Happy New Year! 2025 has arrived with the kind of weather that puts paid to bracing New Year’s Day walks, but while we’re stuck inside eating the last of the mince pies, we can at least make plans for brighter days. And isn’t planning half the fun, anyway?
Happy New Year! 2025 has arrived with the kind of weather that puts paid to bracing New Year’s Day walks, but while we’re stuck inside eating the last of the mince pies, we can at least make plans for brighter days. And isn’t planning half the fun, anyway?
As ever, I’m keen to get the family out on plenty of walks this year, so I thought I’d share with you some of our plans and maybe provide you with some inspiration.
Exploring the River Itchen. There are miles of gorgeous paths to explore along the clear waters of the River Itchen and we don’t have to drive very far to get to the start. In fact, we could tie it in with a visit to Hinton Ampner, one of our fave National Trust properties. (Though, confession: we have never been inside the house!) The kids love a river – as do the adults – so the Itchen Way is definitely on our list for 2025.
A beach walk with warming hot chocolate. Pre-children, my husband and I used to love a wintery beach walk at West Wittering. With children, it’s not quite the same. The point of a beach, from the perspective of a 6-year-old, is sandcastles and splashing – not walking. But we were given a little mobile fire pit for Christmas and I’m hoping that the addition of flames, hot chocolate and toasted marshmallows will be enough to make the walk more appealing!
A walk from a bus or train. The idea of getting the bus or train somewhere and walking back feels just the right amount of adventure given how little my children trust my sense of direction. We’d have to start relatively close, but that still gives us plenty of options and thanks to Walk Alton’s Ticket To Stride leaflet, we also have plenty of ideas!
A day-walk from home. I wrote last year about a circular walk my daughter and I did from home. It was 6 miles from Alton to Shalden and back and we had such a great time. I’d love to do something similar with the whole family, in a different direction this time, and with more supplies so we can stay out all day! Suggestions much welcomed to walkalton@gmail.com – we live near St Lawrence Church.
The South Downs Way. I’m not naïve enough to imagine that I can convince either my family or my weary bones to walk the full 100 miles, but wouldn’t it be nice to do bits of it? And perhaps we could aim to do all of it in stages over the next year or two. The views look sensational and I think we’d all feel such a sense of accomplishment.
So, that’s a taster of what my family has in store. For Walk Alton, there are also big plans for 2025. We’ve introduced a new Three to Five mile walking group for those who sit between the Wellbeing Walks (<3 miles) and 5 to 10, which is changing from a regular Thursday to alternating days, which should hopefully enable more people to join. We’re also launching a new website, so next month’s newsletter may be slightly delayed to coincide with the official go-live date. We’ve got two forums planned, which are open to anyone with an interest in walking and the countryside. And of course, our splendid month-long walking festival in May, by which time the weather will hopefully be kinder!
Whatever your plans for 2025, we hope you have a happy, healthy year ahead and we can’t wait to meet you out and about.
