Isle Of Wight Walking Weekend Soon

One for the diary with the the Isle of Wight Walking Festival Celebratory Weekend scheduled for the weekend of 24-27 October and featuring a speed dating walk and Alan Hinkes no less...

The weekend will feature nearly 50 walks and marks the tenth birthday of the annual Isle of Wight Walking Festival, which is held in June and this year attracted around 25,000 people who took part in nearly 300 walks. The idea behind the weekend is to give people something to do outside the tourist season...

That means  family treasure hunts, a ghost walk, singing walk, tea party walk, rambles, a Jimi Hendrix walk, an Earl Mountbatten Hospice dog walk and an Isle of Pink friendship walk to raise cash for the Breast Cancer Campaign in Yarmouth on Saturday 25 October.

There's also a speed dating walk - so far the Festival version of these has resulted in no fewer than three weddings, with the most recent couple having met on the speed dating walk at the 2007 festival, so there you go. If you're foot loose and fancy getting hitched, the Isle of Wight is the place to go. Honest, here are the wedding pics...

Last but not least, top mountaineer Alan Hinkes, the first and only Briton to have climbed all 14 of the world's 8000-metre peaks will be speaking at the Medina Theatre on Sunday 26 October in a talk that also includes breathtaking still and video photography of his exploits throughout the world.

For details on the Celebratory Walking Weekend and the individual walks check out www.isleofwightwalkingfestival.co.uk.