The National Forest Way Walk

A long-distance walk travelled in stages throughout the year giving us the opportunity to enjoy the pleasures of forest walking nearly every month:

• Fantastic variety of woodland scenery
• The great experience of walking Swithland Woods, Bradgate Park and Beacon Hill all in the one walk
• The bonhomie of the post-walk drink or meal in the pub
• The varied changes of scenery through the three counties of Leicestershire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire
• The random sculptures we encountered on our journey
• Organising what was a jigsaw puzzle of all the walks - it worked a treat!
• Going inside Old John Tower - a rare treat
• Overall, breaking it down into stages over the course of the year is a brilliant way to walk a long-distance footpath.  Thank you Mick for organising.

Highlights from Belfast, May 2023

• Dancing to live traditional (and 'Irish-ified' modern) music with the local students until the early hours.
• Climbing to the top of Cavehill Country Park ('Nelson's Nose') - the hard way!
• The sensational views over Belfast from the top of Nelson's Nose
• The amazing scenery along the coastal road to the Giant's Causeway
• The sheer scale of the spectacular Giant's Causeway and the ethereal Dark Hedges
• The whole Titanic museum experience - interesting and at times, moving
• Gob-smacked that a lack of binoculars resulted in the Titanic's iceberg collison
• The Belfast Conflict Walking Tour - very sobering to realise how fragile the peace is
• Belfast Bisque, the Fitzwilliam Hotel and breakfasts with friends
• How helpful people of Belfast are 
• Morning coffee in the Europa Hotel - the most bombed hotel in the world
• Standing on the stage of the Grand Opera House

Highlights from Ingleton, March 2023

After an enjoyable and eventful weekend in the Yorkshire Dales, here is a quick look back to our trip to Ingleton, Yorkshire.

People's highlights of the weekend include:

• A scenic short walk from Chapel-le-Dale to Ribblehead station, accompanied by a fell runner for part of the way
• Trish scampering up Ingleborough "like a whippet in her wellies" and the clear, beautiful views
• The short, steep, snowy and icy stretch near the top of Ingleborough, eliciting such comments as
  • "Saving everyone's life as I pulled them up!" (Judith)
  • "At least if I fall here, I won't die, just get seriously injured!" (Helen-Jayne)
  • "We survived the wall of death! (Helen-Jayne)
• A wander around the pretty village of Settle
• Marian and Alison having the surreal experience of sitting on the M1 listening to birdsong
• The Great Cheese Feast - my first experience of the Yorkshire tradition of eating cheese and fruitcake - together
• The Dales Countryside Museum and the Wensleydale Creamery
• Winning at scrabble - for the first time ever!
• Realising how historically important Skipton Castle was
• Walking, eating and playing with great friends

Sittingbourne, Kent, September 2023

• Playing on a WW2 destroyer and exploring a cold war spy submarine at the historic Chatham dockyard
• Lovely walk on the Kent Downs - stunning!
• The delights of Sissinghurst Castle & Gardens including learning about the extraordinary marriage of Vita Sackville West
• The Saturday night BBQ - thanks Kanna for organising
• Alan getting lots of ladies running after him - again!
• Chillin' in glorious Whitstable