I have numerous hikes planned for 2018, but the first trek is already in the diary and the planning has begun.
I will be walking the beautiful trail of The Cotswolds Way from 24th March 2018, and completing the 102-mile trail from Chipping Camden to Bath.
In true Adventure Geek style, I will be walking this trail backwards, but there is a method to my madness! My theory is simple, I believe public transport options will be more accessible from Bath, rather than the small village of Chipping Camden. This will make it easier to collect my car at the end of the route – time will tell! If you fancied joining me on a section or the whole hike then simply pop an email to julia@www.adventuregeek.co.uk and I will send you more details.
Why the Cotswolds Way?
There are a number of reasons why I have selected this route.
- It’s a National Trail, therefore the waymarks are very clear – so the possibilities of getting lost are limited. (now I’ve tempted fate!)
- This route has some amazing scenery, which I can’t wait to soak up
- I’m looking forward to the physical challenge. They don’t call it “rolling hills” for nothing!
- The route also has many points of interest such as castles to explore, the famous cheese rolling hill, country parks, unusual towers, butterfly sanctuary and a whole range of other monuments etc
- I love walking through the quaint, sleepy Cotswold villages. The Cotswold stone is so pretty.
- It’s a popular walk, so I am assuming that I will not be on my own and that other hikers will also be walking the trail.
True Adventure Geek Style
The Cotswold Way will be the first in my series of AG Travel Guide Books, with a twist. I wanted to create guidebooks that offer something a little bit different than your regular walking guides.
Adventure boxes
My guidebooks will include Adventure boxes that will be discretely hidden along the way. In the guidebook I will give hints as to where these boxes are hidden so that fellow hikers can source the boxes, sign the log book and retrieve a stamp for their guidebook. They will be collecting a memento of their trip as they go.
Trail Name
New hikers will be asked to register a trail name (here) so that they have a hiker signature for the boxes. Trail hikers with an allocated name will have the opportunity to purchase path tags, which they can leave in the boxes to say “I was here”. I am still pondering with a style of path tag (or trail tag) . My initial thoughts were “AG tokens” with individual hikers names printed or engraved, but this may prove to be expensive and a real challenge. My other idea was to produce something such as a plastic card (similar to supermarket loyalty cards that you attach to your keyring). If you have any ideas for a solution to this problem then let me know!
Monthly competition
I will be encouraging the hikers to tweet/post on Instagram or Facebook a selfie with the boxes, to include the hashtag #AdventrureGeek. On the 1st of every month, I will pull all the photos from the social media sites into random selection software and ask the computer to select a winner (which I will live-stream on the Adventure Geek Facebook Page), and a gift will be sent in the post.
What do you think of this idea? It’s a bit like a private geocaching trail, but you get to find out about the area and collect your stamps in your guidebook (a bit like a Pilgrim Credential/Passport).
When will the first guidebook be ready for publication?
I really want to say June 2018, however, having published a book in my previous life I know that the editing and publication process can take forever. But I’m optimistic. As I type, my goal is to complete this first guidebook before I start my next section hike of the Camino Frances, which we plan to do at the end of June 2018.
What can you expect from this blog in the interim?
Over the coming months, I will be sharing with you many geeky gadgets, gear reviews, book reviews, podcasts to listen to, how the training and planning are going for my forthcoming trip and any other other ramblings that I feel may be useful. My intention is to create weekly blogs and vlogs from 1st January 2018. New ideas are popping into my head all the time, so I hope to take you guys along with me on this journey – if you will have me 🙂
See you next week!