I remember my very first geography homework (even though the past is a foreign country). I had to draw a map of the street where I lived and the surrounding roads. This began a lifelong fascination with maps. But I am now imagining how geography would have been, if we had access to the internet  (or even computers). In addition to the wealth of information out there, one has so many resources when you want to mess around with maps. In planning for the long walk, I have been looking at a very versatile system from ViewRanger. And it is looking as though this will be the main system that I will use:

• to prepare maps in advance of the walk (one had access to OpenStreetMap)
• to find my way using my mobile on route (it has an offline mode so you can still see maps when there is no mobile connectivity)
• to send info back to LocoHQ.
• to let others track where I am.

You can even embed the prepared maps onto sites, as the following shows (this is the last stage of the route which I hope some of you may join me on). If anyone is interested, we would be quite happy to talk to you about using maps, GPS and how they can be used in lessons. *

* Since writing this post, I have been thinking more about a short curriculum based around maps, GPS and mobile phones, and I think it would go something like this.

• A brief history of maps. Early times, Ordnance Survey, maps on the internet – Google, Google Earth, Bing. Looking at things in 3D
• OpenStreetMap – what it is= the wiki of mapping, how it came about=crowd sourcing, things for free
• GPS, compasses – how they work, how they are used, SatNav, on mobiles, limitations=mapping indoors
•  Where am I? Tracking me – threats and opportunities. 4Square and commercialisation
• Putting it all together for a long walk. Useful apps – ViewRanger + BuddyBeacon, GPS-Status

Tagged: · Tuesday, April 24, 2012 · No Comments »

Writing this here as a way to start some serious planning for the tour. By imagining how a day might pan out, I can start to think of the things that I will need, plus it will also be useful for anyone interest in accompanying me on a stage (none of the following is cast in stone so it is just a suggestion based on a bit of map work).

Sunday 26th August - Start of stage 9 – Warwick to Stratford 11 miles

One of the shortest walks of the trip – well short of the normal 15 miles. We had our rest day in Warwick yesterday and said farewell to X who accompanied me from Abbots Bromley. And we now welcome Y who will be with me on the 4 days to Woodstock in Oxfordshire.

In time-honoured fashion we begin the day with green tea and our SmartSword exercises at around 6:30. The first part of the walk begins at 7:00 after a short video blog (watch it here). Don’t forget you can follow our progress by looking at live tracking on our blog pages.

Our delightful travelling hotel “4TVan” takes us to the start of the walk which is a couple of miles to the west of Warwick to join the point where we left Shakespeare’s Way on Friday. From there it’s around 4 miles to Hampton Wood where we will be rendezvousing with 4tVan for breakfast at 8:30.

We then make our way following the course of the Avon to Stratford (eta 12:00) where we will head directly to our gaming venue at the Stratford Sports Club. Today we will be playing Detect-o-saurus, our dinosaur hunting game, as well as a spot of toy hacking, Mission Explore, and spreading the word about DEB. Of course, this is preceded by a spot of lunch assuming Driver D has stocked up with provisions.

Our stop-over point is near the Dirty Duck and once again, after our supper, we invite other musicians to join us in an hour of songs and, maybe, Shakespeare. We will set off directly from here tomorrow when we  will be stopping at Shipston (or shipping at Stopson.

Tagged: · Monday, April 2, 2012 · No Comments »

Here’s where we have been doing this month

1. Travel for Moira to and from Scotland (for the cycling leg)
2. Booking of accommodation for the cycling leg (still some to do)
3. Identification of all other accommodation for cycling leg
4. Preparation of maps (this is an ongoing process – currently preparing better quality OS maps with elevation data – showing participants just how hilly certain bits are)
5. Interview and rejection of tech support person
6. Building up a list of potential road managers (2 so far)
7. Viewing of support vehicle. Have gone off the idea of the horse box. Liking the Swift Kontiki (see below).

Tagged: · Tuesday, March 6, 2012 · 1 Comment »

What’s that? With a little bit of alliteration, Taking the Tablets Tour (4 Tees – guess it really should be 6 Tees but that would be pushing it a bit) becomes the new name for Richard’s Long Walk. It’s supposed to be a little ironic in a “keep taking the tablets” sort of way, plus I will actually be taking tablets – probably Samsung Galaxy Tabs, but yet to be decided.

Just before Christmas I reported that I would be walking from Scotland back to Brighton starting in July. I am pleased to report some progress on my plans. The trip starts with a 2 week cycle tour (July1st to 16th) from above Stornoway to Ardrossan, a journey of around 300 miles. I guess I should have walked this too but it would have added around another 25 days to my trip, plus it is the one bit of the journey that my wife, Moira, wants to do.

The rest of the journey has been divided into 12 stages of 4 days walk plus one day off with an average of around 15 miles per day. That means a total of just over 700 miles starting on July 17th and ending on September 13th. On each stage apart from the last, I have/will be inviting a friend to accompany me. On the last stage, where I am obviously a lot closer to home, I am hoping that anyone locally may join me for a day. You can see the route and all the stages here.

At each stopping point there will be the opportunity for children to play some of the games that I will be taking, and also to see some of the projects that we have been running at DEB. If there are other organisations that want me to take games on the journey, I will be very happy to talk to them – in fact there are a couple of organisations that I have contacted, or am about to, who may participate.

For various logistic reasons I will be accompanied by a back-up vehicle. If things go according to plan this will serve as accommodation, storage, an exhibition area, and possibly a stage. This means that in addition to finding a vehicle I will also be hiring a road manager (they won’t be paid but they will have an 8 week holiday and see Britain from top to toe). So far, my best idea for transport is a horse box  - could meet all the criteria although there are no plans to take a horse.

Being a fairly techy sort of person, it won’t come as a surprise to hear that there will be all sorts of blogging and tracking going on. I will be equipped with both GPS and video camera so anyone interested will see where I am and what I am getting up to. The vehicle will act as a mobile HQ for this and I expect there will be a base station back in Brighton – location to be determined but this could be a school. One problem that people may have advice on is that the trip will extend between two terms and the summer holidays, so how schools get involved may prove awkward.

I have also taken on a administrator for the 3 months prior to the trip. Her name is Pauline Chardon and she is a language student from Marbaix-la-Tour in  Belgium, and she has had some experience in organising and running events. Her role will be to liaise with everyone else prior to the Tour, including schools here and on route, creating and distributing material, and finalising the stopping places along the route. For various reasons the stops may be at pubs – a useful place for refreshments after a long walk, plus as I am intending to meet up with musicians en route, suitable venues for performing.

I am hoping that local children can get involved in the organisation and running of the tour. This could be in several ways.

First, I will need help in setting up the exhibition area – it could be that students create the whole thing from start to finish.

Next, I would like to organise a pre-walk competition based around the 12 stages of the route – 1 clue per stage released over 12 days close to the start. Once again I am open to ideas as to what this competition might be.

Finally it would be great if we could get a student or group of students to be “in charge” of each stage – their job would be to contact schools in each area – to let them know when we are coming and what we will be doing. The same group may be in charge of monitoring and blogging the relevant section during the walk.

Here are the dates and details.

Date	Route	Miles	Average		Date	Route	Miles	Average
					Wed 15 Aug
Tue 17 Jul	Adrossan to Troon	12			Thu 16 Aug	Glossop to Castleton	13
Wed 18 Jul	Troon to Ayr	12			Fri 17 Aug	Castleton to Monyash	13
Thu 19 Jul	Ayr to Maybole	12			Sat 18 Aug	Monyash to Mayfield	16
Fri 20 Jul	Maybole to Barr	12	12		Sun 19 Aug	Mayfield to Abbots Bromley	17	14.75
Sat 21 Jul					Mon 20 Aug
Sun 22 Jul	Bar to Glentroon	12			Tue 21 Aug	Abbots Bromley to Lichfield	16
Mon 23 Jul	Glentroon to Clatteringshaws	15			Wed 22 Aug	Lichfield to Hurley	16
Tue 24 Jul	Clatteringshaws to Gatehouse	15			Thu 23 Aug	Hurley to Balsall Common	16
Wed 25 Jul	Gatehouse to Kircudbright	13	13.75		Fri 24 Aug	Balsall to Warwick	15	15.75
Thu 26 Jul					Sat 25 Aug
Fri 27 Jul	Kircudbrighton to Castle Douglas	12			Sun 26 Aug	Warwick to Stratford	11
Sat 28 Jul	Castle Douglas to Dumfries	17			Mon 27 Aug	Stratford to Shipston	15
Sun 29 Jul	Dumfries to Annan	15			Tue 28 Aug	Shipston to Chipping Norton	12
Mon 30 Jul	Annan to Gretna	15	14.75		Wed 29 Aug	Chipping to Woodstock	15	13.25
Tue 31 Jul					Thu 30 Aug
Wed 01 Aug	Gretna to Carlisle	14			Fri 31 Aug	Woodstock to Blackbirtd Leys	15
Thu 02 Aug	Carlisle to Caldbeck	15			Sat 01 Sep	Blackbird Leys to Christmas	15
Fri 03 Aug	Caldbeck to Keswick	17			Sun 02 Sep	Christmas Common to Bourne End	16
Sat 04 Aug	Keswick to Chapel Stile	18	16		Mon 03 Sep	Bourne End to Ascot	18	16
Sun 05 Aug					Tue 04 Sep
Mon 06 Aug	Chapel Stile to Stavely	16			Wed 05 Sep	Ascot to Hartley Wintney	17
Tue 07 Aug	Stavely to Sedburgh	15			Thu 06 Sep	Hartley to Bradley	18
Wed 08 Aug	Sedburgh to Horton	20			Fri 07 Sep	Bradley to Winchester	16
Thu 09 Aug	Horton to Malham	14	16.25		Sat 08 Sep	Winchester to Exton	14	16.25
Fri 10 Aug					Sun 09 Sep
Sat 11 Aug	Malham to Lothersdale	15			Mon 10 Sep	Exton to South Harting	14
Sun 12 Aug	Lothersdale to Hebden Bridge	17			Tue 11 Sep	South Harting to Petworth	12
Mon 13 Aug	Hebden Bridge to Marsden	17			Wed 12 Sep	Petworth to Washington	13
Tue 14 Aug	Marsden to Glossop	17	16.5		Thu 13 Sep	Washington to Hove	14	13.25
		357					357

 

Tagged: brighton, digital education, games, locomatrix, scotland, taking the tablets · Monday, February 6, 2012 · No Comments »

Last week I walked 17 miles (actually 17.5)  from the Peace Statue in Brighton to the White Horse in Storrington. The was a test run (ha) for what I will be doing most days between July and September next year (2012) – a walk from Scotland back to Brighton. It will also be the final days in my 50s as I plan to reach home on my 60th birthday.

Why am I doing it? Well for the most part, I just fancied a challenge and the big birthday thing seemed an appropriate time. But the other reason is that I wanted to spread the word about what we are doing with Digital Education Brighton – and giving teachers and children a chance to see and partake in some of the projects that we have/will be doing.

How’s it going to work? A little bit of a cheat to start with, as the first part will be a 300 mile cycle ride through the Western Isles of Scotland – from Stornaway to Arran. I would have walked it but it would add another month to the expedition plus adds a whole set of other difficulties. The walk proper will start at Adrossan and will be in 11 stages, the first 2 of 5 days, and the following 9 of 4 days with a day off between each.

Several things to add at this stage, although I will go into more details in the next blog.

1. You can see the route here (although it is still subject to change).
2. I would like a companion to walk with me on each one of the stages.
3. There will be a support vehicle going with us – providing accommodation, cooking, transport to the start and from the end of each day’s walk, acting as a base station for activities

Tagged: DEB, long walk, project · Saturday, December 3, 2011 · No Comments »