Well, we’ve come to the end of our month-long Guildford Walkfest 2021. And what a great time we’ve had since we cut that ribbon only a few weeks ago.. Some of the walks have already been mentioned in previous blogs but this last week or so has been a fitting climax to the season.
Firstly, I must mention our sponsored walk again. A quick look today shows that the amount raised (including gift aid) is well over the £5,000 mark. Walkfest would have been a worthwhile activity just for this. An enormous thank-you to everyone who took part – whether as walker, sponsor, supporter or publiciser.
Amongst the walks, I’ve already mentioned earlier sections of our St Swithin’s Way walk. We reached our destination at Winchester Cathedral this Tuesday (dodging the rain that seemed to be all around us). Our walk leader, Guy Singer, did a brilliant job of making this event so enjoyable and we had a lovely group of walkers on all stages. Four (plus Guy) did all four sections whilst several others did some of them. I can thoroughly recommend this when it appears on the walk list again.
Nearer to home, our Walking for Health groups have been quietly working away throughout the month and inviting our Walkfesters to join them. This week I was sent a photo of them enjoying the sunshine during their Whitmoor walk. They certainly know how to get a good turn-out for their walks including several dogs. On that note it is worth mentioning that many of the walks across the month were ‘dog friendly’ and we need to publicise that better next year.
Our final walk of the 2021 Walkfest was led by Annelize Kidd who many of you know through the Walking for Health programme but who is now also leading walks under the banner “lovethesurreyhills” (more details on her Walkfest programme page for 30th September). Annelize led us on a walk in the East Horsley area with a Lovelace theme and, even as a Horsley resident, she took me along a path which I had never travelled before!
The September weather has been incredibly kind to us with almost every day being dry, mild and with only light winds. Someone must have been looking after us because I woke up on the morning of 1st October to heavy rain and strong winds!
Well, that’s the end of the festival but not ‘The End’. Hopefully many of you will have discovered the joys of walking and getting out into the countryside, found new places to walk, possibly met new people or made new friends and, in general, had pleasure and benefit from participating in Guildford Walkfest 2021.
To all of you, a big ‘Thank You’ for taking part and – keep walking.