Well, we made it through the first week of Walkfest! After all the heatwave temperatures of recent weeks, the weather gods decided that the beginning of September was a good time to balance the books by throwing in a few periods of torrential rain – with the added bonus of thunderstorms. However, so far, our walkers have been able to miss the worst offerings and get out for some really enjoyable walks.
As mentioned in the previous blog, our opening event was a great success with a large turnout, a brilliant venue and a fascinating walk on the Sheepleas. Day two was a much smaller event but really successful in other ways. Unfortunately, we had a higher than usual drop-out rate due to illness (yes, covid is still with us) and other genuine reasons. Those who did make it along to The Hive at Westborough were treated to a great morning.
We started with a tour of The Hive to learn more about this important community hub and then headed off for a walk through some of the open and wooded parts of the area. What made this walk such a success, from the perspective of the organisers, was that we were joined by a couple of Westborough residents who have lived there for many years – and we still managed to show them paths and viewpoints that they had never used. Another great bonus was that David Rose – our local historian and, through the Guildford Dragon, our media partner – was able to join us. This general part of Guildford is David’s specialist topic so he was able to add lots of interesting information as we strolled around the area. Thank you, David.
The week continued in full swing until Thursday. It then became clear that the Queen’s health was failing fast and when the news of her death was announced in the evening, we had to make some quick decisions. We immediately decided that the Friday walk around Shalford should be cancelled as a mark of respect – and, indeed, many other organisations made similar decisions about Friday activities.
The key decision that we took was that since the underlying role of Guildford Walkfest is related to health and wellbeing, the rest of the walks should go ahead as planned. Naturally, the walks on the day of the funeral have been cancelled but everything else is still open for booking.
There is still lots of Walkfest to come - so check out the programme and book your dates. In particular, don’t forget that on Saturday 1st October we have our sponsored walk. Apart from being a great day out, this is an ideal opportunity to support a worthwhile local charity in their work. We look forward to seeing some of you then.
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