Hi All,

Welcome to your latest update, with  information about our next social walks, our first  mention of Christmas, some September photos and finally an appeal for volunteers on challenge events in early 2024.

SOCIAL WALKS

SATURDAY 30th September St. Michaels Church Galleywood - Beating the Bounds  15 miles.  9.30am  from St Michaels Church car park, Church Lane, Galleywood  CM2 8TP . Leader Gavin Adlington 07565 888707 gavin.adlington@gmail.com 

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the dedication of St Michaels Church, this walk will follow the parish boundary visiting stones that were placed in 1874 when the boundary was first established.Lunch will be at The Ship in Stock (set off again at 1pm). Could you please let Gavin know if you want to have lunch at the pub, so that we can forewarn the landlord about numbers. Refreshments are available at the church throughout the day.  A full route description is available - might be useful for those wishing to walk faster: Walking the Boundaries

Sunday 1st October  Seven Wood Social Walk. 17 miles. 9am  Belfairs Wood car park, Eastwood Road North, Eastwood, Leigh on Sea SS9 4LR. Leaders: Mike Wheatley (07455 124631) & Linda Fordham (07773 122276).  

The lunch stop will be at  at South Benfleet where there are three pubs  plus a church in the area.  There will also  be morning and afternoon  breaks at Hadleigh Park Hub.

Sunday 8th October A Terling to  Coggeshall Round.21 miles. 9am,  meet opposite Terling Village Hall, The Dismals, Terling, Essex CM3 2PS (some show CM3 2PW) Leader: Gill Struthers 075919 71797

The village of Terling is just a short drive from the A12 and easily accessible from Chelmsford and the surrounding area. There is free car parking opposite the Village Hall. This is a circular walk following a large section of the Essex Way. We stop at Cressing Church for our morning break, then resume our journey towards Coggeshall, joining the River Blackwater for the final stretch into the town. Coggeshall offers pubs and tea shops and also a well stocked Cooperative store which sells hot drinks. There is a large park with seating directly opposite the store, ideal for eating your packed lunch. After lunch we again follow the Blackwater and a rural route around Silver End back to Terling.

THURSDAY 26th October:  Autumn Ramble in East Herts. 20 miles. 9.30am,  Finchcroft Stables, Thorley Lane West. CM23 4BN. Leader: Jane Skinner 07757 916 138

Leaving Finchcroft Stables, where your cars are safely parked behind locked gates, we will walk along a network of bridleways & quiet lanes to Standon for the lunchtime stop (Standon has two pubs a village shop & a very long ford!). The return leg is via Albury & will include a brief tour of the vineyard at Four Acres, Little Hadham where the owner will talk about his wine and sparkling cider production. An opportunity to purchase wine & cider on the day – bring cash or credit/debit card if interested. Approx 30 mins walk from Four Acres Vineyard to return to Finchcroft Stables around 4.30pm. Please let me know if you are coming so we have an idea of numbers  for the vineyard tour. Well behaved dogs welcome. Please contact Jane any time via text or WhatsApp to book your place on this walk. 

Sunday 29th October: Walk Along the Sea Wall. 20 miles, 9am  Tillingham, Westfield car park, Tillingham  CM0 7TR (Opposite the church) Leaders: Linda & Terry (Linda 07773 122276)

From Tillingham we will make our way to St Peters Chapel for  our morning stop, then along the sea wall to  Bradwell on Sea and the marina. Lunch will either be there or at St Lawrence Bay. After lunch we will head back  to  Tillingham on the St Peter's Way.

SNAPSHOTS

With so many wonderful  pictures  of members' walking exploits, it was difficult to choose a few for  September’s Snapshots . I hope you enjoy this selection.  Photos from Essex and Herts  social walks and events  are in our Photo Album

MARSHALS NEEDED!

The 2024 Stansted Stagger on Sunday 7th January is already filling up nicely. Peter Tremain has devised a new route through north west Herts and north east Essex, with checkpoints at Brent Pelham and Quendon.  As ever, we need enough marshals to cover the start and finish and both checkpoints – so if you are able to help out at any time during the day, please let me know.  No specialist skills are required on a checkpoint – all we want is for you to be friendly, welcoming, and encouraging to our entrants.  And don’t worry if you are new to checkpointing as you will be teamed up with old hands.   

There will be a supported marshals’ walk on Sunday 26^th November.

And Norfolk and Suffolk LDWA group will be holding their Winter Poppyline 50 event on 10^th February.  Essex and Herts have been asked to run the checkpoint at  Sheringham, which is approximately half way round the route. The checkpoint will be open on Saturday afternoon and early evening and will provide a hot meal for entrants. I’ve already had a couple of offers of help, but we still need a few more marshals.  We had brilliant support from the Norfolk and Suffolk group on both the Three Forests Way and the Shotley Peninsula 50 - this is our opportunity to return the favour. 

Marshals can claim travel expenses for both these events.

Please let me know if you can help on either event (or both!) at essexandherts@ldwa.org.uk

Happy walking everyone,

Jackie  essexandherts@ldwa.org.uk