Welcome to the Brunel 20s and 30s Walking Group. Based in the Bristol and Bath area, we're a friendly group for young(ish) adults, from the newcomer to recreational walking through to experienced hill walkers. Our programme offers around 120 walks a year, ranging from 4 mile ambles through to testing 17 mile up and downers in the Brecons. Each walk is led by a volunteer leader and almost all have been pre-walked.

The Group was set up in 1999 and continues to grow having now grown beyond 220 members, the majority of whom walk with us regularly. As well as frequent walks, our programme also contains a number of weekends away, social evenings, pub nights, meals out at local restaurants, a monthly cinema evening, regular visits to local theatres, and many more besides. The meeting points for all walks are in Bristol and are mostly accessible using public transport from Bristol City Centre.

If you're deciding on your first walk, there are a wide array of walks every month for you to choose between. The Group offers a whole range of walks, suited to those who have done little before, to those who are accomplished hill walkers or trekkers. Do browse our website, pick a suitable walk and come along, you're unlikely to be the only new face! We offer 'new members walks' from time to time, which are specifically aimed at those coming along for the first time, but you can start with any walk on the programme and on almost any 1 or 2 boot walk there is likely to be someone else who is turning up for the first time.

We suggest you're sensible in choosing your first walk (else your legs might ache a bit the next day!) and that you have the right gear for the walk you're joining - there's almost always some mud to be found - so walking boots are recommended for all walks, and are absolutely necessary for hill walks as it can get particularly boggy or rocky. Waterproofs and no jeans are other key points. And a good lunch plus plenty of liquid.

If you're browsing this site with the idea of getting out walking with a Bristol or Bath based group/club, then have a look at our 'Join Us' and 'Before Walking' pages, then come along and try out a couple of walks.

If you've already been on a couple of walks and have decided you'd like to join the group, then someone may have put a membership form in your hand - alternatively you can join on-line via our Join Us page.

And if you're outside our Group's age range, why not try one of these other local groups.

If you're a group member you should be receiving a monthly newsletter and the programme. Because we keep your email address confidential by sending out all our mail as "bcc" (blind copy) then sometimes providers like hotmail direct what we send into your 'junk mail' (or equivalent) folder. It's best to make sure that brunelwalkinggroup@hotmail.com is registered in your account as a "safe sender", then you'll always get to see our latest news.

We also get a few 'bounce-back' messages every time we send the newsletter out - so if you didn't get the newsletter, please also make sure we have your up-to-date email address.

A couple of people have said that when they navigate between programme pages on this site they see some months from the last programme (Jan-Apr) rather than the new one.  If you have the same issue, you can remedy it simply by going to the appropriate page and clicking Refresh (or press F5).  We've endeavoured to fix it from our end, so if it does persist, do let us know.

The evening walk season is stretching nicely into August.  It's easy in summer to get your weekends filled by all sorts of other things, so these walks are a great opportunity to still get out and stretch your legs and catch up with a few people.  A couple of these walks are additions to the original programme, so here's a summary:

• Tuesday 5 August - Bristol's historic parks (postponed from last month)
• Wednesday 13 August - Wye Valley (an addition)
• Tuesday 19 August - Avoncliff to Bath - note this one meets particularly early to get the train there, so you may need to plan ahead!

On the bank holiday weekend we have added a 1+ boot walk with Philip on the Monday.  That weekend also offers a great opportunity to try your first 3 boot walk - on the Sunday Shanaiz will be leading a great hill walk, but at a 2-boot pace; highly recommended!

Mel has received an initial set of walks for the Autumn programme, but we do need more, else we'll have a sparse programme!  Experience says that you guys come through with walks and socials in the end, but it's really helpful if you can get them to Mel asap - even if today you can only provide a couple of alternative dates, the boot rating and rough area, it makes the process easier, as it's a big effort to settle it all into a balanced programme.

We need walks and socials over the September to December period.  It's always a great time of year for walking and as ever we will need a range of walks from 1 to 3 boot.  We already have a September weekend away planned in the Gower, plus a week in Scotland but both are full and it would be good to include another in September/ October and/or January/February to promote in the new programme.

When emailing, please try and include the following information:

• Title and Description
• Date
• 1, 2 or 3 boots
• Departure Time
• Meeting Place (with a map link if not one of our 3 normal locations)
• Leader AND Telephone No.

If you haven't led before but are interested in doing so, we're here to help.  We can find someone to help you (or you could just ask someone with more experience yourself!), there's a load of helpful stuff on the Leading page, plus we're offering Leader training.  You can ask Mel for a date later in the programme, go on the leading course, see below, and then go out and finalise your walk.

If you've never led a walk before but would like to acquire the skills to do so - or if you're an existing 1/2 boot leader looking to brush up your skills - then you should pop along to our walk leader training sessions in early September.

Anyone who has been along before will tell you that these sessions are great fun and stand you in good stead when organising group walks.  Once again Paul E (FP) and Paul T (POP) will at the helm.  The leader training is divided into 2 parts:

• the classroom bit (well, actually the pub bit!): getting you familiar with using maps and compasses plus the other planning elements that go into a walk.  This will take place on Thursday 11 September at 7.30 in Zero Degrees, on Park Row
• the outdoor practical - a NAVEX (Navigation Exercise) where you really get to grips with confidently navigating the ground.  Normally takes about 3 hours.  Walking pace is slow - emphasis is on map reading and relating to what's around. Not too many hills - and not on open moorland. Just through fields and on pathways mainly.  Just 2 days after the first session - Saturday 13 September meet at Bradley Stoke Pizza Hut car-park at 10am.

If you'd like to attend, please drop us a note so that we have an idea of numbers.

This month's Watershed film is detailed below.  I'm always left wondering why Philip never submits his walk descriptions in the same style as his film descriptions?

Tuesday 26 August – “ Somers Town”
"Relocating from his usual Midlands settings to the capital, Meadows here reenlists Thomas Turgoose (This Is England) as a cocky runaway from Nottingham who befriends another new Londoner, a quiet Polish teen. This odd couple prove to be kindred spirits as they embark on teenage adventures, pursuing moneymaking scams and the cute waitress at their local café. Shot in crisp black and white, this is Meadows at his most compassionate, charming and hilarious as he demonstrates how, among alienating urban environments and fractured family relationships, redemption can be found through friendship. "

Let Philip (0117 969 1395) know by the Monday evening if you’d like him to get you a ticket (£6), or get your own. Meet in the Watershed bar from 7.30pm for the film at 8.10pm

The Christmas weekend away will be at Golant YHA from Thursday 11 through Sunday 14 December.  Very close to Fowey (in Cornwall), it offers an array of coastal and riverside walks, as well as a town that's great at that time of year. 

To reserve your space, on a first come, first served basis, please contact Philip T on 0117 969 1395.  The cost is £42, which includes the group meal, and is payable by mid-September.  Early booking is advised.

The one thing missing from our otherwise comprehensive programme this year has been a spring weekend away doing some coastal walking in Devon, Cornwall or Pembrokeshire.  Always fantastic fun in the past, catering for all grades of walkers, we'd like to make sure it's part of next year's calendar.  To do this, we'd like to get a whole hostel booked up for sometime from next April to June, be it one of the bank holidays or simply a two day trip. 

What we need is an organiser or two - if you would be willing to volunteer (you don't need to take the whole task on yourself), please contact us.  That would enable us to get a hostel booked good and early.

If you want to know what's going on in the local RA, then look no further than Area News!  Those who are into campaigning issues and reminiscences will be particularly interested.