Land Cruising During 2024

View from Pilsbury Castle, Upper Dove Valley, Peak District

From our first walk in July 2020, when we were still under lockdown rules and were unable to walk in groups of more than 6, to the end of 2024, the HOEOCA Land Cruisers will have racked up 50 walks around the Midlands and approximately 400 land miles.  Nothing compared to what some of our participants have logged in sea miles, but let me tell you that we’ve had some great walks and a lot of fun along the way.

During 2024, we went north to the Peak District, south to the edge of the Cotswolds, west to Earlswood Lakes (open water at least!) and east to Hartshill Hayes.  Our final walk of the year in December will be a short walk of five miles to be followed by a Christmas lunch at the Orange Tree in Chadwick End.  Unfortunately, that’s already fully subscribed, but if you would be interested in joining us on our walks in 2025, please drop me an email ([email protected]).

Our walks (apart from December) are on the last Wednesday of every month and are generally around 7 to 8 miles in length.  We stop for a picnic lunch and normally also end the day with a drink in a pub before setting off home.

My thanks to Rhoda and Martin who led walks over the year and also organised our trip to the Peak District, when we had a night away in Hartington – and to everyone else who turned up and contributed to the fun factor.  Any errors or omissions (and there might have been one or two) are solely down to the author.  As a superstitious sailor, I won’t say anything about the weather!

Peter Smerdon