2014 Summer Newsletter

SUMMER NEWSLETTER 2014

Future Activities

Thursday evening walks start 29th May. For 12 weeks over the summer there will be a Thursday evening walk on offer. Most walks start at 18.30; if you can offer or need a lift to the start please contact the leader.

 NEW DATE: Map reading course, Saturday 14th June 2014 at 2.00pm at Royston Heath (finish by 5.00pm). Norman is providing an introductory course for anyone who wants to cover basic map reading and navigation (compass use) skills. The course includes an easy walk of around 2.5 miles over Royston Heath. Please bring along a good compass (Silva, for example, costing around £15-£20) and preferably the 1:25,000 map for this area. The group size will be restricted to 6, so first come, first served! Please contact Norman for more details and to secure a place, (01223 870121). A more advanced course, including taking map bearings, is also planned as a follow-up.

 Sunday 22nd June: Coach outing to Suffolk: Felixstowe and the rivers Deben and Orwell. There will be a choice of up to 4 walks, ranging from 5 to 14 miles – or you can come along and explore by yourself. The cost is £15 per head; please send cheques, payable to Cambridge Rambling Club, to Angela. The coach will depart from Harvey Road Cambridge at 8.30 and should return by around 18.30.

Lakes week Friday 19th to Friday 26th September, based in Keswick.Jenny has taken on the organisation of this year’s Lakes trip, based in Keswick. Around 18 people have booked their own accommodation so far, mainly in self-catering cottages etc. A varied programme of A and B walks will be available, with good and poor weather options. It is planned to book a pub/restaurant for a communal meal on 2 or 3 nights, and also to meet up each evening to discuss the next day’s plans. Please contact Jenny if you are planning to come; offers of walks too please! (Phone 01223 811525; email jenny.u@btinternet.com )

Friday 17th October to Sunday 19th October 2014, Coach Weekend, HF Malhamdale, Newfield Hall is a grand 19th century Country House, situated on the southern edge of the Yorkshire Dales NationalPark. We can follow the valley north to the village of Malham and the immense cove and beautiful tarn. We plan A, Band C walks. The house has elegant public rooms, an indoor swimming pool and new dining room. The total cost includes 2 nights’ accommodation: dinner, B&B, packed lunch (Sat), coach travel and gratuities. After the end of February, rooms that were originally reserved for our Club have had to be released back to the hotel to be filled on a first come, first served basis. However, until the hotel has filled the rooms, it is still possible to book a place in an ensuite twin room at a cost of £203 per person. So – those of you who are interested, it is not too late! Just send a deposit of £50 per person to Meg. The balance will be required by Thursday 28th August. For more details see

Spring Coach Hotel Weekend 2015 – date for your diary.Next year’s Spring Hotel Weekend will be Friday 27th – Sunday 29th March 2015. Put the dates in your diary. Bookings will be taken in September 2014, when the autumn newsletter is published. Costs are not yet known. We shall be staying at the Longmynd Hotel, Church Stretton, Shropshire, now part of the HF group. http://www.longmynd.co.uk/Church Stretton is set in a landscape of stunning variety and beauty and is the only town within the Shropshire Hills Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Its 5,000 residents live in a rift valley between the heather-covered Long Mynd (Long Mountain) to the west, and the even more imposing rocky peaks of the Stretton Hills to the east. Offers of leaders to Alex, please.

 Hostel (& budget) Trips: Hostel trips are informal affairs and, if a long way from Cambridge, are often for 3 nights or more. ‘A’ walks are guaranteed; ‘B’ walks depend on a volunteer leader – please do offer! Travel is normally in cars and we try to arrange car sharing. All bookings are handled by Jill Tuffnell, with cheques payable to ‘E G Tuffnell’. Please book with deposit or payment well in advance as the full balance must be paid at least 8 weeks before the trip. Offers to drive or requests for a lift to Jill please. You are very welcome to book your own accommodation and join us on walks.

 *Brecon Bunkhouse, Thursday 1st to Monday 5th May 2014 (4 nights). We have sole occupancy of this independent self-catering hostel just 4 miles south of Talgarth, close to the Black Mountains and Hay-on-Wye for the bibliophile! There is excellent walking straight from the door and a pub nearby for evening meals. There are still several beds in dorms available for last minute bookers, at a cost of £60 per person.

 *South West Coast Path, Friday 23rd to Friday 30th May 2014 (7 nights). The Club’s booked places have all been taken for this trip to Cornwall. However, you are very welcome to go on a waiting list for any last minute vacancies, or to book B&B accommodation nearby. The itinerary is 4 nights in Penzance, then 2 nights at the Lizard, followed by a final night in Penzance.

 *Northumberland coast & hills, Thursday 7th to Wednesday 13th August 2014, (6 nights). With 3 nights in Rothbury (next to the NT’s great Cragside estate) and 3 nights at Wooler, this trip has proved very popular, with most places taken. There are just two hostel places for men still available at Rothbury (at a cost of £60); the Wooler hostel is full, but there are B&Bs in the village. Any women interested in the trip will need to book B&Bs in both locations. For those already booked – please pay the balance by 1st June.

 *Much Wenlock, Shropshire, Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th October 2014 (2 nights). We have sole occupancy of the 16-bed Granary at Stokes Barn, close to Much Wenlock and Wenlock Edge. There is one two-bedded room, with dormitory accommodation in a mix of single and bunk beds. The cost is £40 per person for the weekend. Please send a deposit of £15 with the balance due on 1st August 2014. B walks’ leader required.

 *Stow on the Wold YH, Friday 31st October to Sunday 2nd November 2014 (2 nights). The hostel is right in the heart of this beautiful Cotswold town, with excellent walking straight from the door. Only dormitory rooms (4 or 6 beds) are available in the hostel – but you can book separately into one of the many nearby hotels or pubs. The cost is £30 per person. B walks’ leader required.

 *Wells next the Sea, north Norfolk, Friday 30th January to Sunday 1st February 2015 (2 nights). We have sole occupancy of this 30 bed self-catering hostel in the delightful coastal village of Wells, close to Holkham Hall. The regular coastal bus enables us to walk part of the Coast Path. There are 3 double rooms available. The cost is £40 per person for double rooms and £35 for bunks in 4-bedded rooms. B walks’ leader required.

 March 2015 Travelodge weekend! Following the success of our recent trip to the Travelodge in Tunbridge Wells, we plan a similar venture next year. The provisional date is 13th to 15th March – probably at either Maidenhead or Canterbury. We can’t book yet – so keep an eye on the Club’s website for further details.

 News and Notices

 Next of kin/emergency contact details. The Club’s Committee has agreed that it would be very useful for anyone going on a Club trip to provide ‘next of kin’ or ‘emergency contact’ details – name, address and phone/email. Hopefully these will never have to be used! Please let us know your details – via the weekend/hostel/outing trip organisers.

 Dogs on walks: Following an incident on a recent Wednesday ‘A’ walk the Club’s Committee has discussed our policy on ‘dogs on walks’. The revised policy is now summarised on the Club’s website as follows:

  • Any member wanting to bring a dog on a walk must contact the leader in advance; the leader can refuse for any reason.

  • If the leader agrees, the dog should be kept on a short lead throughout the walk. (The only exception is if the dog/owner is charged by an animal).

  • Trained ‘assistance’ dogs, such as ‘hearing’ dogs, are allowed on any walk, but must be kept on a short lead.

 A new link to ‘CANTAB Rambler’: Starting back in 1999, Janet & Roger Moreton, who have been so active in the local Cambridge Ramblers Group, have published a journal called CANTAB Rambler. Now on edition number 76, it is possible to access this wealth of information online via the Cambridge Ramblers’ website. A new link has been set up on the Club’s website, under ‘Walking websites’. A regular feature is ‘parish/village of the month’. For anyone planning a walk it is amazingly useful, as very well-researched information is provided. An index and map of parishes covered is included. The March 2014 edition discusses the drainage of the fens in Teversham, Fulbourn and the Wilbrahams. See ‘Cantab Rambler magazine’.

 Membership cards for ‘online’ members! Programme secretaries hold some cards to hand out to members who receive their newsletters etc by email, rather than as hard copy by post – but if you miss out we can still mail a card to you. Please contact Anne Turpin if you would like a card sent. Cards provide a discount at several Cambridge outdoor stores, including Open Air, Hobbs, Cotswold and Simpers.

 Sad to report. Since the last newsletter we have been notified of the deaths of Tom Sneddon, Leila Brown, Mervyn Leat and Faith Wormald. All played a significant role in the Club’s activities for many years. Barabara Leat would like to thank the many members who have passed on their sympathy and condolences. Faith’s son has also written, saying how much she and her husband Kenneth valued the Club and the friendship of its members.

 Car parking places: A very useful map and list of car parking places is now available for walks’ leaders on the Club’s website. This gives the parish, description and location with grid reference and postcode where available. Information on charges, contact details etc. is also provided. (Pubs are excluded). See ‘Parking Places’ under the ‘Members’ section.

 Public House details: Please can you let Jill Tuffnell know of any news relating to pubs so that she can keep the list on the Club’s website up-to-date? A few country pubs have re-opened recently — but others have closed.

 Wednesday ‘C’ walks: It is essential that anyone intending to come on a Wednesday C walk contacts the leader in advance. This is because numbers need to be booked in at the pub being used for coffee and lunch; coffee is at 10.00am before the walk, when members make lunch choices for after the walk.

 The Walking Partnership: If you are going on a Ramblers Worldwide Holiday the Club can benefit. Just contact RWH by phone or online, give your holiday booking reference and nominate the Cambridge Rambling Club under The Walking Partnership scheme. We receive £10 for a UK holiday, £20 for European holidays and £30 for every long-haul trip.

 Reporting Footpath problems: The Committee encourages Club members to report problems with rights of way to the appropriate local authority (usually a County Council in our area). Cambridgeshire CC has an on-line reporting form on its website, under the ‘Roads’ section on the home page; select ‘Report a highways fault’. Under ‘What is the problem?’ select ‘public rights of way’; under ‘Where is the problem’ select a parish under ‘town’. There is a map alongside which you can zoom in on, right down to the path(s) with problems, although you generally need to add a grid reference. It is vital that problems are reported, so that the true state of the network is known.

 Next Committee Meeting is on Tuesday July 15th at the Wesley Church, King Street, at 7.30pm.

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