Leighton Buzzard1 has had a busy May, especially as we usually walk once a month!
You’d be forgiven for thinking that we have sore feet, because we crammed in no less than nine walks for Walking for Women in May.
We started off on 3 May in Hidcote Manor in Gloucestershire. Four of us had a great day. The sun shone and the temperature was perfect for walking around the gardens.
Our second walk was a local route through water meadows and farmland next to the Grand Union Canal.
On our third, two of us walked in our local country park. It was another sunny day in beautiful surrounds.
Nine of us returned there on another day. On this occasion, we were pleased to be joined by two members of Milton Keynes West NWR.
Our fifth walk took us to a village called Mursely, which is outside Milton Keynes. We did a circular walk across fields full of sheep and down a country lane back to our starting point. We were all dressed warmly and were wearing our waterproofs: just as well as we were rained on for five or ten minutes on our way back to our cars. Little did we know that a heatwave would be starting very soon……
Two of our members went on a walking holiday in the Brecon Beacons during the month, the second far-flung location during May, and did a couple of walks together.
Our penultimate walk was on 29th May, as we wanted to celebrate Living Street’s Mass Walk that day.* We repeated our annual ‘town walk’ around Leighton Buzzard admiring the older buildings in our high street, walking through parks and admiring the beautiful community garden by a church in Linslade. We can’t do that walk without visiting the tree we gifted to the local council which bears a plaque celebrating our fiftieth anniversary as a group six years ago. The six walkers repaired to our local wine bar for lunch with another member.
One of our members suggested that, as we had walked on 1st May, we should ‘bookend’ our walks and so five of us ventured out on 31st May. We walked from the town centre along the Grand Union Canal to Tiddenfoot Water Park, returning the same way. The weather was a little overcast, but warm with a gentle breeze. It was a pleasant final walk.
What shall we do next year!?!
*Living Streets is an organisation whose vision is of a nation where walking and wheeling is the natural choice for everyday journeys.
