Welcome

Bienvenue
Willkommen
Benvenuti
Bienvenido
Witamy
Dobrodošli
Καλώς Όρισες
ยินดีต้อนรับ
Namaste
歡迎光臨

Plus many other languages, too numerous to list.

Whether you are new to the South Herts Area or whether you have always lived here, you are welcome to join us to find some new walks.

How to try one of our hiking events

There are three ways to sign up for our events

Meetup:

  • The South Herts Hikers Meetup Group was created in January 2018 and it was the main means of publicity for South Herts Hikers until July 2026 when we cancelled our Meetup subscription as it was no longer cost-effective.

Facebook

If you don’t use Meetup then you can use the South Herts Hikers Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576698587198 but it is only accessible if you are logged in to Facebook. If you have a Facebook login, please like our page and follow our page. You can find forthcoming events on our Facebook page and you can select “going” but we do have a limit on numbers so for some events you would need to get a ticket on Eventbrite. If a ticket is required, the Facebook event details contain a link to the Eventbrite ticket page.

Eventbrite

If you don’t use Meetup or Facebook then you can get a ticket for some events directly from Eventbrite. To find our events on Eventbrite, go to the Eventbrite web site and search for South Herts Hikers. This should give you a list of our events and some other events that partly match the search term. Click the Get Tickets button. You can also click Follow to follow South Herts Hikers on Eventbrite.

Types of membership

Associate member.

If you join the South Herts Hikers Group on Meetup, Facebook or any other social media or if you subscribe to our email list then you are an associate member until you attend an event and pay an annual membership subscription. Associate members receive notifications of forthcoming events via Facebook or other social media and/or by email and you can register for events.

Annual member

Although our events are shown on Meetup as free, so you don’t need to pay when you sign up, we have an annual subscription to cover the running costs of this Group including Meetup Organisers’ subscription, affiliations and other costs. These subscriptions only apply if you actually attend an event and they apply to everyone including guests.

Annual membership subscription

We have an nominal annual membership subscription of £1 if you join from 1st Jan - 30th June, 50p if you join from 1st July - 30th November and free if you join in December. You need to be an annual member to attend our events but you can join at the start of your first event. Annual members can also join our group email list and receive details of our walks programme. Annual membership is valid for both sections of our group, South Herts Hikers and South Herts Footpath Society.

Event donation

We also invite a donation of £3 per event so that would be £4.00 for your first hike after 1st Jan 2026 or £3.50 after 1st July 2026. For the second and subsequent hikes, we invite a donation of £3.00 per event but if you attend 10 or more events then we don’t invite any more donations in the current calendar year. You can pay using cash (preferred) or Paypal, Details are given in event details or you can scan a QR code at the start of an event.

The membership subscription and donations do not cover any cost of travel, meals, accommodation, etc.

Membership criteria

New annual membership subscriptions and renewals of existing annual membership subscriptions are only accepted if in the opinion of the organizers, you fulfil the criteria for membership, which are:

  • Membership is open to anyone aged 18 or more who has an interest in hiking, regardless of sex, age, disability, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, religion or other beliefs, provided they fulfil the following criteria:
    1. Being friendly towards all other Group members, treating other members with respect and as equals.
    2. Avoiding any conduct likely to discourage any other member from participating in future Group events or from organising future group events. In particular, this group is a “Grump Free Zone” especially on any Group weekends away!

The Group Organisers reserve the right to exercise their discretion as permitted by Meetup Inc. (see above) in the following ways:

  • decline to accept an annual membership subscription or a donation. In either case the member would not be permitted to attend any more events
  • restrict membership, e.g. to day hikes only, not weekends away.
  • refuse, expel or suspend any person from membership of the Group

In the unlikely event that the Group organizers decide not to accept an annual membership subscription or a donation, the member will also be notified by a direct message sent via Meetup and the member will not be eligible to attend further events. The member will also be removed from the South Herts Hikers Meetup Group and from the email list.

  • The group is run on a not-for-profit basis. Annual subscriptions and event donations contribute towards Meetup organizer subscriptions, web hosting costs, Internet domain name registration, affiliation costs etc.

Conventions and guidelines

These are not rules but advice for a friendly group

  1. The walk leader sets the pace suitable for the slowest member, as long as we can complete the walk in a reasonable time. It is not a race to finish first nor a training event nor a non-stop work-out. We stop from time to time to regroup (for example after going through a gate), to have a rest, a drink or a snack, admire the view or take photos, etc. You may need extra clothing to put on for stops in colder weather.
  2. We have members of different ages and genders and we like everyone to relate to each other on an equal basis.
  3. We have members from different nationalities and cultures. We like to make everyone welcome and we don’t quiz anyone about their background or country of origin, they can tell us if they like but this is optional.
  4. Conversations on a group walk or other event can often be overheard by others so we avoid discussing anything that is out of place in a friendly social group. This would include avoiding heated debates or any discussions about controversial or unpleasant subjects that others may not wish to hear about, including religion, UK politics or politics of any other country.

Page last updated 11 Jul 2026