Ballachulish Step It Up Highland – 1st Anniversary
The Ballachulish Step It Up Highland walking group recently celebrated their first anniversary of their organised health walks.
Walk leaders Paul and Pauline Selby along with several walkers visited the Jubilee Bridge in Appin, enjoying the excellent spring weather. After the walk, everyone enjoyed a celebratory lunch at the Stalker View café
The walking group is an excellent way of improving your health and wellbeing, getting out and enjoying your local area and meeting new people. The walks are short, starting at 20 minutes duration increasing up to a maximum of 1 hour, and are designed to be enjoyable and beneficial for all the participants.
You don’t need any special equipment; just a good coat and pair of shoes or boots.
If you are a interested in joining the walking group please contact Paul or Pauline Selby on 01855 821030 for further information.
Step It Up Highland – Croy and District’s walking group’s day out.
“On 10th May 2013, the Croy and District walkers enjoyed a walk in the spring sunshine at Rosehaugh in the Black Isle.
Pictured are the walkers enjoying a rest in the shade!
Croy and District enjoy regular weekly walks with up to 20 walkers taking part each week.
Thank you to Barbara Campbell for submitting the photograph.”
Poolewe Group – Denis Moore’s 90th Birthday
On 14th January 2013, Poolewe walker Denis Moore (pictured) celebrated his 90th birthday with a nice relaxing walk with his fellow walkers from the Poolewe Step It UP Highland walking group.
Denis and his family along with several walkers had celebrated his landmark birthday the previous Saturday evening in a local hotel.
Denis is one of several walkers who regularly enjoy relaxing strolls in the beautiful countryside around Poolewe, Gairloch and Aultbea in Wester Ross. The group meet regularly every Monday at 10.30am. Their meeting point varies every week.
Thanks to local walk leaders Janet Whittington and Jane Edwards for providing this information.
New Ballachulish Group
Due to the success of Ballachulish’s established Step It Up Highland (SIUH) group, which has now become Step It Up Further (SIUH), a new group was started on Friday 20th April 2012.
Shorter, less challenging walks than the Step It Up Further group, are the order of the day.
The meeting place is in front of the Tourist Information Centre in Ballachulish where there is plenty of parking and of course, the mandatory cafe for teas, coffees and a great chat after the walk. We all meet on a Friday morning at 10am and walk to the group’s ability for 30-60mins, depending on those present.
Tain ‘Jubilee’ Outing
“To celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee our group decided it would be fitting to have a ‘special’ day out during the summer.
We drew up a list of suggestions for venues and by far and away the most popular was ‘Dingwall to Kyle Of Lochalsh by train.’ (We’re very democratic you know – putting things to the vote.)
Thus, on Tuesday 17th July 2012, 25 people gathered at Dingwall Railway Station – 20 group members plus 5 family and friends.
I might add that many were wearing apparel which reflected the red, white and blue aspect of the day.
After a two hour journey through some beautiful scenery we duly alighted at Kyle of Lochalsh.
As not everyone wanted to do the same thing, people then split into smaller groups, arranging to regroup at 5pm.
The majority of us took the service bus to Portree on the Isle of Skye; 3 took another bus to Eilean Donan Castle; 3 stayed in Kyle and went on a glass bottomed boat trip and 2 walked across the bridge and returned by bus.
Our return train departed at 5.20pm and we arrived back at Dingwall at 7.15pm, tired but happy.
The weather was kind to us and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it.
So much so, we have already been asked, “Where are we going next year?”
(Sent in by Chris, a Tain Walk Leader)
Tain Group Encourages Joining Ranger Guided Walks
“On 29th November last year (2011) the Tain Group accompanied Martin Hind – Easter Ross Countryside Ranger – together with other members of the public on one of his guided walks entitled “Tain Bay Birdlife”.
This coincided with our normal day and time to walk – 1pm on Tuesdays.
Although it was rather a bleak and blustery day, (well it was November after all!) it proved a very interesting and informative talk about the various species to be found wintering on the shoreline.
The ranger had taken along his tripod mounted binoculars enabling us to see a more close up view of the birds.
I would encourage other groups to attend the Ranger Guided Walks which are published in a yearly booklet. There is a nominal fee and though it says booking is not necessary, for a larger group, it is advisable to let them know in advance.“
(Sent in by Chris, a Tain Walk Leader)
Thoughts From Individuals
Chris from Tain says “Although I tend to organise the rota for walk venues I like to ask the other walk leaders if they’d like to have a go – I don’t want anyone to feel excluded if they’d like to do it. Then one of our walkers kindly types up the list for us.“
Questions And Answers
A walker asks: “I’d like to visit other groups now and again and join in their walks – can I and how do I go about it?”
Lynne’s Answer: “Yes, this is a request I was hearing at the regional meetings with walk leaders too and I’ve been giving it some thought. It’s a great idea to be able to do this – using the directory will help find the venue, times and give you a local contact name. I shall be devising a short tick box form which groups can use for one off visitors to their groups or for those visiting from another SIUH group to save unnecessary paperwork.“
Funders
