The Bedfordshire Festival of Autumn Walks 2024 ran between 7 and 15 September this year, and it is fair to say that the festival was a huge success with 55 walks attracting 850 walkers over the nine days.
One difference to this year’s festival was that it was hosted by the four groups that make up Bedfordshire – North Beds, Leighton Buzzard, Lea & Icknield (Luton) and Ivel Valley Walkers.
It’s a huge task managing to source a large number of walks so this year we reached out to other groups and invited them to come and run walks as part of the festival.
We had a terrific response to our request, plus support from our neighbouring Ramblers Groups – Wellingborough Ramblers, Hunts Ramblers and Stag Walkers, but in addition to these we garnered support from local affiliated groups Bedford Rambling Club and Toddington
Ramblers together with general walking groups The Northampton Shamblers and U3A.
And of course, we should also mention the fantastic well-being walks that contributed a number of shorter walks.
2024 also saw the return of the Greensand Ridge Challenge, covering 40 miles in two days. All this meat we were able to offer walks from one mile to 21-miles across the nine days.
Absolutely something for everyone.
The festival tries to reach out to people who may not normally consider walking and this year we had a large number of Interest walks that sparked attendance from far and wide.
The festival covered Friday the 13th and we were delighted to host a Ghost, Murders and Mysteries walk which attracted 29 walkers. There was also a Bat walk in the evening where the walkers were provided with bat detectors.
We spotted four different types of bats and saw a huge number as they emerged from their roosts to feed around the lake at Harrold and Odell Country Park.
There were short town walks looking at the industrial parts of Leighton Buzzard and the various industries associated with Luton. One of the benefits of town walking is that it allows accessibility for less mobile members of the public.
Fancy a nosey around a cemetery and see the history that is locked up in the gravestones? The two walks around the Victorian Cemetery in Bedford certainly sparked people’s interest.
We are proud that our efforts opened up walking to a wider community.
Our dedicated webpage also attracted groups who contacted us to advertise their walks via this medium and Turvey, a north Bedfordshire Village, saw huge interest generated in their historical weekend.
Then there were nature walks too – it’s the bird migration season and an early morning walk was offered by Marston Vale to see the birds packing their bags to fly south.
All the above supplemented our usual offering of morning, afternoon and all day walks and covered the whole of the county and showcased the beautiful countryside that we call home.
Fancy something different? What about a walk and sail?
We are privileged in Bedford to have the John Bunyan boat which enables us to offer a walk along the Great Ouse and cruise back, but it offers so much more than that because it offers flexibility allowing people to choose how much of the walk they wish to do so opening up the experience to many more people.
Having lots of walks is no use without walkers so here is a big shout-out to those who worked tirelessly behind the scenes ensuring that our dedicated web page had all the walks’ information readily available.
Plus the massive push we had through the Bedfordshire Festival of Autumn Walks Facebook page and other group and local Facebook pages to spread our message far and wide.
Finally, let’s not forget the foot soldiers who flooded the county with flyers and posters too. Thank you all for your hard work in ensuring our message went far and wide.
Finally, what would a festival be without a course – a map reading course was also open to everyone to help develop map reading skills with an afternoon of practical application.
All in all, I think all would agree it was a fabulous festival.
Bedfordshire Ramblers would like to extend our grateful thanks to all the leaders of the walks and to all those who attended one or more of the activities and also to all those behind the scenes – making 2024 such a success. See you all next year!
For more information on the North Beds Ramblers’ weekly walks, visit our website here or call Margaret Sawyer 07780 933729. They can also be found on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).
by Sandra Kelsey – North Beds Ramblers on behalf of Bedfordshire Ramblers
