Crook and Weardale Ramblers is a local ramblers group which has just celebrated its 50th Anniversary of walking, writes member, Dennis Ebdon. Our intention is to help our local community to discover and enjoy walking in the North of England and it is also great for your health and wellbeing. We also strive to protect and expand access to the places we all love to walk to make sure they remain open to everyone.
Our Sunday and Wednesday walks, which are led by trained walk leaders, are a great way to experience the outdoors and explore new places safely and in good company. You will get a warm welcome from everybody on our walks. We would love you to join us on a group walk and you can bring your dog along too.
Historically and for many years we organised fortnightly walks. Over the last five years we have increased the number of walks to weekly (on Sundays) then added mid-week walks in the summer months. Our walks are moderate and we grade the walk levels to accommodate all walkers. There are annual coach trips in summer months to more outlying places to include both walkers and shoppers. We also organise social events to keep our now less mobile ex-walkers included in group activities and there is an online newsletter to keep members updated.
We have created a WhatsApp group for members and ex-members to circulate walk photographs and become a support group, especially to those living alone. There was a real community spirit during and after lockdown with help and support with shopping, prescriptions, GP and hospital appointments.
We have also recently started a book club within our membership, which has proved a great way of sharing within our community. There is a printed quarterly walks programme which is available for everyone to access on our website. We issue our walks programme seasonally four times a year.
Our next planned walks are Great Whernside on Sunday 30 July. This is a 10-mile, moderate to strenuous walk led by Mike Knipe. That will be followed the next Sunday (6 August) by an easy to moderate 7-mile walk in Durham City led by David Balmer. For detail of all our walks, visit ramblers.org.uk and search for the Crook and Weardale club.
As part of our programme of walks we extend to further afield with five bus trips per year between May and September. The remaining ones for this year are: Scarborough on 5 August and Ilkley on 2 September, which include a minimum of two grades of walk as well as shopper, sightseeing and day-tripping for those more inclined to those activities. And finally for the end of the year there is a Christmas Dinner organised.
If you have got any questions about this group’s walks or how we are helping to protect the local environment, you can get in touch with us by contacting our secretary, Mike on 07970 460910.
Ferryhill & Chilton's local community newspaper.
