THE CHELMER & BLACKWATER RAMBLERS GROUP

WELCOME TO THE WEBSITE OF THE CHELMER & BLACKWATER GROUP OF THE RAMBLERS' ASSOCIATION

ABOUT US

Our Group started in 1987 to serve RA members living in the central region of Essex, roughly defined by the Chelmer and Blackwater river valleys. The 20 founder members came from the West Essex and Brentwood Groups, with Kevin Ascott, our first chairman sent out on a 'mission' to organise a new group. Since those early days, the C&B membership has grown to an impressive 600!

WHEN DOES ALL THIS WALKING TAKE PLACE?

We organise 4 walks a week on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, which makes us one of the most active groups in the Ramblers' Association (RA).

We walk mainly in the Essex area, but frequently go into neighbouring counties to extend our range of walking interests. Usually we travel to walking venues by car, sharing when we can. Coach trips are organised every month from Spring to Autumn as well as week-end and week-long holidays as part of our social activities. We also meet up with other local RA groups for Essex area joint events.

The Wednesday, Friday and Sunday walks are for a full day, of length 10 to 12 miles starting at 10.15am. Saturdays are half-day walks of 5 to 6 miles starting at 1.30pm.
On full day walks we nearly always stop at a pub at lunchtime! Walks are usually circular but sometimes are figures of eight.

The turnout on walks varies quite a bit. Some days there may be 5 or 6 people out on a walk, other days it can be as many as 30. Whatever the numbers, you can guarantee a very enjoyable walk led by experienced leaders. We are a mixed bunch of characters from all 'walks' of life who enjoy each others company and very much welcome new walkers to our Group.

SO HOW DO YOU JOIN THE CHELMER & BLACKWATER RAMBLERS?

We fully support the RA in its objectives to promote walking and respect for the countryside. If you have similar views and wish to join us on walks, perhaps becoming new RA members, then why not click on this www.ramblers.org.uk/join link which describes various joining options. On this site you will find our Walks Programme for the next 4 months, with further links to maps to help you find the start venues. There is also a Useful Information page and even a Photo Gallery showing some of the many places we have visited on foot!

Full RA members of the C&B group receive a comprehensive, 4-monthly printed programme and newsletter including details of all the social activities.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO POST SOME OF YOUR BEST WALKING PICTURES ON THIS SITE?

To view an album in the Photo Gallery, hover the cursor over the Photo Gallery link at the top of this page and select an album to view. Click on a thumbnail image to see the full sized picture.

To post some of your walking pictures on this site, e-mail them as jpeg attachments to this address cb.website@btinternet.com (it may be necessary to split them between 3 or 4 e-mails). Alternatively, copy them to a CD-R as jpeg images and contact the website editor at the above address to arrange for the disk to be sent or delivered. Please limit the number of pictures per album to 15 in order to keep the site a manageable size.

WHAT'S NEW ON THE SITE?

1. Newsletters are now archived to allow you to view previous editions. Hover the cursor over the Newletter link on each page and select the edition to read.

2. A Walks Report link has been included on the Home page. To view a report, hover the cursor over the link and select the report to read. There's only one report so far (thanks Anita!) but you are all invited to contribute by e-mailing your report to the website editor at cb.website@btinternet.com. The report may be in Microsoft Word or Text format.

3. A new photo album of scenes from Church Stretton in Shopshire has been added to the Photo Gallery.

4. A link has been added to the Useful Information page for those wishing to try a walking holiday in Austria.

5. John C. has written a report on his very successful London Walk in July 2008 and Anita has provided us with some nice photos of the walk for the Photo Gallery.

6. John has also been busy with another report, this time of Graham's Thames Path Walk (Part 1) in August 2008. Various contributors have also provided photos from the walk which are included in the Photo Gallery.

Site last updated August, 2008