Despite having over 25 miles of walking planned, there was no walking for me last weekend. Boo.
On Saturday my friend Terry had planned to test out my walking guide for Romsey to Winchester. Terry walked from Ringwood across the New Forest to Romsey with me last year and is daft/brave enough to road test my instructions. However a somewhat more important situation arose (this is an understatement!) and took priority.
On Sunday, fresh from giving a much acclaimed talk at the Boring conference in London, Dr Felicity Ford and I were going to walk from Farnham to Guildford and write up the walking guide for this leg. Alas we were thwarted at the train station by a closed platform and replacement bus service which would add hours to our day.
All was not lost however, and we set about designing the walkers guide, and our first prototype is ready! Here it is:
Walking guide prototype and Road Test badges
The badges were Felix’s idea – she has been making (and selling) dozens of badges for WOVEMBER, and thought they would be a fine addition to the Walk2012 badge collection.
If you would like to road test a stage of the Walk2012 route then I have two available on request: Romsey to Winchester, and the final leg from Putney to the Olympic Stadium.
As things stand, the guide will be 12 cards, one for each stage of the walk. They are the same size as a (folded-up) OS map so they will fit neatly in your map pocket. The aim is to have the map and instructions on the same side so there is minimal faffing – I love walking and I love reading, but not at the same time! The flip-side of the card will have other useful info about the stage and some points of interest (pubs!)
Sign up now to join Walk2012. It’s free and you can bring your friends!
Join us for a day, a weekend or however long suits you. We’d love to share the experience with you.
Love the road test badges!
Ha ha! Glad you like them Liz. The design is all Felix’s work, but she did let me play with her badge machine so they were all lovingly handmade by me whilst watching Misfits last Sunday
Managed to road test the first part of Route 12 yesterday; Putney Bridge to Vauxhall! We didn’t start until one o’clock and had several stops for photos, popping into tyhe candle shop, chat to strangers, and a cup of tea to get out of the rain. Hope to do the second half very soon!
Brilliant, and thank you Colleen!
Sounds like you had more fun than poor Victoria who was trying out the Romsey – Winchester stage – blog post on it’s way
Hope you enjoy the 2nd half too
Mark