St Albans walking group aims to expand to other towns and cities

A free female walking group is hoping to expand to other towns and cities to help women “find their tribe”.

Women Who Walk was started in St Albans by best friends Lisa Collins and Sophie Curthoys.

The group meets fortnightly on Sundays, welcoming between 80 and 120 women at a time, and is expanding to Guildford, Surrey.

Miss Curthoys, 35, said everyone had “a different story to tell” and it had created a new community.

“We couldn’t find anything [like it] so that is how it was born,” Miss Curthoys said.

She added she liked to walk “a couple of laps of the lake and maybe stop at one of the pubs for a half pint, while Lisa likes to climb big mountains, massive hills – we’re coming from two different angles, but it was the perfect marriage”.

Miss Collins, 36, said they ran the non-profit, self-funded group as volunteers as they wanted to meet “like-minded people in a similar life position”.

“It’s really accessible, you don’t need to be amazingly fit or have technical equipment.”

At the first session 80 women turned up. “We were ecstatic,” said Miss Collins.

Miss Curthoys said: “It takes some bravery to come along as some come solo and they all have a different story to tell.

“They come for different reasons: some are newly divorced, some have moved to the area – no woman walks alone.

“For us it’s the community aspect – it’s nice to know they have a group they can call their group and for other women to find their tribe.

“We would love to find like-minded women to run it in their area.”

Miss Collins said she moved to the Hertfordshire city from New York last year after a family bereavement and the group meant she was able to meet new people “who weren’t Sophie”.

“You can feel alone in your 30s if you’ve not done certain things, and when you meet other women who haven’t got children, haven’t got married, haven’t followed the traditional path, you’re not alone and there are other women that are just the same as you,” she said.

“For me it’s not the physical challenge, it’s the community and general positivity.”

“We both would love to roll it out further and replicate the success we’ve had here,” she added.