Leading up three hills
It’s day three of the Dursley Walking Festival and I was leading the “Three Hills and a Tower” walk from the Market Place. We started at 1pm, and although relatively short at 6.5 miles, it was graded as hard due to the three climbs.
We had a full house of people attending – a feature across most walks so far this festival. It was a very warm and mostly sunny afternoon, so perfect walking conditions.
Despite it being a big group, we put on a bit of a pace to start and were up Stinchcombe in no time.
The next hill was up towards the tower in North Nibley which is a bit more of a slog.
Once at the top, we rested and topped up with water and snacks. A few of the group took the opportunity to climb the tower and enjoy the panoramic views from the top. When we started up again, we made our way to Waterley Bottom and climbed up the final hill toward Ashen Plains Campsite.
I saw Dave there who had installed his newly refurbished food truck, which he has in place for the engine enthusiasts who are camping there this weekend. We then made our way down through the woods to Dursley, where true to form I picked the wrong path and had to use my nose to get to the right exit point back to town.
Afterwards I drove back up to Ashen Plains to see Dave and take a proper look around his new truck. Campers had already begun to arrive, towing trailers with enormous engines. These are being cranked up as part of an event on Sunday.
More admin in the evening – lots of queries from the public to answer, cancellations to process and sending out the schedules to tomorrow’s walk leaders.
