After what has been an amazing summer, the days are a little cooler, not quite three-layer weather yet, and a little shorter. Time to dust off the headtorches.

Autumn can be the most scenic season as the colours move from green to yellow, orange and brown. The days can be crisp with the sunlight creating stunning photographic opportunities.

Midweek Longer One
Most of our sessions are 1 hour in length and serve as an opportunity to participate in a fitness class, aiming to improve both physical and mental fitness. We have had a longer walk on one Sunday a month for several years. These are currently between 6 and 8 miles in distance, but have extended at times up to around 14 miles.  They provide an opportunity to explore Cannock Chase in a little more depth at a relaxed pace.
We are going to trial a midweek longer walk over the winter months, which will take place on the 3rd Wednesday of each month and be weather-dependent. Some people don’t mind being out for an hour and getting caught in the rain, but 2 – 3 hours can be a bit too much. The walks will be around 6 – 8 miles and may involve a quick refreshment break if we pass a local cafe. Will aim to be back at the start point no later than midday on these walks.

Midweek Wellness

To accommodate the Midweek Longer Walk noted above, we will move the Wellness Walk on that day only to start at 13:00. All of our other Wellness Walks will start at the usual time of 11:00 on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

Walking to Wellness

We have been working with a group of retired people from Lichfield. One of the ladies used to walk with Simon and me before the pandemic, and we reconnected earlier this year as she was looking to restart Nordic Walking. Following discussions with her and several friends, we set up the Walking to Wellness group on Monday afternoons. Over the last 8 weeks, we have learnt the benefits and techniques of using poles to exercise the whole body, and we have increased the distance walked from 1 to 2 miles. Best of all, we have a refreshment break to end the session, which includes several cafes across and close to Cannock Chase.  The participants are improving all aspects of their fitness. If anyone would like to join these sessions, you would be warmly welcomed.

Festive Meals

After last year’s successful Christmas meal at The Barley Mow, Milford Common, we have started to organise this year’s celebration. We will, once again, be frequenting the Barley Mow on the evening of Thursday 11 December. We hope this year is as enjoyable and successful as last year. In addition, we are also planning a meal for Monday, 15 December at 13:30 for the Walking to Wellness group; however, I know that they would love to meet other WALX walkers too if anyone would prefer a lunchtime meal.

Evening Walks
These are a great opportunity for those with busy days to get out and exercise in the evening. As the nights draw in, these walks are now in the dark, so the use of head torches is required. The dark evenings bring a special atmosphere to Cannock Chase, with the sounds and sights of nocturnal animals preparing for their evening’s work and others settling down for the night. It is important to keep these walks as safe as possible, so we keep to well-used paths and car parks that are on main roads. To ensure the safety of everyone attending, we have introduced the need to have 3 walkers attending, plus a walk leader, so if an accident does happen, no person is left on their own. This has brought its own challenges in that we have had some cancellations just before the start of the walk, causing us to cancel at short notice, which in turn can inconvenience those people who wanted to walk. We will now be cancelling any evening walk at 9:00 am on the day of the walk if we do not have 3 people booked. This will hopefully ensure that anyone wishing to attend can look to do another activity instead. In light of this, please can everyone ensure they have booked on any evening walk at least 24 hours in advance. In addition, we would ask that anyone likely to cancel also do so before 9:00 am on the day of the walk. We love being able to run the evening activity and hope we can continue to enjoy the winter evenings on Cannock Chase.
If anyone requires any further clarification, please do let us know.

WALX Leader

Martin Godfrey has recently undertaken his WALX Leader training and has also completed the first aid qualification. He has now joined Pam, Mel and Lindsay in being able to lead our WALX. Martin has been walking with us for nearly two years, and he also has prior knowledge of Cannock Chase due to his interest in bird watching. His knowledge has also increased by being on Pam’s walks. He has previously helped out, but this now formalises things for which we are very appreciative. If there are any other walkers interested in training to be a WALX leader, please let us know. There is no cost, just a couple of days in training.

Advertising Opportunity

Every Saturday, a Parkrun is held at Marquis Drive. The route is 5K and is open to runners and walkers to take part. I have spoken to the organisers about a group of us from WALX on The Chase taking part for one week only at first. It would be a great opportunity for us to advertise what we do if a number of us did the route with our poles. We would not be racing or focusing on the time to complete, but it would be great if some of us could do it as a group. We will get some promotional t-shirts for those who are interested. Please let us know if you would like to help

As always, if you have any questions or ideas for a walk or catch-up, please do let us know via email, text or call.

Hoping to see as many of you as possible over the next few weeks!