Tuesday 22 February 2011

Volunteer drivers

This is an appeal for volunteer drivers for the support vehicle, whether for a weekend, a week or longer; we really need you! The driver needs to be 25 or older, have the usual clean licence and to have made no claims in the past 3 years. If you don't fit this criteria exactly I am told by the 'insurance man' that people can be 'individually assessed' (which probably just boils down to money) It is insured for any driver fitting this description so you don't have to risk your own 'no claims bonus'.

The vehicle is a Mercedes Benz Vito dual liner which means it has 6 seats plus the storage space for the tents and instruments. It is 2006 reg and in good nick.  It is 17' 6" long and 6' wide excluding the wing mirrors. This compares to a 4x4 at 16' 2" long by 5'6" wide and a Mondeo Estate at 15' 4" long by 5' 6" wide. Obviously anyone who has driven a van or campervan or towed a caravan would find it easy.

If you have only driven a car up to now we are staying on campsites so there will be an opportunity to drive it off road before 'taking it away'. It is fitted with reversing / parking sensors.

We are walking up to 20 miles a day so the driving will be approximately the same, but the van may need to meet us at mid day if walkers need picking up or dropping off.
Apart from that a few pieces of equipment will need to be plugged into the inverter to charge up during the day.(camera / recorder / mobile phones etc.)  (the inverter will run off it's own battery so will not flatten the van battery).

The driver may like to explore the area (we will be walking through some stunning scenery) or just chill out.  They will need to put in extra fuel if they want to use it to explore.

Some evenings we will need to travel in the van a few miles to a campsite or a session.  We will share the driving to and from sessions so the driver will be able to enjoy him / her self (i.e. have a few jars like everyone else)

Please can you help?
As the instigator of the whole enterprise I really do want to walk all the way if possible and not drive it!

Look on the website at the route to see if you fancy making it part of your holiday this year. We are staying on campsites in order to keep down the cost and we can give you full details of these to book in, or find somewhere nearby if you would prefer to B&B it.

Best wishes, Hopefully yours, Clare

Folk Trail 2011

Do you enjoy both Folk Song / Music and Walking?  We are planning to walk from Lands End to John O'Groats on a "Folk Trail" from April 1st to June 30th next year.

On the way for as many nights as we can, we want to meet with the local folk community at pub sessions; the usual club night or festival should it happen to coincide, or anything else the group might like to suggest – but we may not be up to dancing!

Full details are on the Pennymoor website,   http://www.folktrail.com/, but in essence it is the creation of a folk Archive; a snapshot of folk activity in England and Scotland en route.

It has captured the imagination of many  folk communities on the way, and we already have 37 sessions or gatherings set up for April and May - I am currently working on the north of England and Scotland.
5 of us are planning to walk all the way, and in addition others are joining us for anything from a few days to 7 weeks. We have a volunteer to turn the material into cd's and dvd's.

One of the walkers who is also an archeologist is planning to base her master's dissertation on the material collected.