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 »