Walking Festival

Featuring over 200 walks to suit all ages and abilities and with over half the Island being recognised as an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty including over 500 miles of well-maintained footpaths, the overwhelming success of this years Isle of Wight Walking Festival surprised no one, but exhausted many!

Launch Day

A colourful Chinese Walking Parade was held on Saturday 5th May to kick-start this year's widely acclaimed Walking Festival. Commencing at 10.30am, the parade set off along Carisbrooke Road bound for St Thomas Square in Newport for the Grand Opening and Launch Event of the festival. Originally conceived to celebrate Chinese New Year in February, the date of the event had to be to put back due to road works and traffic-calming measures along the proposed route of the parade. The newly conceived partnership between the Arts Unit and the Walking Festival was fundamental in highlighting the benefits of taking part in carnival events for healthy lifestyles, and the theme also heralded the countdown to next year’s Olympics in Beijing, China.

Approximately 250 performers took part in the parade, all drawn from various arts organisations, schools and community projects including China People Promotions (Northampton), Chinese music project, Phoenix Arts (Southampton), Chinese dance and movement, Union Arts (IOW) Chinese Banners, lanterns and kite making, The IOW Carnival Truck Chinese costume workshops, Island-based MARSTA Chinese cultural programme, Chinese Lion Dance and martial arts, parents and young people from various Island primary, middle and high schools, plus adult students from the Island's accredited carnival learning programme. Dressed in beautiful handmade costumes and waving bright and eye-catching banners, flags, scarfs and ribbons, the parade was led by the traditional Chinese dragon and drummers.

Once the procession reached its destination, the Island's ninth annual Walking Festival was officially declared open by Peter Ter Harr from the event's main sponsor Ordnance Survey, along with Cllr Roger Mazillius, the IOW Council's newly-elected chairman, and John Metcalfe, the council's acting assistant director of community services. The Council Chairman also presented a specially designed award to the original founders of the Walking Festival, John and Elizabeth Gurney-Champion, in recognition for their outstanding contribution to the event.

Around 120 of the school-children who had taken part in the parade showcased their Chinese Dance and Music performances to a packed square of enthusiastic onlookers. The youngsters, who had been working with Chinese artists Yan Zhou and Li Yiang to create their showpieces in the run-up to the Festival, succeeded in bringing the sights and sounds of the Orient to the Island's Capital.

Non Stop Walking!

Launch day also saw the festival's most strenuous walk get under way - a non-stop 72-mile trek around the Island's coastline. Walkers set off from Sandown Pier early on Saturday and walked all day and through the night to complete the strenuous route within 24 hours. Although the walking conditions may have been ideal, only 17 of the original 24 walkers managed to battle it to the finish line; complete with aching joints and blisters a-plenty!

Although the event started with a fairly good weekend of weather, 2007 proved to be a very damp and windy walking festival which saw a dramatic decline in weather which was unusual for May, (although the last four days of the festival turned out to be dry and sunny!)

They travelled from far and wide

All walks were very well supported this year, with only one or two having low numbers due to the adverse weather conditions; although thankfully this did not seem to deter many walkers!! There was great support with participants travelling across to the Island from as far as Perth, America, and Canada. Added to this there were many regular visitors to the walking festival, some returning for up to the eighth time. Many came over for the duration of the sixteen days, walking daily and at times twice daily, spurred on by a love of the Island and the scenery it has to offer. It was very encouraging to hear the positive comments from numerous walks about how well maintained and signed our footpaths are. Walkers were all impressed with the variety of walks on offer, and were spoilt for choice with over 200 to choose from. The council's Events Team have even managed to pick up a few extra walk leaders throughout the duration of the event, all keen to be a part of the festival next year!

Spoilt for choice

The speed daters all had a great time, with over 120 people taking part. Although it was a few men short, the walk still generated 56 matches which is a fantastic result! The singles dog walk was a very interesting one, with 30 ladies, 6 men, 2 children and 35 dogs! Some walkers shared a dog, and in extreme cases even borrowed a mut! The walker of the borrowed dog ironically made a match; it must have been the ribbon round the dogs colour that did it!

Walks from Rails promoted by the Isle of Wight Community Rail Partnership, always prove to be very popular and attracted in excess of 169 walkers of all ages. The Tiger Trail was a great hit with the public, and took part on the last day of the festival, which was also the day that Tiger Island was launched on Meridian TV. This was a fantastic chance to meet the stars of the new TV series, followed by a walk up to Culver.

There were a huge variety of walks in the programme this year, and something for all age groups and abilities, a great way to keep healthy – walking on our beautiful Island. The Events Team have already received many inquiries about the programme and content for 2008! Next year will be the tenth anniversary of the Walking Festival, and the organisers are continually looking for new ideas for the programme and new walk leaders, so if anyone is interested, please contact Elaine Cesar to discuss.

The whole of the programme was a great success enjoyed by all participants regardless of the weather. The Events Team would like to extend a big thank you to all walk leaders, and also sponsors and partners who help make the walking festival the success it is today.

Next years 10th Annual Isle of Wight Walking Festival will take place on 3 – 18th May.

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