Step out on 58 strolls and hikes in Chesterfield Area Walking Festival

Get out and enjoy the great outdoors, get fit and feel great at the Chesterfield Area Walking Festival.
Chesterfield Area Walking Festival, May 2014Chesterfield Area Walking Festival, May 2014
Chesterfield Area Walking Festival, May 2014

There’s 58 walks lined up over the eight-day event which starts on Saturday, May 9. Most walks are free of charge and led by experience guides.

A wildflower walk in Whitwell Wood, Nordic walking tasters in Holmebrook Valley Park and Grassmoor Country Park, a tree discovery walk at Creswell Crags and a buggy walk and teddy bear’s picnic in Chesterfield’s Queen Park are among the attractions.

The big one is the Chesterfield Round Walk whichis celebrating its tenth anniversary. This 34-mile, 12-hour ramble offers every type of walking experience around the borough, leaving the White Hart in Calow on Sunday, May 10, at 7am.

How about stepping out on the strenuous 20-mile Beast of Bolsover walk? This long hike through North-East Derbyshire’s coal mining country, visits the historic houses of Sutton Scarsdale and Hardwick. The eight-hour walk on May 17 sets off from Bolsover Castle at 9am.

Equally strenuous is the Dronfield Round Walk, a 14.5-mile stroll through woodlands and across meadows, negotiating 11 stiles. The walk on Saturday, May 9, sets off from the layby on the B6057 between Unstone and Chesterfield at 9am.

Early risers are in for a leisurely stroll of two to three miles in the first event of the festival, the Linacre Reservoirs Morning Bird Walk, which sets off from the ranger base at the reservoirs in Cutthorpe at 7.30am.

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