THE increasing popularity of the Isle of Man’s Summer Walking Festival has led to a demand for more local guides. This year around 170 visiting walkers will be taking part in the event which takes place between June 13th and 18th.

 

Organiser Mick Salmon said, “Around 25 walk leaders will be bringing their local knowledge to the Festival and while that number is adequate I could ideally do with half a dozen more. There will be at least two leaders or assistant leaders on each walk but I would like to be in a position to allocate four or five to the most popular ones where we have anything up to 60 people involved.

 

“One of the recurring themes we are hearing from visitors is how impressed they are by the Manx guides. There is no doubt this is a major factor in encouraging them to travel to the Island and I would say to anyone thinking about joining us as a leader or assistant leader is that you are helping Manx tourism as well as ensuring our visitors go away with a detailed knowledge of the Island’s heritage and culture.

 

‘The number of people taking part is the highest for about six years and I think this is due to earlier targeting of possible participants through the major walking magazines. We have brought our advertising forward to the December issues in the belief that this is the period when people generally plan their summer breaks. It certainly seems to have paid dividends.’

 

Majority of the 2010 Festival visitors will be coming from the UK and Ireland but there are also parties from America, Norway, France and Sweden. Five different walks are on offer each day, graded from A to C, to cater for all levels of fitness – A being the most demanding. A record nine people will be tackling the 96 miles Raad Ny Foillan coastal footpath. This is spread over five days.

 

As ever, the favourite is the six miles stroll from Port St.Mary to Port Erin.  This is available on two days and a total of over 100 people have booked for this one.  Another popular walk, introduced last year, is that from Laxey to Snaefell and then on to North Barrule and Ramsey.  This had to be limited to 40 last year because of the availability of trams to take the walkers to the top of Snaefell.  However, the transport authorities are laying-on extra trams so the number of participants is now over 50.

 

One new walk this year, which has attracted almost 50 people, is the Heritage Trail which takes in St.John’s, Tynwald Hill, the Arboretum and Peel. Mick Salmon added, “Anything different always finds a big following. For this reason we are constantly looking for new areas to explore so I would ask any keen walkers to contact me if they have suggestions that we might include next year.”

 

Mick Salmon can be contacted on 331369 or by e-mail at office@manxwalks.com. Local residents are also encouraged to join the Festival but are asked to register their interest in advance by ringing Isle of Man Event Services on 664460 so the organisers know the likely number of people per walk.