Ramblers Association
The North Hampshire Downs Ramblers group, is part of the Ramblers Association, we walk mostly in Hampshire and the surrounding countryside. In the last few months our group has enjoyed both walks and social activities.
The group walk on both Tuesday and Saturday and cover areas in and around Basingstoke as well as sometimes going further afield.
We have recently had our AGM which is held each October and usually is combined with a speaker. This year our talk was about the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance Service.
Along with Woking Ramblers the group have volunteered to assist with checking thirteen circular walks based around the Basingstoke Canal. The original publication is about twenty five years old and some walk descriptions have had to be changed. The booklet will be re-published once all the walks have been completed and are now correct.
We have also enjoyed walks around Hampshire and beyond, travelling by train to the New Forest, Pewsey , Thatcham and beyond. Our Tuesday walks are always popular and we can have up to 30 walkers. Tuesday walks tend to be around Basingstoke and have included a meander around Old Basing, Ashford Hill , East Stratton and more.
As well as the walks, the group also enjoys some social activities; this includes an Annual Summer Picnic, Boys lunches and we are just introducing a ladies lunch. Our Xmas lunch has now been booked and is a very popular event.
The group have an active path patrol group, who report problems to the local council and also do some work on the paths, which can be as varied as checking waymarking and replacing waymarking discs, minor clearing or even repairing stiles and gates. To date this group has replaced a large number of gates in conjunction with the local council ,the latest was the replacement of a stile with a kissing gate at Ashford Hill, some footpath clearance work was done at the same time.
If you are interested in finding out more about the North Hampshire Downs group, there is more information on our Website. www.northhampshiredownsramblers.org.uk.
If you are new to walking and want to give us a try, or already walk, you would be given a very warm welcome by the Group. We hope to see you soon!
If you are interested in joining the Ramblers we suggest you come along for a couple of walks with the group first to get a taster. Membership details are available from the Ramblers’ national website: www.ramblers.org.uk
