are a beauty spot with a network of good paths close by. As well as day walks on Saturday and Sunday we will also be offering an afternoon walk on the Friday, probably based at a National Trust property en route to Aldershot. We can guarantee A walks and hope that we can also offer B walks – please do volunteer if you can help.

We suggest staying at the Premier Inn in Aldershot; this is close to the town centre and station and has a free car park. Please book your own accommodation – and do let Jill know if you are coming.

 

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Walking the Anglesey Coast Path – Friday 31st May to Friday 7th June 2024 (7 nights)

The Club will be visiting Anglesey in early June 2024 to walk the best sections of the Isle of Anglesey Coast Path. Based in Beaumaris, on the Menai Straits, we will hire a private coach to help us explore all parts of the island’s coast. There will be one ‘free’ day to enable visits to other attractions, such as the National Trust’s Plas Neuadd house and estate, Puffin Island and nearby gardens. We will be offering A walks and B options – the latter either dropping off or picking up at different points, or omitting sections such as headlands. Please let Jill know if you want shorter B walk options and if you are willing to help lead these alternatives.

Several self-catering properties have been booked on behalf of the Club and currently all have been reserved. The price for most of the accommodation – sole occupancy of a room with a shared bathroom –  is £250 – but a number of single occupancy en-suite rooms are available at £275 per head. Shared rooms are £225 per head. A deposit of £75 is requested to secure a place in the Club’s accommodation, payable to Jill. The balance is due by 1st April 2024.  If you would like to be on a reserve list, to take advantage of a cancellation, please contact Jill.

It is, of course, possible to book your own accommodation and join the group for coach transport to walks. Again, please let Jill know if you would like to make use of the Club’s coach.

It is possible to travel by train to Bangor and then transfer by bus to Beaumaris.

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Loss of Woodland Footpath in Lode parish

Cambridgeshire walkers lose their access to woodland after a public footpath has been blocked for many years. The Inspector considering a disputed application for two footpath diversions says that paths outside the woodland are “easier to navigate”. Heaven forbid that this becomes the norm for planning decisions!

Two public rights of way (footpaths) through woodland near Lode have been blocked for many years, with no attempt by the landowner to unblock them. The Planning Inspector’s report makes no mention of this blockage, which included threatening warning signs such as ‘CCTV cameras’. The Inspector has agreed with the landowner’s newly proposed path diversions to avoid going through the wood. The Inspector’s report says: “[the diversion is] ..easier to navigate than through an area containing bodies of water, trees, and undulating grassed areas”.

The small White Fen Wood is described by the Inspector as ‘a relatively small cluster of trees that are an anomaly in this relatively open and flat landscape’. But the wood is a small remnant of a much larger wooded area and provides a wonderful haven which we would like to see extended. Luckily the National Trust has been active in planting new woodland nearby, alongside the Lodes Way cycle route linking Lode and Wicken Fen.

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