About Our Walks
Most of our walks take place at weekends with a
few on other days and virtually all of them are accessible by public transport.
They cover most of the Southeast of England and vary in length from 3 to 20
miles and in
pace from easy to fast. Rain or other weather conditions (short
of an actual blizzard or hurricane!) do not stop us from walking, although walks
may have to be modified in the event of delays.
Any member of the Ramblers' Association or who is specifically a member of the Hampstead and District Group can come on our walks. You can apply to join the RA by visiting www.ramblers.org.uk or by telephoning 020 7339 8500. It is also possible to try out a couple of walks before you decide if you want to join.
Our walks can be found by clicking here: http://www.ramblers.co.uk/walksfinder/search.php?advanced=1&group=IL2.
For a printable programme click here: http://www.ramblers.co.uk/programmes/print.php?group=IL2.
Please note that a number of the Group's walks are not on the Walks Finder or in the printable programme. Details of these walks are only in the Group's programme which is sent out to members and associate members.
The Mandela Way Walk - This is a walk from the South Bank to Wendover, which was devised in 1994 by Gerald Colton, who was a founder member of the Hampstead Group, and its Walks Organiser and main leader for the first decade of the Group's existence until his death on 9 October 1995. Gerald called the walk, which went from the statue of Nelson Mandela near Waterloo Bridge to the monument on the top of Coombe Hill to those Buckinghamshire men who died in the Boer War, the Mandela Way because 1994 was the year of free elections in South Africa and he equated that cause with the Ramblers' Association's cause of freedom to roam.
The Mandela Way is divided into six sections, each of which starts and ends at a station, as follows:-
Section 1 - Waterloo to Kentish Town (11 miles)
Section 2 - Kentish Town to Mill Hill East (9 miles)
Section 3 - Mill Hill East to Radlett (11 miles)
Section 4 - Radlett to Rickmansworth (16 miles)
Section 5 - Rickmansworth to Amersham (11 miles)
Section 6 - Amersham to Wendover (13 miles)
A route description of the walk was written by Hazel Burnett after Gerald Colton's death and to download a copy please click here. Please note that it has not been updated since 2002.
As part of our twenty-fifth anniversary celebrations we are considering renaming the Mandela Way the Gerald Colton Way, extending it back to Greenwich to complete the fulfilment of Gerald's original conception, and including it in our 2009 walks programme.