MAD Walkers

Some highlights from the end of August 🌤️🌧️

All our walk details can be found on the walks page of our website (link in bio). If you want to join a walk you can just show up and ask if we're MAD 😊
If you want to see more of the type of walks we do all our previous walks are listed on the website 🥾

📷🥾 Thanks to Henry, Olivia, Jess, Angela, Andrew

🍻🪨
Last Saturday some walkers were feeling a bit Wobbly Wobbly around Mobberley on Jonny's 8 mile Cheshire pub crawl.....whilst others were doing there best to stay sure footed on an impressive clough scramble and hike in the Dark Peak led by Charlie!

We really do have huge variety in our routes! 🥾

📷 Thanks to , Jennie, .hiking

Flying the flag for MAD walkers 😄
Our members are having great fun showing off the new flat! If you spot whilst we're out do come and say hello 👋
Or if you'd like to chat to some members before a walk we have regular drinks socials - on the first Wednesday of the month in Manchester city centre, or we put on suburban editions too. All details can be found on the socials page of our website 🍻

📷Thanks to Catherine

Last weekend there were 3 very different but lovely walks in the warm weather ☀️
Charlie's explored the Yorkshire Dales from Malham, Ed showed us the reservoirs and waterfalls near Marsden, and James's walk out of Manchester included a trip on a particularly small ferry across the River Mersey 🌊

📷 Thanks to .hiking , Jola, Ed, Jennie

We had 3 walks on last Saturday in 3 different counties 🥾 and our new MAD flag made it's debut outing 😍

Steven's walk took in the green spaces around Halifax, Henry led a group around a lot of Edges in Derbyshire, whilst Jonny's route showed that the Cheshire plain has some hills!

📷Thanks to ,Henry, & Jonny

A trip to the seaside with 🏖️🌞

This year MAD is celebrating it's 20 year anniversary 🎉
We're organising special walks and socials to celebrate, and on Saturday Jess from MAD and Ravi from Liverpool based Fillyaboots teamed up to lead a walk on the Wirral coast 🥾

We love meeting walkers from other groups and as a Ramblers member you can go on a walk with any Ramblers group in the country 😊

📷Thanks to Jess and Bhav

Some highlights from a mostly sunny May ⛅🥾
- a Congleton conga
- Lud's Church
- a Dragon's back
- passing Chatsworth from Bakewell
- not-so-bleak Bleaklow
- finding Pym's Chair on Kinder

Fingers crossed for more nice weather as we head into summer 🤞☀️

📷Thanks to Olivia, Scott, Steven O, Sam, John, Paul

Recent MAD weekends to the Pembrokeshire coast, Yorkshire for the 3 Peaks, and Shap for lovely Lakes walking 🏞️🏕️🥾☀️

Weekends are only open to MAD members, so a huge perk to joining us.
Our brilliant volunteers arrange both 'all-inclusive' weekends and DIY ones where you sort your own accommodation. They're a great way to get know fellow members better and enjoy walking a bit further afield 🥾

📷 Thanks to Bhav, .walking, Steven J, Ravi, and Karolina for the photos.

Both of last Saturday's MAD walks starting from the lovely Hebden Bridge, with Charlie leading some along the Pennine way to Marsden on a 17 mile route, and Steven showing others around the local valleys and waterfalls on a 9 mile route 🥾
Meanwhile, some MAD members took a break frohiking and were enjoying Owain's social: A Grand Tour of the North - a sightseeing tour of 6 towns and cities 🚆

📷Thanks to Sam, .walking, Scott, & Katie

New badge designs 😍
To help celebrate our 20 year anniversary this year we have two new pin badge designs - a 20 year pin and our boot on a sage background.
We also still have some stock of our two previous designs if you'd prefer.
The suggested donation cost for the badges is £3 for 1, or £5 for 2. Payment details can be found at https://www.madwalkers.org.uk/badges/ and once paid you can arrange collection or postage.
Massive thanks to Charlotte for producing these designs for the group 🥾

Despite the grey weather, we got some great views last weekend 😍⛰️
In the dark peak we braved the windy weather on a 18 mile hike around 3 Edges inc. Stanage led by Charlie and Sam. Whilst others took in the suburban landmarks along the river Mersey led by Owain.
Then on Sunday Jonny took walkers across the border to Wales with a hike up Moel Famau followed by a tasty roast 😄

📷 Thanks to .walking, Jonny, Scott, and Desi

The trains may not have been running as usual but that didn't stop us getting out walking at the weekend (and eating lots of ice cream 🍦)

We took the tram to Bury where Steven and Jess showed us the locals hills, mills, and ice cream farms 😄 Then on Sunday we had a car based exploration of the caves and dales of the White Peak, which also featured ice cream! 😄

📷Thanks to Bhav, Jess, Camilla, and Scott

If you've not done a lot of hiking, or not done much with a group it can be hard to understand distances and ascent 🧐
We've put together this brief guidance to help you choose the walks you may be most comfortable with.

It's important to us that everyone joining a walk has an enjoyable day out, where they know what to expect, can keep the group pace, and don't need to worry if they can reach the end! 🥾

It's for this reason our strenuous walks are recommended as most suitable for experienced hikers.
As always if you've any questions please just get in touch 😊

The sun finally came out for a cracking Easter weekend 🌞🐣

Arthur led an epic 24 mile hike round the Dark Peak, and Alex showed us a 7 mile route over Standege Tunnels 🥾

New members are always welcome on our walks, however we wouldn't normally recommend a strenous/longer route to start with unless you've done similar walks. Best advice is to start with what you're comfortable with, and then increase the difficulty/distance if you want to.
If you've questions about a route, such as how long they might take, just drop us a message 😊

📷Thanks to Charlie, Arthur, Stephen S, and Bhav

**Update: unfortunately the walk leader has had to cancel the walk around Strines (originally planned for Monday 1 April then moved to Saturday 30 March) due to transport challenges**
If you're up for a walking challenge though, we've still got a 24.3 mile strenuous walk on from Hadfield on Saturday 30 March!

Strong winds, rain, hail, snow, and odd patches of warm sunshine - the weather couldn't make it's mind up yesterday! ❄️☀️
We had 2 walks running, a blustery but beautiful 15 mile hike from Whaley bridge to Macclesfield, and a north Manchester walk from Whitefield to Shaw 🥾

📷 Thanks to Charlie, Sam, & Bhav

Bog and Beach on today's walk from Mytholmroyd to Todmorden 🥾

It feels like spring is finally here ☀️🌿
That means we'll start to see lambs and calves, and ground nesting birds will start to breed 🐣
With that in mind we thought it would useful to give quick overview of how to behave around livestock...

Respect, Protect, but also Enjoy! 🥾

More info about the countryside code can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-countryside-code/the-countryside-code-advice-for-countryside-visitors

📷 Mike Dent

Bog up to your knees ✅
Acres of mud ✅
Having a laugh with new friends ✅

Just another fantastic weekend of walking with MAD!

📷 Sam T, .walking , Bhav M, Mike D

Pancakes 🥞 Axe throwing 💔 Scaletrix racing 🏁 Boardgames 🎲

We had a full week of Socials last week!

Once you've become a member you can come along to all our socials too, another great reason to join the group 😊

📷 Tom D, Catherine E, Cathy C, Leanne T

Lots of MAD walkers out yesterday - we had 3 great routes on totalling an impressive 45 miles and over 2000m ascent between them!
We've got plenty of Saturday and Sunday walks planned already over the next few weeks, just head to the walks section of our website to see what's on 🥾
And if you've got a question about joining a walk, do get in touch 😊

It's been lovely to have so many new walkers join us on a MAD walk the last few weeks 😄

You're welcome to come along to up to 3 walks before we ask you to join the Ramblers, but with that membership you can walk with any Ramblers group anywhere in the country!

Thinking you'd like to join us on a walk? MAD is always open to new members, all walk details are on our website.

Photo credit: Sam, Charlie, Laura, Mike, and Bhav 📷

**Sunday's walk cancelled**
Due to expected stormy weather, tomorrow's walk has been cancelled for the safety of walkers.
We will reschedule this walk for another date when hopefully the weather will be a lot more welcoming!!

1 week into the New Year and MAD walkers have already enjoyed a variety of routes.
On New Year's Day we were walking before sunrise and after sunset around Edale. Then over the weekend we headed to Cheshire to explore the edges of Lyme Park and around Alderley Edge.

If you're thinking of joining us we have a number of Leisurely walks more suited to newer members throughout January - all details on our website.
Also check out the pinned post for some useful info about walking with us.

Happy Walking!

📷: Sam T, James S, Charlie SB, Jonny K, Angela, Martin R

Thinking of joining the MAD walkers for a walk? Here's some info about what to consider and what you need 🥾
There's lots more info on our website, though as a new walker the webpages below may be most relevant.

If you've any other questions, don't hesitate to get in touch via Instagram, Facebook, or email.

We hope to see you on a walk soon ☺️

https://www.madwalkers.org.uk/faqs/ https://www.madwalkers.org.uk/walks/b4walking/
https://www.madwalkers.org.uk/walks/walks-info/
https://www.madwalkers.org.uk/about-us/finding-us/

We've just had our first committee meeting and wanted to introduce the 2023/2024 committee🎉
We're all looking forward to supporting the group over the next year!

More info about the different committee roles can be found at https://www.madwalkers.org.uk/about-us/committee/

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas 🎄

The weather may have been grey and miserable, but MAD walkers were full of festive cheer for our annual Santa walk on Saturday 🎅🧑‍🎄 and a Kinder classic on Sunday with lots of festive treats 🎁

We still have plenty of walks and socials before the new year, if you'd like to join us just head to www.madwalkers.org.uk for more info ☃️

The winter sun was shining yesterday and MAD walkers were out in full force enjoying 3 different hikes:
- 8/10 miles exploring the moors around Slaithwaite
- 12 miles crossing the Kinder plateau
- 18 miles around Congleton
There was frosty bog, quirky rocks, and some interesting local wildlife 🦙

More info about MAD can be found on our website https://www.madwalkers.org.uk/

📷: Bhav, Jenna, Charlie, Sarah

This weekend our fab volunteer walk leaders organised a couple of walks with a difference! A walk and picnic at Broadbottom, and a conservation-themed walk at Dovestones (with the opportunity to plant some sphagnum).

Take a look at our website to see what else we're planning!

Instagram Vs Reality 🤣

We're used to sharing our footpaths with cows, sheep and even the odd llama, but last weekend we had an encounter with a swarm of march flies! 🪰

A bit freaky and not one for the bugphobes, but luckily these encounters are rare. Check out our calendar for some (hopefully) swarm-free walks this weekend! 🤞