I’ve been for a walk

A nine mile walk around Chrishall in Essex to be precise. It’s the third such walk I’ve done with a walking group called the Steamers. Don’t ask me why it’s so called but it seems the group was spawned by Howard Biddle, who encouraged me to join, when he was MD at Cambridge Consultants, and many of its members have a link back to CCL.

The Steamers does pretty serious walking. Our walk last week was billed as ‘between 8 and 10 miles in 3 to 4 hours’. It turned out to be 9 miles in 3 hours and 40 minutes for an average speed of about 4 km/hour. However this included two stops, one just to refuel and one to visit Holy Trinity Church, when we were moving we did so at a little under 5 km/hour.

There were six of us walking: one other non-CCL interloper, Arnold Fertig, and his wife, the two Charleses, Kingdom and Seeley, and Ian Gaylor. They are all good value and the walk was just about non stop conversation which is a good test as to whether or not you’re walking too fast. Charles Seeley braved the weather with shorts but that’s nothing compared to his wearing sandals for the previous walk ‘because that’s what the Romans wore’.

The weather wasn’t great. It didn’t rain which was good but we had barely a flicker of sun and the sky was a pretty uniform grey. Visibility was limited, Charles Kingdom told us when we were at one point that the view would have been spectacular but we saw nothing. And the colours from a photography point of view were flat.

A kilometre or so before we finished we came to Holy Trinity Church and it was open. It dates from the 12th century and it’s a grade 1 listed building. It’s clearly well funded. Inside it’s pleasantly simple. Worth the walk just to be able to make this visit.

Our walk started and finished at the Red Cow, the oldest building in the village after the church. Given that the population of Chrishall is no more than 500 it’s good to see this in business and when we visited in July it was really busy with people eating at the tables in the garden. This time it was quieter and perhaps that’s why I found the menu uninspiring. However I did enjoy an excellent glass of Primitivo with my hamburger.

It’s not my only walking group. I’ve also just joined a Histon & Impington group and walked with it earlier in September. It’s a little less ambitious with its walks, we did just 4.7 miles in 2 hours for an average speed of a little under 4 km/hour with no stops, but it still finished at a convenient location for lunch.

I’m enjoying these walks and slowly I’ll stop worrying because I do, worry that is. It’s in my nature. I worry about whether or not my bladder will hold out, it does but it seems acceptable to disappear into the bushes if needed, and I worry about wearing enough or too much. The other Steamers all seem to have integrated Rohan layers which they can shed or add to as they walk. I just have to hope that my mix of kit, including a Rohan fleece, will pass muster. It seems to.