WHITE CLIFFS WALKING FESTIVAL (2016)

Not just a walk - an experience

Purpose of the Festival

Through a varied programme of walks to suit different age, ability, and interest groups, the

purpose of the Festival is to attract local people and visitors alike, of varied walking abilities,

to develop the love of walking for health, interest, enjoyment and social benefits, and

consequently promoting the area, the facilities, the attractions and its friendly communities.

Summary

Wow! What a week. Sunshine, happy walkers, and with the countryside and coastline

looking great.

Key points:

Good weather every day

40 walks

255 miles (415km) of walking routes used

Walking routes visited all three Town Council areas, & 25 of the Parish Council areas

1102 walkers (cumulative: the sum of the total number of walkers for each walk, for the

40 walks)

Collectively – walkers walked for around 4,200 hours

Collectively – walkers covered 10,058 miles

Collectively – walkers burned up to a million calories, covering all walks, all walkers

Introduction

The White Cliffs Walking Festival 2016 was organised by the White Cliffs Ramblers Group,

Kent, part of the Ramblers organisation, Britain's walking charity. This is the fourth

consecutive year White Cliffs Ramblers have organised a walking festival.

The festival ran (sorry – walked) from Thursday 25th August, to Wednesday 31st August,

covering the Bank Holiday weekend. Forty walks were organised all within the Dover District

Council area. Overall the walks covered over 255 miles (415 km) in this beautiful area of the

country.

Over the seven days the weather was sunshine, sunshine and more sunshine – glorious.

The quality of the experience is fundamental to our planning, organising and operating of

the festival, so feedback is encouraged and is important to us. The cumulative total of

walkers was slightly up on 2015 which again demonstrates the popularity of the walks and

the interest of local people and visitors alike.

Promotional activity

Promotion starts with raising people’s awareness of the event, to exciting their interest, to

providing sufficient information for people to make choices as to what walks they wish to

participate in.

Therefore the promotion of the event is very important and relates to the majority of the

expenditure. We now have a database with around 1000 names of people who wish to be

kept informed of future White Cliffs Walking Festivals. The White Cliffs Walking Festival

website contains information on all the walks with a simple booking online process.

In addition we emailed details of the

walk programme to all senior schools in

the Dover District Council area, Parish

Councils, health outlets, community

outlets, various youth organisations,

camping and caravan sites, various

walking groups around Kent and

elsewhere, including Ramblers Groups,

other organised groups, and social

walking groups.

This was followed up with the

distribution of 6000 good quality walk programme leaflets. These were distributed widely,

primarily within east Kent, but also targeted with various organisations further afield,

including all the Ramblers groups in Kent. Details of the festival were also featured on the

national Ramblers website.

Many Parish Councils were extremely proactive in organising posters to be displayed on

their notice boards, distributing walk programme leaflets to key community outlets such as

post offices and village halls, publishing details on their websites, and publishing details in

their newsletters. We are extremely grateful to Parish Clerks for their support.

We also circulated 1500+ flyers, and distributed 300 A4

posters, of which 90 were displayed on Stagecoach buses.

Banners were displayed at various places in Deal, Dover and

Sandwich. Social media played an important part with a

campaign on both Twitter and Facebook. A YouTube video was

also produced with many viewings.

And leading up to the festival, newspaper adverts were placed

in the Kent Messenger newspapers, Kent Online, Dover Express

and the Folkestone Herald. In addition news articles were

published with particular prominence in the Kent Messenger

Group.

The festival was mentioned in the Guardian’s travel section. We also had a journalist from

the Sun on one of the walks, as she was writing a piece about White Cliffs Country. It is the

first time the festival has been mentioned in national newspapers.

Cumulative number of walkers

Quality of the experience is fundamental to our approach. Whilst it is gratifying to see the

numbers being maintained or slightly increased, we believe it is the quality of the

experience that drives everything we do to make the festival a success, so the actual

number is just one indicator. As can be seen from the graph below, the cumulative total for

2016 was 1102, slightly up on 2015. This may indicate the Festival has reached a plateau

considering the level of volunteer time available, and the budget we are able to attract

through grants, primarily used for printing of walk programmes, posters, advertisements

and other promotional material and equipment.

Whilst Ramblers’ members are always supportive of the festivals, the fact that 72% were

not Ramblers members showed the popularity of the event to less frequent walkers who

were attracted to the walks by their variety and suitability to the individual’s ability and

interests. Hopefully this will lead to many getting out and about on various walks on a

regular basis in the future. This is what we encourage.

Through conversations on many of the walks, Ramblers members highlighted various

options for the infrequent walkers, to improve health through walking, not just with the

Ramblers, but other walking groups, or forming a small group of friends or neighbours to go

on walks, or just to leave the car behind for short journeys and walk instead.

Comparison with 2015

The main increases were Dover residents (including surrounding parishes), Deal residents

(including surrounding parishes), and Shepway residents. As the main focus of promoting

the event was in these areas, it is not surprising this is where the largest numbers came

from. We are also noticing, and receiving comments, that increasing numbers are now

attending each year, both local people and visitors.

These increases are primarily offset against a drop in those coming from outside Kent.

150 150 150 150 150

674

1005

1095 1102

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Yr 2008* Yr 2009* Yr 2011* Yr 2011* Yr 2012* Yr 2013 Yr 2014 Yr 2015 Yr 2016

White Cliffs Walking Festivals - cumulative totals of walkers

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

74

21

201

61

14

241

131

214

30

108

78

6

270

78

37

77

187

263

9

97 2015

2016

Comparison - 2015 and 2016

Long Distance Walkers Association (LDWA)

Each year the Kent branch of the LDWA have organised a challenge event covering long

distances, always over 30 miles, and last year up to 52 miles. The key organiser is also one

of the founder members of the White Cliffs Ramblers.

In 2015 the LDWA organised the very popular 50 mile White Cliffs Challenge which attracted

very large numbers. The 50 mile walks are part of the KSS (Kent, Surrey, Sussex) Triple

Challenge of 50 mile walks. In 2016 it was the turn of Sussex to host the 50 mile Sussex

Stride event. This year, the White Cliffs Challenge was either a 15 mile or 32 mile walk that

still attracted good numbers but less than the very popular 50 mile Challenge Walk of last

year.

This year 102 people joined in the two

options, a 15 mile walk or a 32 mile walk.

Most came from outside the DDC area. This

represents around 9% of the cumulative total

of participants for the whole festival. It was

noticeable this LDWA event was particularly

well attended by walkers from Medway,

Canterbury, Tonbridge and Essex, as well as

some from as far afield as Swansea.

This shows the popularity of this type of long distance walking and we are grateful to the

LDWA for their partnership in the White Cliffs Walking festival.

Where did walkers come from?

As the festival walks were all in the Dover District Council area, the majority of promotional

activity was in this locality.

48% came from the District. This is up from 37% in 2015.

In all 83% came from Kent. This is a significant increase from 65% last year.

It is hard to explain why there has been

such a big increase. Apart from the

significant promotional activity, we believe

the Festival is now receiving a regular

following of local people, and ‘word of

mouth’ leads to friends and family deciding

to experience the joys of local walking

opportunities.

Health benefits

It sounds like an enormous figure but as a rough estimate the number of calories burned

during the festival by the collective number of people walking was up to one million. This is

not an exact figure but calculated at 100 calories for every mile walked. This is calculated by

the mileage of each walk, and the numbers on each walk which equates to 10,058 miles,

multiplied by 100 (calories per mile). Please see Appendix ‘A’ for greater detail.

Walking is simple, free and one of the easiest ways to get more active, lose weight and

become healthier. It's underrated as a form of exercise, but walking is ideal for people of all

ages and fitness levels who want to be more active. Regular walking has been shown to

reduce the risk of chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, asthma, stroke

and some cancers (source – NHS).

So many to say thank you to

Firstly thank you to Dover Town Council,

Deal Town Council, Kent County Council,

Stagecoach and other organisations who

wished confidentiality for providing funding

to support the event.

Thank you to the Kent Area Council of the

Ramblers, and to the twelve other Ramblers

groups in Kent for their ongoing support.

West Kent 7%

Ashford 1%

Dover 24%

Canterbury 7%

Thanet 3%

Outside Kent 7%

Shepway 17%

Deal 24%

Abroad 1%

Unknown 9%

White Cliffs Walking Festival - 2016

We very much appreciated support from people and organisations outside of the Ramblers

including the Long Distance Walkers Association, the White Cliffs Countryside Partnership,

Parish Councils, Up on the Downs Project members, Explore Kent, Visit Kent, the Canterbury

Archaeological Trust, Kent Reptile and Amphibian Group, The Western Heights Preservation

Society, The Deal Society, The Dover Society and The Land Trust. Several other organisations

were supportive in promoting the festival on their websites. Our Twitter and Facebook

campaigns continue to develop and are attracting increasing interest.

And finally to the White Cliffs Ramblers Group themselves. So many dedicated so much time

to make this festival happen.

In all forty members of the White Cliffs Ramblers contributed to the planning, organising

and operating of the festival. A big thank you to all involved.

In all, members of the White Cliffs Ramblers

gave around 1600 hours of their time to make

this Festival happen.

Feedback

We invited walkers to provide feedback on our website. Please view all the feedback on the

‘Comments’ page.

Here are a few clips from those comments and a few memories of this happy Festival

(pictures do not necessarily correspond with comments):

“I travelled from Dorset for this Walking

Festival.”

“Loved every minute of an entertaining

and varied walk – can’t wait for next years

festival and to meet more walking mates.”

“Good company, great weather and excellent

organisation.”

.

Hedgerow and fields: a foraging we go!

“Fascinating and fun. Learnt a great deal

about what you can find in the hedgerow”.

Smugglers Walk

“Our 5 year old says “Smugglers Walk is the

best walk ever” and our 9 year old was riveted

by the story line and action.”

“This was great fun.”

History & Wildlife of the Western Heights

“A really interesting walk and talk. So much history

surrounding the Western Heights.”

“Is there a better way than walking by the White Cliffs

of Dover, seeing all the lights of the harbour, good

company, then fish and chips!

And so to 2017 - the planning starts soon!

24 - 30 August 2017 here we come!

Our very own ‘Usain Bolt’s’ limber up for next year!

Appendix A

How Many Calories Does Walking Burn?

Our weight and the distance we walk determine the energy expended (Calories burned) while

walking.

Walking speed matters less than the distance you walk and how much we weigh. A rule of thumb is

100 calories per mile are burned for a 180-pound person and 65 calories per mile for a 120-pound

person.

Calories Burned Per Mile by Walking (source - www.verywell.com)

Speed/Pounds

100 lb 120 lb 140 lb 160 lb 180 lb 200 lb 220 lb 250 lb 275 lb 300 lb

2.0 mph 57 cal 68 cal 80 cal 91 cal 102 cal

114 cal

125 cal

142 cal

156 cal

170 cal

2.5 mph 55 65 76 87 98 109 120 136 150 164

3.0 mph 53 64 74 85 95 106 117 133 146 159

3.5 mph 52 62 73 83 94 104 114 130 143 156

4.0 mph 57 68 80 91 102 114 125 142 156 170

4.5 mph 64 76 89 102 115 127 140 159 175 191

5.0 mph 73 87 102 116 131 145 160 182 200 218

If we achieve the speed of walking a mile in 13 minutes or less, we will burn more calories per mile.

But for most beginning walkers, it is best to increase the walking distance before working on speed.

The calculator and chart of calories burned per mile is based on MET research – metabolic

equivalents of various activities. The rate of calories burned was measured while people engaged in

these activities.

Walking and Not Losing Weight?

If we eat more calories than we use each day, we gain weight.

If we eat fewer calories than we use each day, we lose weight.

To lose weight we need to eat fewer calories and/or burn more each day.

‘A pound of fat equals 3500 calories’. To lose 1 pound a week we need to expend 3500 more

calories than we eat that week, whether through increased activity or decreased eating - or

both

Science comment: The scientific definition of a calorie is the amount of heat needed to raise one gramme of

water one degree Celsius. This is a small quantity of energy and when dieticians discuss our diet they talk in

terms of kilocalories, however, calories is now commonly used (e.g. in food magazines) instead of kilocalories.

i.e. 1 Calorie =1 kilocalorie.