75 Years of Ramblers – let’s do Kinder again

The Manchester and Salford Ramblers like a good celebration. We had our exhibition in February, which had been a great success and collected lots of material about the Kinder Trespass. April was our baton month so we thought “why not do it again” and chose the 24th April, by chance the actual anniversary date of the original trespass!

So – good idea what to do next? We met up with our friends in Get Walking Keep Walking because we wanted to bring in some of their walkers too. We agreed two walks – one up Kinder and one round the reservoir for people who wanted to join in with the celebratory spirit of the walk but who could not manage the strenuous climb up Kinder. One of our members, Stewart, a hardy walker had done Kinder several times and agreed to lead the walk.

We had no idea how many people would be interested but we did invite all members of GWKW Manchester and The Manchester and Salford Ramblers. We received a lot of media coverage and the phone calls came in thick and fast and we filled our coach in no time!
The day dawned bright and sunny, what a day to tackle Kinder! Mags, one of GWKW Walk Leaders & Secretary to the Manchester and Salford Ramblers met everyone at the coach pick up point:

“Everyone was really excited about tackling Kinder and the atmosphere on the coach and on the walk was great”. “35 of us arrived by coach and another 60 or so had made their own way there. We were very keen to get to the top and unfurl our birthday banner”.
70 went up to the top and some did struggle but finally made it, while others did the 7 mile scenic walk around the reservoir with Netty, one of the Get Walking Keep Walking outreach workers.

We had lots of positive comments on the day:

“I was really surprised by the number of people who wanted to climb up Kinder which just shows the enthusiasm and determination amongst us on the day” – Mags

“I think the one thing I felt about the lower walk is that we had a real mix of people from Get Walking and the Ramblers alike. Everyone mixed well and looked out for each other no matter what their walking ability or experience” Netty – GWKW

“It’s a lot easier than when we did the recce in the snow and cold. Whose mad idea was this? We thought, but now we are here it has been worth it” Stewart – GWKW

At the end of the day, when we had all got back down safely we celebrated our achievement in tackling this iconic walk and celebrating 75 years of the Ramblers.

Filed under: Manchester Blog
Comments: You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.