Sunday 4th December 2022 – Christmas Walk
36 Doncaster Weekend Wanderers visit the Hope Valley for our traditional annual walk and festive dinner at the Little John Hotel in Hathersage, Derbyshire Peak District.
A number of former Wanderers joined us on this trip, including Terry Parker and Barry Holmes. Printed walk programmes for 2023 were handed out on the coach. Jean pointed out that some walk leaders were doing two or even three walks and made a request for anyone who was interested in leading a walk for the first time in 2024 to let her know.
Today’s walk of over 6 miles led by David Torrington was taken on by about half of those on the coach. Walkers set off at 9.20am on a rather dull morning, with some light rain and a chilly temperature of 4 degrees C. Birdwatcher Steve Duffy watched a Dipper on the river and it was him (dressed as Santa) and his grand-daughter, Elenore (an Elf), who wore the most impressive festive costumes on the trip.
Non-walkers chose to spend some free time looking at the three outdoor shops, visit a cafe, or take a look at St Michael’s church, where the headstone of legendary outlaw Little John can be seen.
At mid-day everyone headed to the Inn for the main social event of the day which included refreshments and a carvery meal. Raffle tickets were sold for the chance of winning one of 37 prizes on display. After mince pies, Ian conducted two quizzes and a prize for the winning team was given. The raffle was then drawn and our coach driver, Andy, had the first winning ticket from the hat. Almost everyone ended up with at least one prize.
A big round of applause was given to Club organiser Jean Torrington for a year of successful events in 2022. Jean has been managing our Club, almost single handedly, for a remarkable 18 years now, and as an appreciation for her commitment, she was presented with a collection gift.
In turn, Jean thanked walk leaders for a varied 2022 programme which took us into the Derbyshire Peak District, North York Moors, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire Dales, Derbyshire Dales, North, South and West Yorkshire. Distances walked averaged 8 miles, covered terrain from hilly to flat and gave participants a choice of walking or non-walking.
A number of other helpers responsible for various duties were thanked including backmarkers, recce companions and web bloggers, and to Mark Torrington for administering Doncaster Weekend Wanderers’ website.
Thanks go to David Torrington for leading the Hathersage festive walk and to him and Vivienne Dales and Dave Tyson for photographs in this blog post.
I am now standing down from being the regular Club blogger and very pleased that guest bloggers will keep up this popular feature next year. It only remains for me to wish all Weekend Wanderers a happy festive season and new year and look forward to sharing some adventures with you in 2023.
The next walk is on Sunday 8th January (not the 1st) and is in Nottinghamshire. Two new walkers have put their names down for the walk and we will be pleased to give them a warm welcome.
