We feel fortunate to have such a wide variety of footpaths and walks on our doorstep, so easily accessible for our Wirral and North Wales based walkers. Throughout the year, our group enjoy every changing mood that each season brings to the countryside, as shown below in this section.
March Review
According to the Met Office’s Press Office the country experienced 27% more rainfall than the March average this year, with our Spring holiday destination of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire seeing double their expected rainfall in the month.
Our holiday week was blessed with mainly dry weather although it was wet and muddy underfoot making progress slow and tricky – and the Boot Room back at our HF Hotel in Bourton on the Water was a busy place at the end of our walks as we struggled to clean our boots of glutinous Cotswold mud ready for the following day.
The hotel was well placed in the centre of Bourton and was the start and finishing point for three of our walks, and where welcome refreshments were enjoyed over some lively banter! During the three days, the A walkers took in Naunton and the Slaughters, Lidcombe Wood, the picturesque villages of Stanton and Snowshill, and Clapton on the Hill and the Rissingtons. The B group’s walks included Snowshill, The Slaughters, and Guiting Power. The pretty Cotswold villages very much lived up to our expectations and our timing was fortunate as we witnessed a profusion of Magnolia blossoms and wild flowers. At every turn in the villages through which we walked there were well-tended and colourful gardens – an inspiration to get planting on our return home. Many thanks go to Pat for organising the holiday, and to walk leaders Pauline, Margaret, John, Dave, Jon and Peter.
Our local walks on the remaining weeks of March were subject to a number of last minute changes, mainly due to the wet and muddy conditions. The A group travelled to Norley, taking in Kingsley and Delamere; to Bryn Alyn and Moel Findeg; and to Chirk where a good torch was the order of the day for the 421-metre-long tunnel stretch along the canal. B walkers visited the area around Moel Fammau, Bidston Hill and Birkenhead Park, and Chirk; our C group enjoyed a walk from Caldy to West Kirby.
The Club’s April to October programmes of walks are now published on this site and we look forward to a summer of great walking and companionship.
Thanks to Ian, Phil, Pat Gill, Joyce, David and Steve for this months selection of photographs.
"You do not conquer mountains, but sneak up and down when nature has turned her back"
Major 'Bronco' Lane (SAS Soldier & Mountaineer - and in anticipation of our 2024 programme of A+ Walks)