After the success of Petersfield’s first walking festival in 2022, the good news is that it will be back in 2023. Entitled ‘A Walk For All Seasons’, this year’s festival will be trying out a new format. Instead of one intensive week of 47 walks at the end of August, the 2023 programme will be spread across the whole year. In doing this, organisers hope walks will be able to mirror nature’s natural, seasonal beauty and people will have more choice of times and dates to join in the fun.
With the festival starting on 7 January, co-organiser Malinka van der Gaauw admits finding inspiration from nature in the depth of winter “a bit of a challenge” but said that is part of the fun. Malinka added that “last August we were keeping our fingers crossed for the week to be dry, but it is perhaps a tall order to have the same expectation across the whole of next year.” In the UK a ‘walk for all seasons’ could very easily also mean a walk in all weathers…..and even perhaps all in just one day. Nonetheless, as every walker knows, there is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing….so it’s time to dig out the waterproofs and carry-on walking!
