Cambridge Rambling Club

The Government’s ‘roadmap’ for moving out of the winter Covid-19 lockdown allows socially-distanced groups of up to 6 people to meet outdoors from Monday March 29th. On March 23rd the Government published updated advice for resuming ‘organised outdoor sports activities’ after March 29th, specifically including reference to walking clubs. The Club can resume a programme of organised walks as long as we adopt the specific Covid-secure guidelines developed by the Ramblers – as the national body for walking.

The guidance for organising official CRC walks requires us to take the following steps:

• Everyone taking part in a walk should familiarise themselves with the Club’s advice on ‘Taking part in a Covid-secure walk’, as posted on the Members’ section of the website
• It is necessary to book in advance with the leader; the leader must retain contact details of everyone taking part for NHS ‘Test & Trace’ purposes
• The leader is required to prepare a Covid-secure ‘risk assessment’ in advance using the pro forma published on the CRC website. A copy must be retained for one year following the walk
• Social-distancing must be observed before, during and after the walk
• Please try and avoid particularly busy areas

Leaders can set the maximum number of people they are willing to lead and may like to sound out people to help as mid and/or back markers. However, it is not necessary to split into sub-groups of six.

For the foreseeable future the Club will not be publishing a 4-month printed Programme, but will be posting walk details on the website. Some official group walks are likely to resume after Easter – keep checking the website.

We are aware that not all groups wish to organise ‘official’ CRC walks at this stage. We hope that people will feel able to take advantage of the ‘rule of 6’ which applies to informal walks from March 29th. Longer days and better weather provide an excellent opportunity to get out walking – a good time to ‘recce’ new and old routes for the Summer.