All posts by Julian

Interested in Walking Longer Distances?

We have lots of groups in Norfolk Area Ramblers who offer walks across the county (and beyond), as well as walks of different lengths. Sometimes there is the belief that Ramblers only offer shorter walks, and although we’re proud to offer those, we also have some longer walks as well.

Legstretchers is our long-distance walking group and there are walks of around 18 miles offered on the first Sunday of every month. There’s more information at http://www.legstretchers.org.uk/, or why not have a look at the walk Cas is leading in February 2020?

Details of Cas’s walk on Sunday 2 February 2020 are available at https://www.meetup.com/Norfolk-Area-Ramblers/events/267116708/.

Walking in the West of the County With King’s Lynn Group

For anyone interested in walking in the west of Norfolk, we have an active group in the area, which is King’s Lynn group. The group offers over 200 walks every year, with walks taking place on weekdays and weekends.

They have an active web-site which is regularly updated with photos and links, with a list of all of the walks which are offered in the area. Have a look at https://kingslynnramblers.wordpress.com/posts/ for further information.

Norfolk Area Ramblers AGM

We’re pleased to announce that the area’s 2020 AGM will be held at Great Witchingham Village on 8 February 2020. There’s a five mile walk starting at 11.00, or the main proceedings will start at 14.00.

Richard P May, the area chairman and national trustee, will be in charge of the AGM, which is a great chance to question him on national policy and meet other members from across our groups in Norfolk.

The 2019 AGM summary is available here.

Heritage Walks in Lessingham and Ingham

On 21 and 22 September, there was a joint event organised by Norfolk Area Ramblers and NORAH, the charity with links to Norfolk Record Office. There was a talk in Lessingham by NORAH trustee David Stannard, before a walk to see the church and then a walk to the former priory at Ingham.

The above photo is the chancel of Lessingham church, which was damaged by a storm in 1961.

As an extra bonus, there was chance to ring the bells at Ingham church. Above is Dave, making it look easy, although others found it harder. However, extra credit must go to eight year old Dylan on the Sunday though, for his remarkable efforts!

This is a sundial by the door of Ingham church, which was used to mark the time of services throughout the day. Thanks to Bunty at the church for showing us around on both days, much hidden history was revealed to us!

Footpath Secretaries Wanted

We’re always on the lookout for more footpath secretaries to support the work that we do to protect the path network in Norfolk.

Ian Mitchell, our area footpaths officer and Vice-Chairman, has written the below short guide to the role. Anyone interested, please do contact Ian.

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This is an appeal for members to volunteer to become Footpath secretaries in the Norfolk Area. Many areas have a patch system so that a whole county is covered by footpath secretaries. The patches could vary in size from the few parishes that might be represented
by a County Councillor upto the area of a District Council.

The work is likely to vary in frequency:-

1. Getting to know most of the paths in the patch, with their various problems. Learning how to use the NCC reporting system. Knowing the Access Land could also be useful.

2. Checking and commenting on planning applications that might affect a path. Trying to see the implications of large schemes.

3. Checking rights of way orders, and consultations about them. Some of these will arise from the previous work.

The volunteer would be issued with a copy of the “Blue Book” on Rights of Way law and practice. We would hope to run a course either here in Norfolk or to fund travel to a course run by Central Office.

Although not absolutely necessary to be on the internet, electronic contact would be of great assistance. It is easier to receive and look up documents in that way. Your sources of information will be the Area Footpath Co-ordinator, Norfolk CC, the District Councils, Parish and Town Councils, Newspapers and their advertisements of official notices, some libraries.

Recent examples of the work:

1. Reporting to NCC a new fence and stile at Corpusty where both are unnecessary.

2. Notice in the EDP of planning application for expansion of Beeston Regis quarry, and submitting a representation about the effect on rights of way.

3. Checking a diversion order at Seething that arises because of an earlier planning application for houses.

Norfolk Ramblers Take Part in ‘Time to Talk Day’

Norfolk Ramblers are taking part this month in a national campaign which focuses on mental well-being. One of the great things about walking is that it’s a healthy pursuit and we have some wonderful areas of coastline, woodland and riverbanks to explore in Norfolk.

We also want to people to feel comfortable talking about any mental health issues that they wish to, so we want to get people walking and talking. There should be no stigma to mental health issues and we just want to say that if anyone wants to talk, then they’ll find an open ear to listen.

Julian White, the area publicity officer, said:

“One in four of us will experience mental health issues this year and we want our groups to be a place where everyone can feel welcome. Getting out and meeting people is a great way to get healthy and also talking to others helps to alleviate loneliness and mental health issues. We have many members who have joined one of our groups and have found it’s a new community of friends for them”.

We’re running a number of walks as part of this campaign. The main day is Thursday 7 February and Hike Norfolk have a 6 mile walk near North Walsham. There’s more information here:

Thursday 7 February 2019 – 6 mile walk from Honing Common (Time to Talk Day)

Thursday, Feb 7, 2019, 10:00 AM

Honing Common Road
Honing Common Rd North Walsham, GB

9 Brave Walkers Attending

The very lovely Heather, who is also our official radio spokesperson after an excellent performance in December (see the event photo above, Heather is the one without the beard, as the one with the beard is Richard May, our quite competent area chair), is leading a walk for Hike Norfolk on Thursday 7 February 2019. It’s a mid-week walk and everyone…

Check out this Meetup →

Norwich Group also have two walks. The first is 10.5 miles and starts from Swanton Novers on Sunday 10 February, with information here:

NORWICH RAMBLERS Sunday 10/02: Swanton Novers 10.5 mi (“TIME TO TALK DAY”)

Sunday, Feb 10, 2019, 10:00 AM

Swanton Novers Village Hall
St Giles Road Swanton Novers, GB

17 Brave walkers Attending

The Ramblers, Britain’s biggest walking charity, is teaming up with mental health awareness campaign Time to Change for their annual Time to Talk Day on 7th February (please see this link: https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/?utm_source=Time+to+Talk+Day&utm_campaign=17bcddc254-time-to-talk-day-guide-all&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_14847c985e-17bcddc2…

Check out this Meetup →

And there’s a 10 mile walk from Mannington Hall on Wednesday 13 February, with information here:

NORWICH RAMBLERS Wed 13/02: from Mannington Hall, 10 miles (“TIME TO TALK DAY”)

Wednesday, Feb 13, 2019, 10:00 AM

Mannington Hall
3 Mannington Hall Mannington, GB

19 Brave walkers Attending

The Ramblers, Britain’s biggest walking charity, is teaming up with mental health awareness campaign Time to Change for their annual Time to Talk Day on 7th February (please see this link https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/?utm_source=Time+to+Talk+Day&utm_campaign=17bcddc254-time-to-talk-day-guide-all&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_14847c985e-17bcddc25…

Check out this Meetup →

There’s more information about the national campaign on the Ramblers web-site.

Thanks to Those Involved in the Festival of Winter Walks

We’d just like to thank everyone who was involved in this year’s Festival of Winter Walks. We had a big turnout on many of the walks and we know many new walkers came along, and we hope that everyone enjoyed their experience. We even had over 20 people to the walk led by Maria from Norwich group on Christmas Day, a great turnout!

Richard, our area chairman, and Heather, walk leader on the first day of the Festival, being interviewed as part of a feature on BBC Radio Norfolk. The theme of the festival was loneliness and isolation, and how Ramblers can help people get healthy and meet new people, and we’ll be running similar projects in 2019.

Article in Guardian About Rights of Way

There is an interesting article in the Guardian newspaper this week which looks at rights of way and the work we are doing to protect them. We need to ensure that rights of way are listed on the definitive map by 2026, otherwise we risk losing them permanently.

We run free training courses on how you can help with 2026, please get in touch with us at richard@inter-logic.co.uk if you’re interested in finding out more. There’s also more information available at the national Ramblers site.

Festival of Winter Walks Announced

We’re pleased to announce that our annual series of winter walks is this year themed on loneliness and feeling excluded from society. So, we’re running led walks and we’re doing all that we can to try and make them appealing and welcoming to those who’d love to join a group, but might find it hard to do so. And we’re also of course always ready to welcome new members who want to get healthy in the new year, and what better way than by walking?

The festival runs from Friday 21 December 2018 until Sunday 6 January 2019. We have details of some of our walks at our festival page, with the facility to see more about each of the walks on Meetup. Please do message us if you have any questions, queries or are tempted to come and walk with us. We hope to get some media coverage of our festival and we appreciate all the publicity we can get to try and reach out to potential new walkers.

On-Going Ramblers Footpath Maintenance at Blickling

The Ramblers are involved with an on-going project at Blickling which will take a few weeks to complete. It involves replacing a damaged boardwalk and extending its length to allow walkers to enjoy the area without sinking too far into the mud….

Peter James is leading working parties to complete the work and more help is always appreciated.

The path with the damaged boardwalk removed.

Although we’ve had a dry spell recently, this area is prone to being soft during much of the year and the boardwalk is often essential to be able to access the route.

If anyone wants to find out more, or become involved, then message Peter James.