About Chichester Walkers

About 30 years ago a young lady put an advert in the local paper, calling for like-minded people who wanted to walk in the countryside to join her for just such an expedition one Sunday morning. The story goes (as you hear first-hand, if you happen to chat to one of the half a dozen or so members who turned out and are still coming along to some of our walks today): She turned up with a young child in tow, quickly explained her babysitter had let her down and handed over a book explaining the walk she intended to lead them on. 

Chichester Walkers

From such an auspicious beginnings, Chichester Walkers was founded and the format of walking every other Sunday is a tradition that has endured and even flourished. The mailing list has grown to over 150 members with more than 4 times that number of Facebook followers and a healthy Instagram account too. Many of these people may be in other walking groups and wonder how our group has survived so long, without actually costing anything to become a member, and joining the walks that are arranged every fortnight.

Well, for a start, we rely on a volunteer from the group. They offer up a walk, which they can lead and book the pub afterwards, so walkers can enjoy refreshments after their jaunt if they so choose to. This task has been taken up by a small selection of the membership, as many may find this a daunting experience to even contemplate doing – but it doesn’t have to be, as a few new leaders have found, since they have emerged of late. Maybe not helped by other groups insisting on ‘exact planned routes with maps and compass’ and run like a military operation from start to finish. Don’t get me wrong, some may do this and it is great to be in such competent hands; but arriving at the in time to fulfil our table commitments is always a welcome sign.

Over the years, however, things have gone wrong and we manage to cope admirably with such problems (and are maybe a friendlier sociable group because of it.) The walks are not route marches by any stretch of the imagination; 4 to 5 miles in around 2 hours is no more than a comfortable pace and there is plenty of time to talk and mix with the other walkers along the way. The pace is set by the slowest walkers not the fastest, so we don’t leave anyone behind.

New Years Day Walk 2023

Take our last walk being led by ourselves (guilty as charged). We were running 5 minutes late, as we waited for a member of the group to arrive at the National Car park.

So, we were keen to get underway not a moment too soon for 3 dogs in our pack. This was a walk we had done before, but not for a couple of years – and in our haste, we started on a track we had first explored when learning the walk about 6 years ago but didn’t realise it took off at a slightly different angle to the actual path we should have been on. By the time we checked the O/S app on the mobile, it was clear we were not exactly where we should have been.

Trying a short cut back was only met with locked gates and fields of cows. You would expect a lot of grumbling, but that wasn’t the way of the members new and old, ever keen to chip in with apps, maps and experience aplenty. Thus, we simply took a different path and had lovely walk around the woods anyhow, if not the one planned.

Even coming up against a tall, padlocked metal fence on our ‘new’ route didn’t undermine our experience. On the contrary! When someone noticed a slightly bent bar in the offending fence, one or two of our slimmer members slipped through to the other side, the one we wanted to be on. Then one by one, we started following suit, until the last few hanging back, for fear of becoming stuck, took the plunge and before we knew it we had all successfully passed the test and were merrily on our way feeling a bit smugger!

As a result of arriving at the start point slightly early, we sourced the actual start and found the track we should have taken in the first place. Oh well, next time we will do better.