After taking a break for the summer holidays whilst the Inverness College UHI main campus was closed, the Reach Out health walks returned on Wednesday 29 August 2018, to blue skies.
With the new term came both old faces and new. It was great to once again see the regular attendees from the previous walks; which included both students, staff and members of the public, but also it was a chance to meet students newly enrolled on the ‘Introduction to Care Practice’ course. As before, the aim would be that the walks would benefit the local community but also raise the students understanding of the importance of physical and mental wellbeing.
Myself and UHI Lecturer, Mari Todd, who helps to organise the walks, were expecting a few more people on the day due to some of the exposure promoting the event, but as is always the case, you cannot predict how these things will go. If it’s anything like the very first walk back in February, we expect that we’ll see increased numbers as awareness becomes apparent that the walk has started up again.
With some damp and cooler days prior to Wednesday’s walk, the weather was far better than expected. I dressed with far too many layers and even had to leave a jumper with reception before heading out on the walk.
As usual, I brought along a smartphone to capture some of the walk on camera; checking first with those in attendance that they were happy for photos to be taken. We made our way down to the ‘Golden Bridge’ which links the college to the Raigmore area, allowing Mari to signpost the Raigmore Community Centre to the course students.
After heading back into the college campus, it was then time to catch up and see how the swans and their cygnets – a regular highlight of the walk – were doing. It was something of a surprise to see what were once these tiny things now looking just like their parents, with only their grey/brown plumage still left to signify their age.
Whilst on the walk, I was able to chat with one of our regular attendees and it was great to hear that they were comfortable with the distance we had walked and that their confidence had increase so much that they were now taking a course at the college – something that they said would probably never have happened if it wasn’t for the health walks.
It’s great to not only see but hear first hand how these walks have proved to be beneficial and here’s to hoping that others can find them to be of similar benefit, should they be able to attend.
Walking out of the main campus revolving door 
Heading to ‘Golden Bridge’ whilst on health walk at UHI Inverness College 
Heading down some stairs towards Raigmore 
Some of the health walk attendees walking across the Golden Bridge from Raigmore to Inverness College UHI 
Swans with their cygnets (and some ducks) in the college loch