2020 Winter/Spring Newsletter

CAMBRIDGE RAMBLING CLUB (Affiliated to HF Holidays and the Ramblers)

WINTER/SPRING NEWSLETTER 2020

Future Activities

12th January 2020 Sunday B and C New Year lunch walk at Bourn Golf & Leisure Club with 2 walks; 6.5 miles for the B group and 4.5 miles for the C group, followed by lunch. Menus are available from walk secretaries by email or on walks during December. If you are not on the Sunday B or C Walk Secretaries’ email lists please contact Miranda or Penny with an SAE to be sent a menu. Menu choices and cheques must be sent to Sue by 21st December.

Hotel & Coach weekend based at Brecon, Friday 27th to Sunday 29th March 2020 (2 nights): The Club has booked the Castle Hotel, Brecon, for our March coach/hotel weekend. There are still places available in a mix of single, double and twin en-suite rooms. Brecon is a lovely town in the middle of the National Park, with its own cathedral, museum, canal etc. See :http://www.breconcastle.co.uk/ .

We plan to arrive in time for a walk on the Friday afternoon or an exploration of the town. As usual, we will offer 3 different walks on Saturday and Sunday – please let Barry know if you are willing to lead a walk. The total cost for 2 nights, dinner, B&B, packed lunches on Saturday and Sunday, coach travel and gratuities is £215 per head for a shared room and £250 for a single room. To reserve your place, please send a non-refundable deposit of £75 per person to Barry (address on the Programme), with cheques payable to Cambridge Rambling Club, the balance to be paid by 1st February 2020. Car parking details will be given later. Please include your address, email and telephone details with your deposit and any dietary requirements.

London walk Saturday 25th April 2020

David will again lead a London walk in 2020 and, as previously, members will travel by train from Cambridge. On this occasion, it will be a 9.5 mile walk from Forest Hill to Balham in south London. Please email david.slade.allard@gmail.com if interested or phone 01763 242677 and full details will be sent to you.

Summer coach outing to Southwold, Suffolk coast, Sunday 28th June 2020: Note the change of date from the last newsletter! A, B and C walks available – please do offer to lead. Please send a cheque for £14.00 per person, payable to Cambridge Rambling Club to Caroline, (address on Programme card), or pay by bank transfer – contact Caroline for details. Parking and pick-up details will be provided in due course.

Lakes’ week, Saturday 12th to 19th September 2020. Keswick is the base for our annual week’s walking in the Lakes. Please let Susan know if you can offer a walk – A+, A, B or C (07776 417499) Also please contact Susan if you have a spare place(s) in booked accommodation or want a room and if you want or can offer a lift to Keswick.

Coach & hotel weekend, Scarborough, Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th October 2020, (2 nights): The club has booked The Red Lea Hotel in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. See www.theredlea.co.uk There are 43 places in a mix of single, double and twin en-suite rooms. The hotel is situated on the South Cliff with striking views over South Bay and has a heated indoor swimming pool. Please book early if you require a single room as numbers are limited. The cost for 2 nights dinner, B&B, packed lunches, coach travel and gratuities is £215 per head for a shared room and £245 for a single room. We plan to organise 2 walks on Friday afternoon and 3 on Saturday and Sunday; offers of leaders to Sally, please. To reserve a place, please send a non-refundable deposit of £75 per person to Sally, (address on the Programme), with cheques payable to Cambridge Rambling Club. (Final payment will be due by 31st July 2020). Please include your address, email and telephone details, and any dietary requirements. If you prefer to pay by BACS please ask for details.

BUDGET TRIPS. These trips, using a mixture of budget hotels, hostels and self-catering properties, 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 leader – please do offer! Travel is normally in cars and we try to arrange car sharing. Offers to drive or requests for a lift to Jill, please. All bookings are handled by Jill, with cheques payable to ‘E G Tuffnell’ or contact her for BACS details. Please note that the full balance must be paid at least 8 weeks before most trips. You are very welcome to book your own accommodation – but do let Jill know!

*Southwold, Suffolk, Friday 7th to Monday 10th February 2020 (3 nights): The Club has booked 3 self-catering properties in Southwold for a long weekend in early February 2020. There is a female share place still available. Please contact Jill before booking – cost £80 per head. Or please book your own accommodation and join us.

*Stratford upon Avon, Friday 6th to Sunday 8th March 2020, (2 nights): Several people have already booked into the Premier Inn Central in Stratford – or reserved rooms at other budget hotels nearby. Please join us and make your own reservations. We plan a linear walk along the Avon Way on Saturday, using a local bus service. For theatre buffs, Shakespeare’s King John is on at the Swan Theatre on the Saturday night – please book seats if you are interested. On Sunday we will walk a circular route from the National Trust’s nearby Hidcote Manor.

*Conwy, north Wales coast, Friday 1st to Monday 4th May 2020 (3 nights): There is excellent walking along the coast and in northern Snowdonia from the historic walled town of Conwy. All places booked by the Club have been taken, but you are welcome to join a reserve list or book your own accommodation. The cost for 3 nights’ accommodation booked by the Club is £90 with the balance of £60 due by the end of February. ‘B’ walks leader wanted.

*Ceredigion coast path walk, Friday 5th to Friday 12th June 2020 (7 nights): The Welsh Ceredigion coast path walk runs from Cardigan in the south to Borth in the north. We are based in Aberystwyth and the Club has booked 4 self-catering properties. The balance of £95 is due by the end of March. We will book a coach to enable us to walk linear stretches of the path. Please let Jill know if you have booked your own accommodation and want a place on the coach. It is possible to travel by train from Cambridge

*Kettlewell, Wharfedale Yorkshire – Friday 7th to Friday 14th August 2020 (7 nights): We have booked the 9 bedroomed Dale House in Kettlewell for a week in August. There are still some sharing places available – please contact Jill for details. The cost is £150 for the week – with a £40 deposit and the balance of £110 due by 1st June. Kettlewell has a shop and several pubs and is at the centre of some great walking country, with Grassington, Buckden Pike and Malham all close by. Please let Jill know if you book independently.

STOP PRESS* East Grinstead, Sussex – Friday 2nd  to Sunday 4th  October 2020 (2 nights) Walk the North Downs and Ashdown Forest from the Travelodge in the town centre. Contact Jill or see the website for details.

News and Notices

AGM report: Jenny thanked everyone on the Club’s Committee for organising such a varied programme of walks and activities throughout the year. Minor changes to the Club’s Constitution were approved. Joan, Rita and Susanne completed their 3-year term on the Committee; Elaine and Anne were elected in their place. Alex and David were awarded Life Membership, in recognition of their contribution to the Club over many years. Annual membership remains £4. Following the business meeting, Sue Edwards gave a very amusing talk on ‘Working in the Mayor’s Office’.

Update on access to the Wimpole estate. The National Trust (NT) has announced that when the new Wimpole car park opens in January 2020, non-members will have to pay a full entry fee of up to £18 if they enter the estate from the car park, even if they only want to walk in the parkland or on public rights of way. We consider that it is fair to pay a parking fee, as now, but not a ‘full property’ price. The NT says that there is no intention to prevent walkers from freely entering the estate on foot – so the new policy could significantly increase parking in villages such as Arrington, Orwell and Great Eversden, as well as along nearby narrow lanes. We hope to persuade the NT to treat organised walks as ‘special events’, as with the Park Run. If successful, the Club will notify the Wimpole Visitor Centre in advance of the dates and times when we plan to walk from the car park and NT members will be asked to show their cards. Non-members may be asked to pay a nominal fee. We will keep Programme Secretaries up-to-date as we have Wimpole-based walks planned for early 2020.

Update on public access to Cambridge City’s Castle Mound: The County Council is moving its HQ to Alconbury near Huntingdon and has put its Shire Hall site in Cambridge up for sale on a long lease, failing to protect the Castle Mound as public open space. A group of ‘Friends of the Castle Mound’ has submitted a claim to designate the entire Mound as a ‘town green’, to maintain access for the public. This will be decided by Suffolk County Council. The Cambridge Group of the Ramblers has submitted evidence, much of it from Club members, to claim a right of way up the Mound from Castle Street – requiring a ‘Definitive Map Modification Order’ (DMMO). This legal process involves providing evidence that members of the public have been able to walk up the Mound, without any hindrance, for at least 20 years. We don’t expect a quick resolution to either of these claims.

Club representation on the Cambridge Group of the Ramblers. Please contact Jill if you can help.

Club discounts. We have negotiated a 15% discount on full price goods at the Ellis Brigham store in the Grand Arcade, Cambridge if you present your membership card. Club members wanting to buy goods on-line from Cotswold Outdoor must provide a code in order to benefit from a 15% discount on ‘full price’ goods. Please contact Jill Tuffnell for the code at jill@cambridgeramblingclub.com. If you are buying in-store, your Club Membership card will suffice. Please note that Open Air’s 10% discount is now calculated on the RRP (recommended retail price), NOT the price Open Air actually charges. Ramblers or Cambridge U3A members can get a 10% discount at Rohan stores on full price goods – or 15% for HF members.

Support our ‘Walking Partnership’ (WP) funds. This year we have received £310 from Ramblers Walking Holidays under the ‘Walking Partnership’ scheme; In addition the Cambridge Group of the Ramblers has agreed to transfer their WP funds to the Club to disburse. Some very generous Club members have also augmented our funds with a £500 donation. We will use this fund to promote and support walking locally. Please nominate the CRC when you book on a Ramblers’ Holiday! We receive £30 for a long-haul trip, £20 for holidays in Europe and £10 for UK trips.

Spending Walking Partnership funds: We are funding two projects at Wimpole this year. The first replaces a stile with a kissing gate – on the public footpath which crosses the A603 and continues north along the Avenue. The gate has been ordered and will be installed as soon as it arrives. The second provides a new seat, made from locally-sourced timber, near the reservoir on the Mare Way footpath – a great place to pause after walking up from Great Eversden or from Cobbs Wood Farm. We are also exploring schemes with the County Council’s rights of way officers.

What3words app: Download this app to a smartphone so that you can advise emergency services of your exact location – providing a unique reference which won’t change. It’s also useful for moving around cities!

Bank transfer payment for Club coach hotel & day trips: If you are paying for Club coach trips by bank transfer, please reference the destination to help our Treasurer Jim. You don’t need to give your name in the ‘reference’ field as this is provided automatically by your bank. Please contact Jim for the Club’s details.

Next Committee Meeting. . at 19.30 on Tuesday 24th March 2020 at the Aldren Wright Room, Friends Meeting House, Park Street Cambridge. Note change of venue!

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