INSIDE THE WORLD OF MEETUP

I was worried about the high turnout with 30 on meetup and another 8 on WAMM. In the end, I got 19, which was a relief but also slightly annoying. We set off down the road before heading over rugged ploughed fields to Diseworth. There was also a lot of Stiles which a dog walker struggled with. A tip I had previously was to plan the best part of the walk until last, since that's what everyone remembers. Everyone liked the pub stop and the return journey via the airport trail. Eight of us stayed for drinks in the Nag's Head after.

  I couldn't have made the starting location clearer, but, as last time, we were delayed by 15 minutes due to late arrivals. The turnout was 16, which was one of my best. Getting the ugly A46 out of the way and heading by the massive wind turbine into open fields and Cossington meadows. We went into Silby village for a pub stop and back into the meadows. Last few miles by the canal. Great weather, great conversation and great feedback.

Not been with walking friends for over a year due to moving to Sundays. It was a hot day and a few people had dropped out. We stopped for breakfast at the Poppy and pint, a good venue and value for money. Heading out over familiar ground until we got to Holme Pierrepont Country Park. A place with good scenery and long straight paths. Our leader didn't seem too concerned as the group of 20 got strung out. At Radcliffe on Trent we had the option of leaving the walk by bus. Due to the heat and early work commitments, I did.

  The bad weather forecast caused a few to drop out. In the end we got 10 people, there was some rain but it wasn't terrible. The main challenge was getting through the field before woodhouse as the plantlife was very high. Not far from where the above picture was taken. Stayed a big longer at the halfway point due to one of the group ordering food. She couldn't finish it all so gave me a couple of slices of pizza.  The weather started to look bleak on the way back but it held off.

 I'd spent ages trying to find a 6-7 mile circular route but failed. So I created a longer route with the option of dropping out via public transport. The hot weather didn't help with the list dropping from 10 to 5 on the final morning.  The first leg from Shepshed to Belton went ok until we hit to problems. The first was a group of cows that started moving towards us a big aggressively. Then one footpath had become overgrown since the test walk. Read stingers and thorns. We reached the Queens head in Belton for the first break then headed slightly uphill to Long Whatton. Most of the footpaths we walked were rarely used. At the Falcon nobody dropped out and we stayed much longer than planned for food. Then did the final 3 miles back to Shepshed

  A slightly overcast day that cleared up and got hot very quickly. Had a late start due to the popular free car park filling up.  As we headed out, 2 of the walkers were a lot slower than the rest of the group. This made the full walk about 45 minutes longer than usual. There was plenty of friendly conversation, and the rest of the group didn't mind. Everyone enjoyed the views and Old Bunny Woods nature area.

Not wanting to clash with a walk on WAMM I posted this on meetup only and got a lower turnout (5). Admittedly this was one of the furthest walks from Nottingham. Everyone liked the location and most hadn't been before. It took over an hour to reach the bottom of the park. This was a good indicator to the size of the place. We stopped at the White Horse on the edge of Birstall and one of my predictions came true. Two people turned up who'd got the wrong carpark despite me clearly stating which one it was. They came along for the second half of the walk. I got the bonus of a lift home.

No rain, minimal mud and a 20 person turnout. We headed out past Dishley pool and followed the river by Normanton on soar. Conversation flowed and we headed into town to the excellent and welcoming Dew drop pub.  After getting a little too comfortable we followed the main road back to Dishley.  We headed down Pear tree lane. Then through Baileys plantation, pear tree lane park and Rabbit wood before arriving back at the start point. Great walk with the added bonus of getting a lift home.

The time between Christmas and new year is always dead so it is a great time to schedule a walk. I was wondering how many would turn up on a cold foggy morning in Coalville and was surprised to get 22. My highest turnout ever. We headed through the estates before starting the climb. The mud was bad but not horrific. 2 issues included a woman who dropped out without telling anyone and an old man with poor eyesight. The view from the top was none existent but the mood amongst the group was excellent. Many had never been to the top before. The walk down was a lot easier, we had 30 minutes at the Rock where several left early. Then it was an easy 30 minutes back to the start point. My most successful walk to date with a bunch of 5 star reviews. Unfortunately there was an incident the following day that deserves a post of its own.

  Good walk but major problem, the weather forecast was awful. People were rapidly dropping out to the point where I wondered if anyone was turning up at all.  Due to waterlogged ground I skipped the first fields and went down the lane. The weather held off and conversation flowed. We headed through lockington and up the hill near the airport. A half hour pit stop at the jolly sailor followed. I was a bit worried about the fields at the bottom end of Donnington but they were fine. Another good walk despite the poor turnout 

  4 months had passed since I'd done the test walk. It was an easy flat route and good weather so I wasn't too worried. WAMM was in progress of moving off meetup and going onto Facebook. So I could now post my walks onto 2 groups instead of 1. After a slight delay a dozen of us headed in the direction of west leake. The weather, ground and conversation were good. The pub stop was surprising busy then we headed back to the start via Sutton Bonnington. 4 of us went in the cap and stocking back at Kegworth.

  I found a free carpark and a walking area that had only been open to the public for a couple of years. Better still it was close to home, also an experiment on how many people would turn up. The answer was about half a dozen. Weather was perfect as we set off along the lane to the outskirts of the park. It was a good mixture of open fields and woodlands. A 30 minute break was taken at the Harvester where it was warm enough to sit outside. Then into the park proper before heading back into Shepshed.

  Slightly disappointed with only 4 people turning out, free carpark, on a bus route and great scenery. Apart from a short section being overgrown (I was prepared with pruners) it was a clear walk all the way round. Everyone seemed to like the route along with the stop in the Star pub at West Leake. One of the girls was autistic and hadn't had much contact with anyone outside of family and one friend in 6 months. She chose my walk as the first thing to do and was exchanging contact details. Good to have made a difference. 

  Another walk with another reasonable turnout (10). We met at Newton lane carpark and followed an anti clockwise route. It was hillier than I expected since I always plan the opposite way around. The group kept getting strung out due to 4 being a bit slow which was a minor annoyance. Otherwise the rain held off until we reached the pub in Kimberley. After a good chat we headed off down the old railway line and back to the starting point via the canal.

  Another simple flat walk with a mixture of canal, woodland and open fields. A turnout of 10 out of 13 so percentage wise it was excellent. We headed down the canal where a few stopped to assist a boat going through a lock. An inexperienced man was shouting at his very upset daughter. Thankfully several of the group had experience. We headed into the woods where mud was minimal and the sun was out at the Malt pub. A few miles over fields where we encountered an unexpected display of blue flowers. No after walk drink but everyone seemed happy and I got good feedback.

Somewhere completely new was long overdue even though it required 3 buses. Starting opposite the gold course we headed towards Breadsall via Cloves Hill , Brackley Gate and Drum Hill. It was a great combination of rolling hills, t racks, fields and woodland . Breadsall seemed an upmarket type of place where we stopped for coffee and cake. From there we headed back to the starting point via Broomfield Hall, Morley Church and the Golf Course.

  Got up to 30 by Thursday, 20 by Saturday morning and 16 turned up which is my best to date. We set off from Rushcliffe park following the railway line south. Admittedly the narrow track wasn't good for having conversations with everyone in the group. This changed when crossing the fields towards Bunny. We had an interesting mixture of people. Everyone like the pub I choose for the usual half hour break. We followed the last 2 miles through the fields where a problem with my phone meant having to navigate from memory for half an hour. 4 of us went back to the pub in Bunny for an hour after the walk.

  A well planned walk in my opinion but I ran into a problem, only 4 people signed up. With an average dropout rate of 50% I was seriously considering cancelling the walk. I hatched a plan B where if nobody turned up I'd use the time to plan another circular walk in the area. Thankfully everyone turned up, we headed out of Keyworth through fields and the villages of Plumtree and Tollerton. I already got good feedback as we walked. I also noticed that 4 people were a lot easier to keep an eye on than a dozen. Especially when we crossed a busy main road.  We stopped for 30 minutes at the Goose pub before following the canal back to Trent bridge. We then stopped at the Brewhouse for an hour. Despite the low turnout I considered the walk a success.

 3rd walk I hosted and there was over 30 people signed up at one point. Only a 40% chance of rain but around 10 dropped out on the morning of the walk. There was 13 of us a the start. We headed out the castle grounds in an easterly direction, then followed the river to Ambaston. Down the country lane to the Harrington arms pub. Taking a half hour break before going back into the grounds. Overall the walk went well and the weather held off, some of them panicked towards the end due to the 4 hour carpark limit. But I improvised a shortcut and got them back in time. Nobody stayed for coffee and cake but I didn't mind.

  I started out 6th on the waitlist with 30 people on the walk. Mothers day combined with slight rain reduced the list drastically to 14 on the morning to only 5 people turning out for the walk. I went for the simple reason I'd never been Long Eaton before and it was convenient for the buses on Sunday. We headed along the canal north and turned west onto a footpath that went towards the M1 bridge. The walk was good so far if a little muddy but then a few problems began to occur. 1) The 3 others were too slow for the group leader and I got the not so subtle hint he was getting annoyed by this. Under normal circumstances with a bigger group slow walkers get the memo but not this time. 2) I mentioned in conversation that I started walking with this group at the end of covid lockdown. The conversation drifted towards anti vaccination and other conspiracy theories. I have a very low opinion of these people but couldn't be bothered to argue so ended up walking ahead alone for aroun...