Strollers January 13th – led by Chris
Twenty strollers met in Monks Risborough for our first walk of the New Year. It was a fine but cloudy day, a welcome change after the freezing weather a few days earlier. We set off at 10.30 along the road to Askett, then on over the A4010 to take the long gentle incline up to and through Whiteleaf village. So far the walk had all been on roads so walking had been easy, but this changed as we continued from Whiteleaf along the muddy Icknield Way for a short distance before turning off to walk down a rather muddy, slippery field to reach the outskirts of Princes Risborough. After much boot banging and scraping to get the mud off we continued – on roads again – back to Monks Risborough arriving just before 12 noon.
Medium walk January 17th led by Chris
22 walkers (a record number!) met at the Red Lion, Marsworth on a cloudy but dry day for a flat walk around the lakes and canals at Marsworth. We set off at 9.45 along canals to reach Wilstone village, then on up to and around the reservoir before crossing fields to reach Drayton Beauchamp and the church where we stopped for a coffee break. Setting off again we climbed down the steep steps from the churchyard to reach the Wendover arm of the GU canal, following it until reaching the road at Little Tring. After crossing the road we walked past the reservoirs at Marsworth to reach Startops End where we crossed the canal to walk across fields up the Marsworth village and on back to the pub, arriving at 12.30. Fifteen of us stayed for lunch which had been pre-ordered, all sitting around one big table. The food was served at about 1pm and a jolly time was had by all. A good walk for January on mostly good paths that were not too muddy.