Something new

We were reading magazines on the train down to London, when we saw that one had a Forum, and also offered walking groups, and supper clubs.

At the end of last week, I decided to have a look around. I found a thread about a North Yorkshire walking group, and posted to say that I was interested. I got a message giving me the details that their first walk was on Saturday, around the town of Boroughbridge.

I set off to meet others in a car park. It’s not like I’ve never done this before *ahem*, but I was still a little nervous, as I do find it difficult to break the ice with strangers. What if I didn’t find them, what if they’d already set off? Oh well, if it came to that, I’d just have a look round the shops.

As I parked, I spotted one or two others who looked dressed for walking, but didn’t approach anyone till we reached the meeting point, just in case. But I was right, this was the group. It turned out that a few of them had met for coffee a couple of weeks ago, but this was the first walk.

I looked around. Everyone seemed dressed for walking. ‘Proper’ shoes/boots, jackets, rucksacks, and most also had a bottle of water. It was only 3.5 miles. To be fair, I look a lot more like a serious walker than I used to. I have the shoes (which are wearing out *shock*), I have the jacket. But I also have the handbag!

The walk was one I’d done last year, so I didn’t really need directions. As always, it was pretty muddy, which resulted in one of the group falling full length when going through a gate. We chatted, and I discovered a little more about each of them, hoping people didn’t spot my rather obvious strategy of dropping into different parts of the group to talk to different people. Two others were from York, and all seemed very nice, and keen to do more walks. The level was about right, as no one was desperately serious about it, and everyone was keen to find a pub or tea shop afterwards.

We sat in The Crown, and planned the next walk. I’ll give it a while before I introduce the handbag walking concept though, I think.