Herts Weekend Walkers (HWW) was established in September 2013 aimed at people of working age who could usually only find time to get out for a walk at the weekend. The idea was that the group would also enjoy social events and trips away, and would embrace walkers of any age who are looking for a friendly and welcoming group. At that that time there were seven groups in the south east designed to appeal to walkers of a working age (sometimes referred to by Ramblers as a ‘40s-50s’ group). The nearest one to Hertfordshire was Chilterns Weekend Walkers (CWW), whose walks stretched from near Reading over to the west of the county, but there was no group covering the entirety of Hertfordshire.

CWW seemed to be becoming divided into those who lived and walked south-west of the A41 and the equivalent to the north-west, and over a couple of years a ‘hub’ of about 20 CWW members living in Hertfordshire who walked regularly at the weekends with the group gradually started gaining an identity all its own. In mid-2013, David Kay decided it was time to float the idea of having a separate group for Hertfordshire based upon the success of the other seven groups aimed at working age members, and he put forward the proposal to Ramblers. This was not without considerable preparatory work, and it led to some vigorous discussions at local level, but ultimately Ramblers agreed to the new group HWW.

From the outset, HWW was to be defined by the variety and choice of walks, their locations and lengths, and the friendliness of members and sociable nature of walks. The walks had to be well-organised, local or within a reasonable travelling distance, exploring new areas and places of interest. Walkers simply turned up for walks on the day, and there was a weekly email bulletin and a walks calendar which was updated in real time and sometimes at short notice. In other words, there had to maximum flexibility and minimum cost.

The inaugural walk was on Saturday 5 October 2013 starting in Old Welwyn, which was considered to be the most central county location, with some 28 people participating. By its tenth anniversary, HWW had hosted some 620 walks and at the time of writing (February 2025) it is nearing its 700th. Since the group’s inception, its walkers have collectively walked the equivalent of nearly four times the circumference of the Earth! Saturday afternoons have been the most popular times for walks, these accounting for about 80% of them. HWW members have enjoyed over two dozen trips away, all over Great Britain, and there has become a tradition to conclude nearly all walks at a local hostelry.