With Hay Walking Festival only weeks away, tickets are selling fast for a special evening event with leading broadcaster and walking expert Trevor Fishlock and famous polar explorer Felicity Aston, who has led a number of all female expeditions to the Antartic, Greenland and the Canadian Artic.

Taking place from Friday 7^th to Sunday 9^th October, Hay Walking Festival is billed to be one of the biggest outdoor events in Hay this year, and is already making a name for itself on the Brecon Beacons National Park’s tourism calendar. To launch the event, Hay Walking Festival has organised an evening talk on Friday 7^th October at The Swan Hotel, in Hay from 7.30pm – 9.00pm and tickets cost only £6.00 per person.

Trevor Fishlock will be speaking about his new book ‘Pembrokeshire: Journeys and Stories’ and walking experiences which will be the perfect prelude to Felicity Aston’s talk on more extreme walking expeditions and polar exploration.   Not only has she raced in the Canadian Artic, led a team of women across the inland ice of Greenland, searched for meteorite craters in Quebec, but she’s also skied along a frozen river in Siberia and spent three years living and working in Antarctic.  Tickets can be purchased for £6.00 from www.haywalkingfestival.co.uk   There is also an evening talk on Saturday 8^th October from Alan Ward, on his walking adventures in Nepal and Tanzania, followed by a buffet supper and ceilidh in the Globe.

Supported by Brecon Beacons National Park Authority’s Collabor8 Project as well as a number of local businesses, Hay Tourism Group have organised the first Hay Walking Festival, which they hope  will draw crowds of walkers and countryside lovers to the Brecon Beacons National Park. 

The Festival will run for three days and offers more than 30 events and talks from gentle strolls in the countryside to athletic outings for the walking enthusiast.  The special events include:

23 guided walks, 3 runs courtesy of Hay Hot footers and 4 evening talk events.  In fact, there’s something for everyone.  All walks will be led by experienced walkers from the Brecon Beacons Park Society, Brecon Beacons National Park Authority or Hay Walkers. 

This new festival is about more than just simply walking and will give people the chance to discover or learn something new along the way. Just some of the interesting things on offer include Nordic walking, map reading and interpretation, landscape photography, working farm visits, town architecture, archaeology, geology and history of the area. 

Nick Stewart, Sustainable Tourism Officer for Brecon Beacons National Park Authority said:  “We are really pleased to be using Collabor8 to support Hay Tourism Group to get this walking festival, which will add another exciting to element to those who visit and love Hay, off the ground.  The variety of walks and events on offer are plentiful and for those who’ve never been to Hay it couldn’t be a better opportunity to come and see what the area has to offer.”

Alison O’Grady of Hay Tourism Group said: “We have worked hard to plan an exciting event with a range of interesting walks and events that we hope will inspire visitors to come to Hay on Wye and the surrounding area to discover the walking opportunities we have to offer. We are well known as a Town of Books and literature and we hope that that this will help raise the profile of Hay on Wye as a great place to come walking too.”

There is small charge for events but for more information on what’s available please visit the website www.haywalkingfestival.co.uk or email info@haywalkingfestival.co.uk 

For more information about Collabor8 contact Brecon Beacons National Park Authority’s Collabor8 Project Officer Nick Stewart on 01874 620490 or nick.stewart@breconbeacons.org