Walk the Path 2008

For the first time in four years there was no rain for our annual Walk the Path weekend on May 10th & 11th. In fact it was the hottest weekend of the year, with wall to wall sunshine and temperatures around 25/26°C, well in excess of the seasonal average. Bottles of water, sunglasses and suntan lotion replaced the waterproofs required in previous years and the event
proved a great success.

A total of 250 walkers came along over the two days - a 40% increase on last year - with a record number of dogs in attendance as well, 16 over two day.

On Saturday 119 people - started the walk, including two under-tens, six dogs and a two-year-old in a buggy. The 13-mile stretch from Rowhill to Sandhurst took its toil
and by the end of the day 10 people had dropped out, mostly due to the heat - although the two-year-old in the buggy and a nine-year old
reached Sandhurst.

On Sunday the numbers were slightly higher with 129 registered walkers and ten dogs. In fact four people, who had originally only booked to walk on the Saturday, enjoyed themselves so much they decided
to come along on Sunday as well - including our nine-year-old.

There were conflicting opinions whether Sunday was hotter than Saturday, with no firm conclusions, but only two people dropped out,
and that was only after they’d
taken a wrong turning. This year there was a new venue for the
lunchtime stop, an attractive
riverside site at Eversley, and along
with the water and sandwiches one
family group celebrated a birthday
with a birthday cake complete with candle, (happy birthday Bryan).

At the end of the day everyone seemed to agree that they had enjoyed themselves and we were very heartened by some of the fantastic comments on the returned evaluation sheets, which included “Enjoyable walk” “Very well organised” Excellent day, looking forward to next year” and “Great”.

If you had your picture taken by the Hampshire County photographer,
we’ve been informed that the story will not appear in the July issue, as we were told, but in a subsequent one. I will try to find out exactly which one and let you know.

Finally, if anyone is looking for a sun hat that they lost over the weekend we have two waiting to be reunited with their owners; one was found on the minibus on Saturday morning the other left in Swallowfield Hall at the end of Sunday. We also have a plastic drinks bottle that was left in Swallowfield Hall. If any of these items sound familiar to you get in contact with Christine by ringing the number given below or sending an email.

Our thanks to all of you for coming and making it such a great weekend.

Walk the Path - our poem for the day >>>

Report written by Christine Reeves