2017 Autumn Newsletter

AUTUMN NEWSLETTER 2017

Future Activities & urgent notices!

Friday 13th to Sunday 15th October 2017 Autumn Hotel and Coach Weekend – Forest of Dean and Wye Valley: The final balance is now due. The hotel still has a few twin and double en-suite rooms available. Full details are in the Summer newsletter and on the Club website. Please contact Meg. The total cost for 2 nights’ dinner, B&B, packed lunches, coach travel and gratuities is £225 per head for a shared room. We are staying at the Speech House Hotel near Coleford, .(www.thespeechhouse.co.uk). set in the heart of the forest. Walking opportunities include Symonds Yat Rock with spectacular views across the River Wye and the forest beyond. Graham and Cynthia are organising 2 walks on Friday afternoon and 3 walks for all abilities on Saturday and Sunday. Details of parking, pick-up and departure times will be circulated closer to the trip.

Club AGM: Saturday 25th November 2017, St James Church, Wulfstan Way, Cambridge at 2.30pm. Please put a note in your diary. We are planning to have a professional speaker/demo on first aid – looking at the sort of incidents likely to arise on a walk and the most appropriate responses. More details will be circulated to Programme Secretaries and posted on the Club’s website when settled.

14th January 2018 Sunday B and C New Year lunch walk from The Old Crown, Girton. There will be 2 morning walks, one for each group, followed by lunch. Menus will be available from walk secretaries by email or on walks from late November or December, (as soon as the pub has supplied them). If you are not on the Sunday B or C Walk Secretaries’ email lists please give them your email address. Alternatively, please send John a stamped addressed envelope for a menu. Cheques with menu choices must be received by John by 21 December.

Friday 6th to Sunday 8th April 2018: Hotel and coach weekend trip to Ilkley (2 nights). The Club has booked the Craiglands Hotel, Ilkley, Yorkshire for our Spring Hotel weekend 2018. There are 45 places in a mix of single, double and twin en-suite rooms. See

http://www.craiglands.co.uk/. Ilkley is an attractive spa town situated in Lower Wharfedale at the southern edge of the Yorkshire Dales. It is surrounded by the famous Ilkley Moor and near Bronte Country, which we will explore. We plan to arrive in time to have a walk on Friday afternoon; some of you might like to explore Ilkley. As usual, we hope to offer 3 different walks each day – please let Alex know if you would be willing to lead a walk. Leaders are particularly needed for B and C walks. The total cost for 2 nights, dinner, B&B, packed lunches on Saturday and Sunday, coach travel and gratuities is £192 per head for a shared room and £232 for a single room. To reserve your place, please send a non-refundable deposit of £75 per person to Alex (address on your Programme). Deposits are required by 30 September 2017. Cheques payable to Cambridge Rambling Club, the balance to be paid by 28 February 2018. Car parking details will be given later. Please include your address, email and telephone details with your deposit and any dietary requirements.

Hostel & budget trips: These 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.

*Glossop Travelodge, Friday 29th September to Sunday 1st October 2017. All 12 rooms booked by the Club at the centrally-located Travelodge in Glossop have been taken. If you would like to join us please arrange your own accommodation – but check first with Jill to see if there has been a cancellation. Glossop is situated on the western edge of the Peak District, close to Buxton and not far from Castleton. There is an excellent choice of local walks.

*Truleigh Hill Youth Hostel, Friday 10th to Sunday 12th November 2017, (2 nights). The Club has booked exclusive use of the well-appointed Truleigh Hill YH in early November on a self-catering basis. Located in Sussex between Shoreham and Brighton, high up on the South Downs Way, there are fantastic views and great walks straight from the door. With 52 beds available we can spread out! The cost for the weekend is £45 per person.

*Blaxhall Youth Hostel, Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th February 2018 (2 nights). The Club has exclusive use of Blaxhall YH (41 beds) in early February 2018. This comfortable hostel has been refurbished and is well situated for walks to Orwell and Snape as well as being close to Aldeburgh. The cost for 2 nights, self-catering, is £40. More up-market accommodation is available at the adjacent Ship Inn at Blaxhall, which has 8 chalets and offers B&B.

*Wirksworth, Peak District – long weekend (3 nights) Friday 16th to Monday 19th March 2018. We have booked Sycamore Farm Barns luxurious self-catering accommodation in this wonderful area close to Matlock for 3 nights. No single rooms, but plenty of twins and doubles. The cost is £100 per head. A deposit of £35 is payable on booking, with the balance due by 15th January. A walks guaranteed: B walks leader wanted.

*Llangollen, Friday 4th to Monday 7th May 2018 (Bank Holiday weekend – 3 nights). The Club has booked sole occupancy of this well-equipped independent self-catering hostel in central Llangollen, close to excellent walking country. The cost is £75 per head, with a deposit of £20 payable on booking and the balance due 1st March. There are no single rooms, but a few rooms for two people. B leader wanted.

*A week’s walking on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path: Friday 18th to Friday 25th May 2018. The Club has booked one cottage in Newport and two adjacent self-catering holiday homes, the Old Rectory and Retreat Cottage, nearby, close to the north Pembrokeshire coast. The area offers some of the UK’s best coastal walking and the flowers in May are magnificent! A place in a shared room costs £150, with a deposit of £45 payable now and the balance due 10th March. We will hire a private coach for our linear walks, with A and B options available.

*Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire, Friday 6th to Friday 13th July 2018. Our summer trip next year is to this glorious part of Shropshire, staying in excellent self-catering accommodation in the Old Schoolhouse and adjacent Cottage. The one single room has been snapped up, but there are double and twin rooms available. The total cost is £175 per person, with a deposit of £55 required to secure a booking. B leader wanted!

News and Notices

Thanks to Sally J! Sally, a regular Wednesday A walker, has very kindly offered to take over responsibility for organising our autumn coach/hotel trips from autumn 2018, ably assisted by Cynthia & Graham on the walking front.

Spring 2018 – CRC’s 90th Anniversary. Put Sunday April 22nd 2018 in your diary: Formation of the CRC was first discussed back in 1927 – but we now think it more appropriate to celebrate the 90th Anniversary to reflect the year the first meeting and walk took place, 1928. We have settled on a venue and date – the Townley Memorial Hall at the Fulbourn Community Centre on Sunday April 22nd. A working group of Committee members is planning the event, including afternoon tea from 3.00pm to 5.00pm. We hope to arrange at least three morning/early afternoon walks, open to everyone. Please let any former CRC members who may have retired from walking know that they will be very welcome to join us.

Photos from Club trips/walks wanted

We are collecting photographs to be shown as part of a presentation at the celebration and want to be sure that all sections of the club are represented, so please contact Joan by email or phone 01223 312668 if you have pictures to offer. One or two pictures can be sent by email; larger numbers will need to be shared on a CD or memory stick (returnable). It would be helpful if photos could be sent to Joan by 30th September 2017.

Ron Bailey’s funeral: Ron passed away at the great age of 101 in June and some of his old CRC friends attended his funeral – Sheila, Sue and Maureen. His family is very keen to let us know just how important the CRC was to Ron. In turn, we remember just how much he contributed over many years, organising and leading walks well into his 90s. His London walks were legendary!

Margaret Rishbeth: Margaret has recently moved away from Cambridge to live close to relatives in Sheffield. She wishes to be remembered by old friends. We treasure her well-researched, interesting and stimulating walks, opening up hidden areas of East Anglia to many of us.

Network Rail’s plans to close level crossings – update: We reported in April that Network Rail had submitted its final proposals to close 29 level crossings involving footpaths, bridleways etc in Cambridgeshire. Most involve the total closure of the crossings, with diversions to the affected rights of way. The Cambridge Group of the Ramblers is objecting to several proposals on grounds including long, inconvenient and unpleasant diversions, such as alongside industrial estates and busy roads and often to another level crossing; hardly an improvement in safety, rather a financial saving for Network Rail. We now know that Cambridgeshire County Council is also objecting to more than half of the proposed closures, citing additional costs of footpath maintenance which it will have to pay for, long diversions, increased flooding risks and no investment by Network Rail in improving safety on existing crossings. A public inquiry into the disputed closure plans will be held in the autumn.

Club discounts. Club members wanting to buy goods online from Cotswold Outdoor must provide a code in order to benefit from a 15% discount on ‘full price’ goods. Please contact Jill Tuffnell at jill@cambridgeramblingclub.com to be emailed the code. If you are buying in-store, your Club Membership card will suffice. This benefit runs to 31st August 2018. Stores offering Club members a 10% discount include Open Air, Mountain Warehouse and Trespass in the Grafton Centre. If you are a Ramblers member you can get a 10% discount at Rohan stores on full price goods.

Sunday C walkers are thinking of changing to a walk every two weeks, instead of every 2nd and 4th week each month.  This will only increase annual walks from 24 to 26, but it will mean that there will be no 3-week gaps between walks as sometimes happens now.  It would be great to have more Sunday C walk leaders so that we can do this, starting January to April 2018!

Support our ‘Walking Partnership’ funds. Between 2012 and 2017 the Club has received £2,410 from Ramblers Worldwide Holidays under the ‘Walking Partnership’ scheme. We have used this money to promote and support walking locally, most recently purchasing and installing a seat in Toft parish. Please keep nominating the CRC to receive ‘Walking Partnership’ funds when you book on a Ramblers’ Holiday! We receive £30 for a long-haul trip, £20 for holidays in Europe and £10 for each UK holiday.

Please switch from paper & post to email for your Programme & Newsletter: Just let Anne know if you are happy to switch. It will save the Club £££s. We have been forced to switch printers recently and postage costs have increased.

Club subscriptions for 2017/18 are due on 1st November 2017. Please set up a Standing Order rather than pay by cheque; contact Jim for the Club’s bank details.

Next Committee Meeting: Wednesday November 15th, at the Wesley Church, King Street, Cambridge at 7.30pm.

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