We’ve been a bit lax about posting our news lately. No excuses!

2023 kicked off with a weekend excursion to Sheringham in March. We love the Norfolk coast and low season is a great time to visit it. We’re also fortunate to have two keen members – Sarah & Michael – who actively seek out interesting places for us to visit, usually a bit off the beaten track and always enjoyable.

April 2023 saw a bit of excitement – of the wrong sort – when Kelvin was struck down with a serious cardiac event. Usually fatal, but Stumblers’ Luck prevailed and, thanks to the specialist skills of the surgical team at Royal Papworth Hospital, he was quickly back on his feet and is now just as Tiggerish as ever.

The winter months saw us enjoying our usual seasonal pleasures – Christmas lunch, Burns supper etc and looking forward to a busy 2024. Our membership has grown now that Lockdown is well behind us so we’ve got new friends and no shortage of ideas for walks.

Thorpe Cloud, Dovedale, 2024

Sarah & Michael once more organised a weekend away, this time to Dovedale, staying in an excellent HF hotel – The Peveril of the Peak – which specialises in walking groups and which we can thoroughly recommend. Plenty of delightful walks to choose from; we enjoyed Tissington, Dovedale itself, and shinning up Thorpe Cloud, just because it’s there!

In June a few members participated in the Stilton Parishes Pilgrimage once again. This was the third year we’ve done this and it’s always been an enjoyable day out, walking from Elton church to Stilton by way of Haddon, Morborne and Folksworth churches. The church community always make us very welcome and put on a very generous spread of refreshments at Morborne. And it raised some funds for the Morborne church roof fund.

Parishes Pilgrimage 2024

Stumblers continues to evolve. When our founder Jan sadly passed away, John & Shirley stepped forward to provide some focus and organisation to our happy-go-lucky band and have done a great job for several years. But nothing lasts forever and this June they decided to pass the baton on. So Sarah & Michael have now taken on the role, which is why the Calendar page is looking better populated than it has for a while! Needless to say, they won’t be doing everything for us, but they will be issuing a few chivvies to make sure the rest of us pull our weight!

Shirley & John

So we’re hoping that summer will properly arrive soon (‘Flaming’ June would be nice) as we’ve got a busy programme of walks, garden parties and barbecues to work through. Well, it’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it!

One of the most satisfying aspects of country walking in Britain is that you discover interesting nooks & corners that – in many instances – you would never find otherwise.

And so it proved when Stilton Stumblers emerged from the gloom of Covid lockdown to enjoy a weekend in the Lincolnshire Wolds, arguably one of England’s best-kept secrets for sheer rural tranquillity.

Donington on Bain is a quiet little village sitting on the Viking Way, a trail that runs 147 miles between the Humber bridge and Oakham. Ideal walking country! The first treasure we found was The Black Horse Inn; everything an old English pub should be, with a roaring fire in the bar, excellent food and drink and comfortable accommodation.

The Viking Way meanders pleasantly through good farming country, pretty villages and past ancient churches. In fact, the weekend became something of a ‘church crawl’. At nearby Goulceby we found a small cemetery, seemingly abandoned next to a farm track. Investigation showed that it had once been a churchyard, but the church, All Saints, had fallen into disrepair and was a bit too far out for its parishioners. So nothing loath, they rolled up their sleeves and in 1880 began to demolish the church block by block and rebuild it – very well – about ¼ mile down the hill. It took them 20 years! This was certainly something that you would only ever discover on foot. Even several locals we spoke to didn’t know about it!

On the Sunday, we enjoyed a six-mile stroll along high ground with expansive views across rolling countryside to Lincoln cathedral on the distant horizon. Bangin’!