National Sisters Day – August 2nd 2026
Sisters were in conversation with Jay, our WW story gatherer and writer…
I grew up with two much older brothers, and I think because I was a ‘tomboy’ I was happy that way, helping them repair cars, roaming wild on Salisbury Plain and having no pressure at all to be ‘ girlie’. But once I approached adulthood and especially when I had children, I began to regret that I didn’t have a sister. Someone to confide in, to share my worries with, to be there when things were tricky and to have fun with. Now I’m more than a little envious of friends who have a sister – as often it seems to be a very special relationship that grows in depth the older they get
To be part of ‘Sisters Day’ celebration on August 2nd this year, we’ve decided to investigate and celebrate with our WalkingWomen friends, what makes having a sister so special. There are several pairs of sisters who holiday together with WalkingWomen who were happy to talk to us about what it means to them to have a sister.
And, what better place to start than with WalkingWomen’s very own sisters – owners, directors and inspirational sisters.
Ginny : In 2015 my life changed forever when my life partner Maggie, died. The tumult that is grief and mourning took over the next few years as I started to accept my loss and make changes to my life. Lots of friends had recommended WalkingWomen for lovely holidays, but also as a way of meeting like-minded women. At first I was very reluctant – Maggie and I had always been at our best on holiday as a couple. However, the experience of walking in Norway (Dalseter) side-by-side with other women gave me an understanding of the power and healing that walking with other women creates. And then, as if I was a writer creating a plot twist for my own life,
WalkingWomen came up for sale!
My head was buzzing with the potential this offered both for me personally – I’d always wanted to be an entrepreneur – and my new found understanding of the power of women together. Would I have taken on WalkingWomen without my sister – definitely not. Sara was the first person I thought for starting a new travel business venture together . And, as always she was open to the idea , ready to give encouragement and up for a new challenge . I love that about her – her openness , her just do it attitude and so it began … Without Sara I doubt that I would have had the courage or confidence to take on WalkingWomen. Sara and I became the owners of WalkingWomen in 2021, together we have shaped it to our own philosophy. Together we have grown the business from 20 to 60+ holidays a year . I’m so proud of what we have achieved together . Running WalkingWomen with Sara has energised me. There has always been complete trust working with her. We have had so much fun creating ideas for the business together. Sara has stepped back somewhat now due to family commitments, but without her WW would not have happened. Healing takes time and it’s now wonderful to feel able to embrace life and love again ‘ I even managed a real honeymoon holiday this year- safe to leave WW in a great place.
Sara: I love having a sister, someone I’ve known all my life and I can completely trust and rely on. I’ve probably seen more of her in the last 10-15 years because prior to that we were both leading very busy lives. What I most admire about her is how she nursed her partner who had cancer and how she carried on with life after she died – that took an amazing amount of strength, and then to totally change career paths. I’m so pleased she has found happiness again and started a new life in Europe.
The role I always played was the bossy older sister, always being told by our parents to stop her and my brother fighting, and being told by teachers at school to get her to behave! This is obviously not the case now and having helped her set up WalkingWomen back in 2021 I can see why she was a CEO in her previous jobs. I love her to bits and she’s got a great sense of humour, we have had some laughs along the way.
WalkingWomen Canadian sisters Anne and Laurie celebrate holidaying together :
What makes it great to holiday with my sister? So much to say, but simply, we’ve discovered that since becoming adults many, many years ago, we’ve become compatible. (Adolescence, not so much!) After being in long relationships, we each became single a few years ago and discovered that travelling with each other was easy and familiar. We’ve walked in Sicily together, Scotland and Lincolnshire. With WalkingWomen in particular, it’s really been fun to get to know the other participating women individually – Laurie and I don’t stick together on the walks or at meal times which means we have a lot to talk about back in the ‘dorm’. And that’s the other aspect of it that we love – we both have someone close with shared values and interests and now we are building together a whole new library of shared memories and friendships we have made on WW holidays. …and then there’s the deep joy to be had in dreaming of future adventures together , of talking about where to go next, what countries we’d like to visit and which new walks we’d like to tackle. It’s such a rich seam of pleasure to do this with a sister.
Sisters Cindy and Celeste from USA share their thoughts with us:
Cindy: My sister is the person who knows me better than anyone other than my husband. When I call or text her with news – good or bad – she is always in my corner. I know that I can count on her to celebrate good times and offer support in not-so-good times. I really enjoy being with Celeste. It is comfortable and easy and includes lots of laughter! We are apart more than together since we don’t live near each other, but we can easily connect in today’s world with all of the virtual/electronic options.I am certainly a cheerleader for Celeste and someone who will listen and offer help anytime it is needed. She is the planner of our adventures, and it is my responsibility to say “Yes!” and to come prepared! We are great together! We share similar interests and similar work, and we enjoy spending time together. We are good friends and good partners in taking care of responsibilities involving extended family and friends as well. Celeste is a great listener and will help in any way she can. As the younger sister, she has a different perspective than I do – she provides alternative viewpoints and suggestions that are genuinely helpful. She is caring and supportive. Occasionally we have a spooky ‘twin’ moment when we find we have bought the same purse! I love walking and holidaying with Celeste. I know it will be a good time with laughter and opportunities to catch up with each other in ways that we can’t when we’re not on holiday. I always look forward to the next time we will be together!
Celeste: I love spending time with my sister! Cindy and I have a lot in common and it’s nice to be able to hang out with someone who knows me really well. We laugh a lot, usually at each other! I usually am the one suggesting things to do or places to go, and I do a lot of the planning. She provides a ready, “yes! Absolutely let’s do that!” which is hard to find with friends. I’m the little sister, and that used to matter much more when we were younger. I still look up to her as a big sister, but we’re at similar life stages now, so it doesn’t make as big a difference to me. We enjoy many of the same kinds of things and we’re both pretty easy-going as travel mates. We also not afraid to say, “I don’t want to do that” or “I’d like to do this,” knowing the other will probably go along with it. When the chips are down I can call her when I’m having trouble, and she is a great listener!
This was our first time WalkingWomen holiday together – we chose the lovely Island of Bute in Scotland – we’re pictured here in the distillery! It was fun and we enjoyed the debriefing especially! We have vacationed together several times and it’s always a lot of fun! We enjoy doing things that few others in my life would want to do, like scrapbooking, and we once visited several places associated with “Little House on the Prairie,” since we both loved the show and the books. It’s really nice to be able to spend time with her.
And for those of us without the good fortune to have a natural born sister- we can grow one!
Many of us value our female friends almost -sometimes more than – our birth family! They become our ‘chosen family’ and together we can nurture those sisterly things that we value in a relationship. And there is sound evidence to support this – overwhelmingly, research shows that female friendships have the capacity to greatly enhance nearly every domain of life.
The WalkingWomen sisters here have given us many ingredients for a home-grown sister – a listening ear, gently challenging, understanding us, being there, being honest, saying Yes to adventures and Yes to discovering more about who we are now and the things we love to do that have been lying dormant inside us. And, cheer leading! Celebrating with us when we go for it!
