Newly elected Mayor of Dorchester declares Walking Festival a resounding success!
It was an epic week of walks appealing to all ages, interests and walking abilities. Dorchester Town Council put together a programme of 45 guided walks that took place over a 9-day period during National Walking Month.
Over 400 walkers booked tickets and participated in walks that were led by knowledgeable and experienced guides and walk leaders. Local history was a key factor of many walks – these included following the route of Dorchester’s Roman Aquaduct, a grand tour of Dorchester’s Victorian buildings, and a walk that visited the sites associated with Crime and Punishment hearing stories of those unfortunate to find themselves on the wrong side of the law.
Other popular walks included visiting Roman and Tudor history hidden in the woods of Athelhampton House, a Tour of Poundbury led by Simon Conibear, Estates Director for Poundbury for two decades, a scenic walk across the Dorchester Water Meadows along the Frome Flood Plain and a walk that gave insight into identifying some of the key urban trees in the town.
Thomas Hardy featured in many of the themed walks. Mark Chutter, Chairman and Academic Director of the Thomas Hardy Society led a popular walk around Hardy’s Casterbridge and Durnover reciting poetry and prose of this great writer. TE Lawrence was also featured in a guided walk around Moreton visiting key areas linked with his life.
For the more intrepid, many participants took part in the Festival’s 50km Challenge raising over £350 for the Dorchester County Hospital Emergency and Critical Care Appeal. Circular Challenge Walks of between 12-18km were organised each day that took participants out of the town to discover the Cerne and Piddle Valleys to the North, the coast at Ringstead, Hardy’s Monument and Abbotsbury to the West and Milton Abbas and Bulbarrow Hill to the East.
“I very much enjoyed taking part in three Challenge Walks,” said Val Sewry from Weymouth. “The walk leaders were extremely knowledgeable about local history and led the walks in an understated way. I look forward to doing more walks next year!”
In support of our railways, the Festival included two Walks by Train – one from Moreton using the South Western Railways and another from Maiden Newton that used a Great Western Railways service. Both these walks were extremely popular and opened walker’s eyes to using train travel more often for linear walks.
The Festival culminated in Beating the Bounds, organised by Matilda Manley, the town’s Tourism Development Officer. There was a large following who joined Roman reenactors, musicians, story-tellers and Morris dancers. The Beating of the Bounds is an ancient tradition where congregations would walk around the boundaries of each parish on Ascension Day. It was the fitting end to celebrate a fantastic week of walking!
In his acceptance speech last night, Robin Potter, the newly elected Mayor for Dorchester Town Council said, “The Walking Festival makes a great addition to Dorchester’s offer to residents and visitors.”
Having taken part in some walks himself, he was keen to add his thanks to the organisers and to the individual walk leaders who proved so knowledgeable and entertaining.
“I learnt new things on the walks,” he added, “Including a tunnel under the by-pass that I didn’t know about. Also discovering the names of beer sizes from the Barley Mow song. I am already looking forward to next year!”
A huge thanks to the Dorchester Walking Festival sponsors
