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On a recent trip to Santiago De Compostella in Spain's Galicia region, I was very impressed by the large numbers of walkers arriving in the city from the famous pilgrim routes of the Camino. The squares around the city's beautiful cathedral were full of people, carrying the emblems of the pilgrim, a wooden staff, a gourd and a scallop shell. Some of them were limping and clearly tired but most were just delighted to have completed part or all of the gruelling trails over the mountains and to have arrived safely at the famous shrine to Saint James whose bones lie in the sanctuary of the great Cathedral. It gave the whole city a feeling of energy and celebration of walking.
\nThe experience reminded me that walking is not just good for our health, the enjoyment of company and the countryside but it can also be a spiritual experience too, and, as the Santiago's Pilgrimage museum told us, walking is a religious activity common to all major faiths. The pilgrim's journey represents the journey of human life itself and the objective "is to reach the highest level of knowledge, spiritual renewal, glory, paradise or eternal salvation".
\nIt struck me that, here in Canterbury, we don't make enough of our history as one of the most important Pilgrim destinations in Europe. For centuries since the death of Archbishop Thomas Becket in 1170, pilgrims made Canterbury a wealthy centre of tourism and a spiritual place of healing and redemption.
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Maidstone Ramblers has had another successful year. We have been able to offer more walks, clear more overgrown footpaths, hold more social events and our membership has increased, so a very positive year.
\nThis has been possible because of our hard-working volunteers, and we have been particularly grateful this year for new volunteers coming forward to fill roles left by members.
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Sevenoaks Ramblers put on over 90 walks during the past year, with walks offered on most Wednesdays and Sundays. Attendance has been good and we have noted an increase in numbers without group sizes becoming unmanageable. We have welcomed nine new walk leaders who are processing through the various training requirements before leading their first walks.
\nIn support of new leaders, we arranged a two day map reading course given by Mike Cursons which participants found excellent. A first aid training course has also been fully subscribed.
\nWe collaborated with National Trust in arranging a number of walks from Chartwell, which National Trust also promoted on their social media. These proved popular both with Sevenoaks Ramblers and those from other groups.
\nWe again participated in the Sevenoaks Summer Festival to raise our local profile.
\nIn September, 14 Sevenoaks Ramblers crossed the Channel to France for a week-long walking trip in Suisse Normande. This hilly area of southern Normandy is known for its purple puddingstone, which gives an attractive tinge to the cliffs and rocky paths above the River Orne. We stayed in the village of Le Vey and had five days' walking with average distances of 12.5 miles for the longer walks and 6 miles for the shorter options.
\nAll in all, an active and enjoyable year, which we hope to repeat next year with a fresh batch of walks from our newly recruited leaders.
\nTim Smith
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How strange! At our AGM there was a NEW name on the list of those for election. Usually there is no one and the Old Guard has to carry on. This time David Williams volunteered to take on the roles (that had been vacant for years!) of Footpaths Secretary AND Footpaths Clearance Officer. What a hero! Welcome David.
\nSadly we lost one of our committee. D&G are so sad to report the passing of Julia Holloway the day before our AGM. Julia had been perfectly healthy until a month before, taking part in walks and all set to go on a group holiday when bacterial meningitis attacked her and put her in a coma from which she didn't come round. Julia had been Minutes Secretary, Facebook page controller, walk leader as well as being an all-round enthusiastic group member who joined in with everything. She will be missed so much.
\nApart from this, life in D&G goes on as ever: well-attended Sunday walks, Wednesday walks with a more niche following, holidays and our Christmas lunch. We continue to be a friendly, happy group with a never-changing number of members. People join and people leave while our membership stays stable at just above the 200 mark. We will give a very warm welcome to visitors. Do join us.
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This year we have unfortunately lost more members than we gained, however some of our new members have stepped up and led some very interesting walks. We had a railway walk led in conjunction with the Southeast Communities Rail Partnership and a historical walk around Tunbridge Wells, both of which proved very popular. These walks along with our regular Hospice/bluebell walk, Remembrance Walk and Christmas Walk have all added to an interesting programme of walks this year.
\nWe now have a 'Facebook' and 'Instagram' page which we hope enables us to be seen by a wider audience. The group also joined HF holidays and we have our first holiday planned for early next year.
\nOn the 9th of November we led a Remembrance day walk from the King's Standing car park on Ashdown Forest to the Airman's memorial for the Remembrance day service.
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Our London walks have grown in popularity. Highlights include Nigel's two Monopoly-themed walks, Wendy D's stroll along the Lea Navigation, Paul M's exploration of the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, and Nigel's completion of the first two sections of the London Loop.
\nPaul M has kept us amused with his Supermoon night walks and his unique circumnavigation of Gatwick Airport, complete with strategic rest stops for plane spotting. Perhaps the most unusual and memorable walk of the year was Duncan's all-nighter Summer Solstice walk around Sevenoaks and Ide Hill.
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Holidays and Weekends Away: Our holidays and weekend trips continue to be a highlight of the year. This year we organised three longer breaks. In June, we stayed in Skipton, exploring the Yorkshire Dales. Highlights included completing the classic Malham circular and the Whernside and Ribblehead Viaduct walk.
\nOur second break saw us with sole occupancy of the HF House at Abingworth Hall. We enjoyed hours of walking along the South Downs and exploring the countryside around Arundel. Our final long break took us to the Brecon Beacons, where we stayed in a Gothic-style castle, once the home of a famous opera singer. We successfully scaled Pen y Fan, the highest peak in South Wales.
\nSocials: 2025 was also a notable year for social activities. On the sporting front, we hosted our first Darts & Shuffleboard evening in Tonbridge, followed by our inaugural Bowls event at Knockholt Bowling Club.
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Our membership remains steady at 250. While we have welcomed quite a few new members — many of whom now walk with us regularly — we have also bid farewell to a similar number who have hung up their boots, relocated, or lost interest. Despite this, our Facebook page continues to flourish, with its membership being almost double our official tally.
\nOur spring trip to Littlecote House was a nostalgic return to a place steeped in history. From Roman mosaics in the gardens to the impressive Tudor mansion built in 1592 for Sir John Popham — once visited by none other than Henry VIII — the house also played a pivotal role during WWII as a planning site for the American 101st Airborne Division ahead of the D-Day landings.
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Medway Group has had another successful year with a full programme of Sunday walks and steady interest from potential new members most of whom have joined the Ramblers.
\nOur walks have been led by a keen band of walk leaders — who are managing to navigate the enhanced Central Office guidance and compulsory training for walk leaders. We have increasingly depended on a reducing number of leaders and are looking to recruit some new (and younger) people.
\nFor our annual Group holiday this year some 40 of us went by coach to Torquay in April. We were blessed by some ideal walking weather and sampled parts of the South West Coastal Path and Dartmoor plus visits to Burgh Island and Agatha Christie's Greenway home and estate. Our volunteers led two walks each day usually ending at a pub or ice cream stall — or both.
\nWe held a number of social events including a quiz night, an evening of bat and trap and our annual "pre-Christmas" walk and lunch at the end of November enjoyed by 30 members.
\nWe held our AGM at the end of October in the National Trust Barn at Cobham. After the regular AGM business, we had a talk from a beekeeper about issues around Asian Hornets. One important key message is to carry antihistamines to treat anyone who is stung — they are vicious and may sting several times.
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Ashford Ramblers formed in 1971, so 2026 marks our 55th anniversary, let us hope it is another good year in the great outdoors.
\nAs well as the website, the group keeps people informed of any up-to-date news via their Facebook page. Thankfully the days of having to write up and post a quarterly walk programme to members are a thing of the past.
\nKevin Hall, Secretary & Walks Coordinator
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White Cliffs Ramblers extend their gratitude to the extremely active and proficient path clearance volunteers who operate in all weathers to maintain our footpaths. 'The Slashers', as they are known, have completed over 311 hours of clearance work in 2024/2025 and maintained hundreds of metres of footpaths for the benefit of our members.
\nDuring the past year the group has completed a staggering 140 walks! These walks have covered distances from 4 to 19 miles with the average number of walkers exceeding 17. Our regular walks are held on a Thursday and Sunday with some walk leaders offering additional walks on Saturdays and Tuesdays.
\nOur Facebook page goes from strength to strength and now boasts 749 followers. Ramblers' policy this year has required all walk leaders to undergo the mandatory training or self-certification to maintain their status and we are delighted that almost all of our regular leaders have completed the training.
\nWhite Cliffs boasts a full contingent of Parish Footpath Observers who regularly walk the paths in our 53 parishes and report problems either to our own clearance team or to Kent County Council. Every parish is also covered by a Local Footpath Officer.
\nGroup Holidays were held in Exmoor in May and Majorca in October. All were a resounding success and are a valuable asset to the group's activities.
\nIn conclusion, 2025 has been a fabulously successful year for the White Cliffs Ramblers which remains one of the largest and most successful groups in the area.
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