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Reflections on a truly remarkable year for Railwalks

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As 2024 draws to a close, I have been looking back on what has been an extraordinary first year for us at Railwalks. Thanks to the support of our growing community and the dedication of the steering committee, of which I am a proud member, we’ve achieved so much together in our first year of existence. With this blog post I’d like to celebrate some of our highlights. Launching a new adventure Back in March, we officially launched Railwalks at the Hive in Worcester with an inspiring event that welcomed 35 walk and rail enthusiasts from across the country. It was a day filled with ideas, connection and shared passion for our key objective: creating a national network of walks from and between railway stations. Building our community Let’s not forget that Railwalks is a volunteer-led initiative and so far has not received any funding or sponsorship. So we rely on the work of our steering committee members, who have done an amazing job, and the incredible support of our growing community. ...
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My favourite walking stations - Pewsey and Bedwyn

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  Kieran Seale spoke to Susie Brew of the Pewsey Vale Tourism Partnership about why Pewsey and Bedwyn are great stations to walk from.   Both Pewsey and Bedwyn stations are on the Reading to Taunton section of the Great Western main line between Paddington and the south west.   It takes roughly an hour to get to either station from Paddington, although getting to Bedwyn station may require changing at Newbury.     The two stations are at either end of the Pewsey Vale.   The Pewsey Vale Tourism Partnership is a member of the Walkers are Welcome scheme and their website gives details of five walks from Pewsey station and eleven walks from Bedwyn.   Each of the walks has a map as well as route descriptions and are available free of charge. Pewsey and Great Bedwyn are linked by the Kennet and Avon Canal, about 10 miles from each other - so going between the two stations would be an easy walking option. The village of Pewsey is a great place to ...
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My favourite walking station(s)… Canterbury

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Two stations, Canterbury West & Canterbury East In the second of our series on favourite walking stations, Ben Edmonds recommends Canterbury.  Ben is a small business consultant and lives in Kent. Canterbury has a lot going for it when it comes to walking via a station any time of year. With two stations in a heavily pedestrianised town centre with lots of amenities, it sits directly on one section of the North Downs Way and has a wide variety of circular or station-to-station walks.  Seven years ago we moved to Broadstairs in East Kent from London with our daughter who was one at the time. Since then we’ve settled in and explored the area and three years ago we got Penny, our Irish Terrier. Thanet has great beaches and coastlines, but it lacks trees and rivers and variety. As such I find myself gravitating to Canterbury and its surrounding areas as that’s our direct train (30 mins). From London, there are trains from St. Pancras and Stratford (~1 hour), or Victoria...
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Location: Canterbury, UK
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My favourite walking station… Chesham

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In the first of a series where people nominate their favourite train station for walking, Railwalks Steering Committee member Kieran Seale nominates Chesham, Buckinghamshire.   Chesham sits at the end of the Metropolitan line on London Underground.  With direct trains from stations such as Kings Cross and Liverpool Street, it is nevertheless the perfect place from which to start a country walk. Most importantly, of course, there are a lot of wonderful walks to do.  Chesham is at the heart of the Chilterns whose beautiful rolling hills are a walker's paradise.  You can be in open fields spotting red kites within minutes of getting off the train. Chesham is the start of the Chess Valley walking route which takes you along the beautiful chalk stream back towards London via other Metropolitan line stations like Chorleywood and Rickmansworth.  From Chesham you can walk to a variety of other stations too, including Amersham on the Metropolitan line, Great Missenden an...
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Location: Chesham, UK
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Walking by Rail – What About Delays and Cancellations?

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We launched Railwalks.co.uk with a video explaining how easy it is to walk across most of Britain by public transport – and rail in particular. Our message was generally well-received, but a few people made comments like “that’s if the train turns up 😊”. That made me reflect: I have been doing this most weeks, often several times a week, for 15 years. I must have done over a thousand day-walks by rail. During all that time delays or cancellations have never caused me serious problems. So why the difference in perception?  Of course, a train cancellation (or a traffic jam) can cause a big problem if you need to be at a specific place by a certain time, but when I go walking, I set out with a different mindset. I may have a plan, but it’s always flexible. It’s easier now you can carry a map of the whole country on your phone. When our website is finished, with walks from most UK stations, it will be easier still.  To give an example, a couple of weeks ago, I was on a tr...
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WORCESTERSHIRE RAIL TRAILS PROJECT - MY WAY INTO 'RAILWALKS'.

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By Andy Stevenson of Point2 Guides & The University of Worcester This initiative has been my link to getting involved with the wider 'Railwalks' project. Worcs Rail Trails has been a fantastic project to work on and has evolved further some of the walking materials 'template' ideas developed for Point 2 Guides but applied in a different manner alongside bespoke illustrations and more specific information related to Worcestershire. The core idea of the Worcestershire Rail Trails project has been to develop new walking routes and linked guide materials to work alongside the rail network in Worcestershire UK. The idea is that walkers can start at one of the stations and walk as much or as little as they wish between stations and then hop back to your start point again on the train. In this way you can do just part of a day’s walk or even a multi-day or long distance walk should you wish. The core project will be largely completed in Spring 2024 and it’ll then have c...
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How I Started Walking by Rail

15 years ago, I moved from a village in the Dartmoor National Park to Bristol city centre, for several reasons; one of them was to give up the car.   I have always loved spending time in the countryside: walking, cycling, photographing, looking for wildlife.   I wondered how much of that I would still be able to do after we moved.   Like most people, I probably assumed that it would be difficult to reach the deeper, more remote, more interesting countryside without driving.   I had never seen, heard or read anything to contradict that view. I can’t remember when I began walking between railway stations - I had walked much of the Southwest Coast Path that way - but I started doing it more regularly after we moved.    Whenever we move to a new place, I want to explore the area around it.   I generally prefer cycling with a club and walking alone, searching for that connection with nature which arrives in a flash of sunlight over a valley, or the sea, whe...
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