SWITCH II - Meeting up, walking and reviewing
Immediately prior to completing the highly succesful first SWITCH walk between Melbourne and Burton, we repaired to the Burton Bridge Inn to discuss doing it again. There were five of us on this first walk and would like to encourage more to join us. The initial suggestion was Hallon (Halesowen to Longbridge) https://beta.slowways.org/Route/Hallon/3533
It's a route I've looked at and think has the potential to be a really nice walk, particularly having done other walks in the area. Halesowen is a half hour bus ride from Birmingham New Street (the number 9 runs every ten minutes) and Longbridge is a 20 minute train ride (4 trains an hour) so it's all easy to get to.
This morning, having looked at my "to do" list of Slow Ways (surely we all have them!) I stumbled upon Wincre (Winsford to Crewe) https://beta.slowways.org/Route/Wincre/3233 Crewe is one of the best connected stations in the rail network and Winsford has a station too. I'd like to add that as a possible walk. It was suggested we plan this a couple of months in advance so anyone arriving from further afield can get advance train tickets, and adopt a "hell or high water" approach to the arrangements to not muck anyone around. We're open to any other suggestions but here are two to get the ball rolling. Thoughts?
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Great job David, thanks. I could offer many more suggestions but no these both sound good being in different locaions will hopefully attact different or more SWITCH participants. Are we looking to pull one in in December or wait now into 2022? I see Hallon is 7miles and Wincre 12 so while Dec and Jan will have similar hours of daylight Feb.might be slightly better for 12 miles. I have no comment on Hallon but investigating Church Minshall I would not wish to walk along the section of road to the east (see https://greatenglishwalk.wordpress.com/the-walk/14-ch-minshull-brereton-green/). During our chat on Saturday I reported on two crossing footpath not linking and these were at Hoolgrave Bridge SJ 66898 59711 so while I feel this needs a revision to avoid the road it will need some investigation to see if a link has now been created.
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I think December might be too soon. I'd thought February for Hallon and March for Wincre just allow time for tickets and a bit more light but maybe January - February might be OK
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Posted 4 days ago but still "pending approval"?
I'm really looking forward to joining you all on a Slow Way, and meeting you beyond the Zoom frame!
Initial thoughts, but I might look into it more...
HalLon: It sounds as if public transport is pretty user-friendly at both ends and the route is only 7 miles. Further for me personally to travel, coming from Lancaster, but that's not too much of a problem for me. Nearer for others I'm sure.
WinCre: The route is over 12 miles, so a bit trickier with winter daylight, although the Crewe end has about 3 miles of lit suburban walking, so would be possible after dark. Certainly Crewe Station is easy for most people to get to, and that is the Slow Ways Meeting Point. However the Winsford Meeting Point is nearly 2 miles from the station. There's a 31 bus to Crewe bus station which is a mile from Crewe railway station.
I'll try and think of some more ideas and transport options...0 -
Suggested dates,
5 February for Hallon (starting from Longbridge ending in Halesowen)
12 March for Wincre (starting from Winsford ending in Crewe)
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9:30 starts for both
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Thanks Ken and Mary for your research. I notice there are two buses between Winsford and the railway station, the 7 and the 37 which both take 5 minutes but are both hourly. I guess we need to iron out what route we are following as early as we can, as Wincre One looks like a bust. Sunset in Crewe on that day is at ten past six so I think we'll be OK for daylight.
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Hi David, Ken and others
I've just booked my train ticket for this. Unfortunately, I can't avoid arriving 7 minutes late at 9.37 (train punctuality permitting) unless I set off the day before! Hope this will be acceptable.
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Hello Mary
We could have two walks seven minutes apart if we get lots of takers so great to have you along. We will meet up on the day, no worries, what's seven minutes on a Slow Way.
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Mary,
That's great! I look forward to meeting up.
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Hi all,
Looking forward to seeing everyone (and some people again!). I've just bought train tickets for both. Hell or high water I'm coming from London and I'll be there!
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I’ll be there as well (not bought the tickets yet but I know the trains I need to take).
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Shall we say a departure time of 9:45? If anyone else wants to join, please say if you need to be any later.
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"Start time" might be a better phrase! I think most people so far are coming in on the Cross City Line from Birmingham so if there are any problems, we'll all know!
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So I’ve got my tickets (I think I’ll be on the same train to Longbridge as Mary 😊), but I haven’t booked any return tickets.
I’ll buy the same ticket to New St Station as everyone else!
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Good work! I think quite a few of us will be taking the Number 9 bus back to Birmingham from Halesowen afterwards and then making our ways home by train from New Street.
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Ooh! A Slow Ways charabanc!
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