A Martley initiative, geology themed walks has been accepted as a good idea worth sharing with their members by Walkers are Welcome. Martley was the 13th community in the UK to achieve accreditation by the Walkers are Welcome movement.  You can read about it HERE. As its name suggests, WaW encourages communities to make walkers welcome through achieving certain criteria, such as local walks, community support, local walks maintenance group and so on.  Since its inception WaW has achieved notable success, now incorporating well over 100 members and many more on application.

Teme Valley Geological Society put forward the idea to WaW of inviting their member communities to perhaps encourage walking with a geology theme and WaW inserted the following into their most recent newsletter.  TVGS itself is leading occasional geology themed walks with the local Worcester Ramblers group and this has been very well received.

Below is the WaW editorial and HERE is a more detailed version for members only

Geology Walks
Themes add interest to any guided walk, walking festival programme or self-guided publication. Having lost its stuffy boys’ grammar school image, the fascinating study of geology is becoming increasingly popular. Not only in rural areas though. The stones used in buildings can provide a fascinating insight into old ways of working and living, many exhibit excellent fossils.

In Martley, Worcestershire, walking groups can avail themselves of a geology interpreter to go along and explain the local landscape, how it was formed, the underlying rock types and how they influence everything from buildings to agriculture.

The success of this initiative is worth passing on, so if your local group thinks it a good idea, why not plan one of your trips with a geological theme? Remember this is aimed at non-geologists as an introduction. The walks are not geology field trips!

If you want to pursue this, contact John Nicklin, Parish Paths Warden for Martley, our 13th WaW village, and Secretary of the Teme Valley Geological Society. Further details are on the NEW Geology Walks factsheet available to download.