Tuesday, 19th April at Bilsthorpe Welfare
Walks Programme
The group have just completed a twelve-month programme of walks, the main difference from pre-covid years being that fewer walks have been made in the Peak District and planning has been on a month-by-month basis. We are well on the way however to going back to a 6-month programme. No booking has been needed and there has never been a limit on numbers which have averaged 17 per walk. Walks have been advertised only on our own website or blog though it is possible that we will resume advertising on the rebranded Walks Manager. Social events will also resume and will include a 3-day trip to Derwent Water in September.
Publicity
One of our members has been working with Rushcliffe Ramblers to prepare a tri-fold leaflet to publicise the options available for walking within the Rushcliffe area with reference to Wellbeing Walks as well as the local Ramblers Groups, Rushcliffe in the west and VBR in the east. We continue to advertise in ten local, free newspapers and this has resulted in a number of new members.
VBR Website
The website and this blog have been updated regularly with images of every recent walk. Over 400 routes of walks, mainly in the East Midlands and the Peak District, are also available to visitors as .gpx files, OpenStreetMap raster images or links to OS Maps.
Access to rights of way
Our RoW Officer has been involved with the Area RoW Committee looking at the impact of solar farms in our area including two proposals just over the border in Leicestershire, another at Kingston on Soar, one at Costock and a new proposal being developed between Hawksworth and Thoroton.
We have also continued to press for a more coherent approach to the recording and dealing with rights of way problems in the county (in particular the replacement or improvement of stiles) which limit access to the countryside for many walkers. To this end, we have published a review on our blog of the Ramblers’ Pathwatch app and desktop version and reported the results to Ramblers HQ.
