Doing Our Bit

It’s now November and with less than six months to go I’m a bit behind in my preparations for next Spring’s walk.  That said it’s not a LEJOG and so the logistics will be a lot easier to work out.  I’ve been very busy on Historypin and preparing “Doing Our Bit“, a Remembrance Day tribute video which I’ve embedded below.  I was in possession of some fantastic old photographs and felt that this would be a great way to share them.  Seeing those young faces stare back at me makes me wonder what was going through their minds as they boarded the steamships bound for Vancouver, their first step on the long road to the Western Front.   I hope you will find it a poignant reminder of their courage and sacrifice.

 

 

In my last post I mentioned I had made some progress in the search for my great-grandfather Herbert.  Unfortunately the death certificate I ordered listed the occupation of the deceased as “Engineers Fitter”, a poor match and so this plus a small discrepancy in age led me to the conclusion that this was a false lead. Nevertheless I’m optimistic the British Postal Museum and Archive will shed some light on what happened to Herbert after he left the army in 1924.  If their Herbert Clifford is my Herbert Clifford then his last known whereabouts will be Windsor in 1938 … and Windsor is smack dab in the middle of my proposed walking route.

News from Blurb.com: If you’ve been thinking about publishing a book through Blurb then you may be interested to hear that they’ve now added eBooks to their list of publishing options.  At the moment the eBooks are only viewable on Apple IOS devices (ie. iPhones and iPads) but I’ve been told an Android version will be available before long.  The eBook option provides an inexpensive alternative to the pricier paper versions.  I’ve just added an eBook version of End to End in 2010 to my Blurb bookstore for $4.99.  If you’re contemplating purchasing any eBook through Blurb I suggest you ensure you’re running the latest version of iBook (Apple’s free eBook reader). Also, be aware that currently all Blurb eBooks appear as a two-page spread in landscape mode and so some zooming may be required to read small text.

Needles and Pins

Another month has passed and plans for my Spring 2012 walk are slowly taking shape. I’ve decided to leave London on foot and follow the Thames Path on a journey west. John Parsons suggested I leave the Thames Path at Reading and follow the Kennet and Avon Canal to Bath and then carry on to Bristol. It’s a great idea and likely the route I will take. I say likely because I’ve uncovered some new family history info that might prompt a change to my itinerary.

If you followed my LEJOG blog last year you will know I dedicated it to the memory of my great-grandfather Herbert Clifford. He disappeared in 1920 and I’ve spent the last 15 years trying to unravel the mystery. A few years ago I discovered that after he returned to Britain he joined the Cheshire Regiment and served until 1924. When he returned to civilan life he gave an address of Neston Road in Willaston. That is where the trail went cold and finding new clues has been like searching for a needle in a haystack … but if you look long enough you might just find that needle.

Last weekend I decided to search for my great-grandfather in the London Gazette, something I’ve done before, but this time I found a reference to a Herbert Clifford joining the Post Office in 1928. They gave the address as Heswall Hill, Liverpool. I knew that Liverpool was very close to Willaston but when I checked Google Maps I found out that Heswall Hill was only a few miles from Neston Road!

I then found more records that showed he worked for the Post Office for at least 10 years and that by 1938 he had moved to Windsor. I can’t be sure if this Herbert Clifford is my great-grandfather but my intuition tells me it is, and so a visit to The British Postal Museum &  Archive in London has now been added to my itinerary. Feeling I was on a bit of a roll I decided to concentrate my search in Merseyside and northern Wales and in doing so I found a death record for a Herbert Clifford in Denbighshire in 1942.  It’s possible Herbert returned here when war broke out.  I’ve ordered the death certificate and by this time next week I’ll be watching my mailbox closely.

Something else that I’ve been spending a lot of time on lately is a fantastic new website called Historypin. If you love history, and especially if you love old photographs, you must check it out.  It was developed by a UK non-profit company called WeAreWhatWeDo in conjunction with Google.  The idea is to provide a home where people from different generations and backgrounds can share photos and build stories about their communities.  The site launched in July and already has over 60,000 photographs with hundreds being added every day by archives, community groups and local history geeks like me. But historians beware! Historypin is the antiquarian’s equivalent of crack cocaine.

Photographs are pinned to a map in the location they were taken and can be filtered by year, from 1840 to present day.  If the photo was taken at street level then it can be superimposed over the current Google Streetview image and faded in and out using a slide tool.  I have yet to demo this to anyone who hasn’t thought it was very cool.  But Historypin isn’t just a cool way to view old photos, it has much loftier aims. Here’s an excerpt from an excellent Q&A with CEO Nick Stanhope on Smithsonian.com (but I suggest you read the whole article):

We talk a lot about there being a difference between “bonding” social capital and “bridging” social capital—bonding being between similar social, economic or cultural groups and bridging being across different groups. Something like Facebook is great for the social capital between people that know each other and have a connection, but it doesn’t make links beyond that. We have a very long way to go, but the aim of Historypin is to start conversations about something that is shared between people who didn’t necessarily think that they had something in common.

I’ve been pinning a lot of photos, mostly of Victoria BC, and you’ll find a gallery of them on my Historypin Profile page.  I’ve also created a few collections, including one  dedicated to an RCAF Flight Sergeant who died in Vancouver in 1944.  This time last week I had never heard of Richard Lyford.  Now I have the photo album that tells the story of the last 6 years of his life … a story that will be shared and not buried in an attic somewhere.  I encourage you to get on board too. Autumn’s shorter days and longer nights are a perfect time to dig out those old photos and postcards, fire up that scanner and start pinning!

Last but not least a hearty congratulations to Ken Klug who completed his 89 day LEJOG and to James Aukett for his 6 day bus journey from Land’s End to John O’Groats!

Ramble On

August has arrived and most LEJOGers will be nearing the end of their long journey from Land’s End. A hearty congratulations to Jack Frost who reached John O’Groats yesterday and who is now enjoying a few days off in London. Ken Klug is currently in Drymen and is about to start the West Highland Way. The WHW ends in Fort William, a destination that marked (for me at least) the beginning of the last section of my LEJOG. I’ve updated my Links page to include two other LEJOGs currently in progress.

Oddly enough I’m not aware of any JOGLEs (John O’Groats to Lands End) currently underway. July and August are traditionally when most begin and I suppose some are underway but have chosen not to blog. However one unique journey I did learn of a week ago is James Aukett’s Bus Country trip from Land’s End to John O’Groats … using public transit! I’m really intrigued by this 6-day journey (starting August 22), possibly because it’s only been done twice before or perhaps because I rely on buses to get around. I’ll be fascinated to see how his detailed schedule works out and look forward to his Tweets and Facebook entries.

I’ve spent the last few weeks hanging out on Walkingforum.co.uk and it seems a very friendly place. There are lots of interesting threads and some fantastic walking photos are being posted all the time. If you are keen on walking in the UK I recommend you check it out (fyi my username is RambleOn).

The big news this time around is that I’ve made a decision! After months of faffing about I’ve come to the conclusion that a shorter, but annual, UK walking trip is at this point a more practical option than a 3 or 4 month trip every few years. This doesn’t mean another 1000+ mile walk isn’t in the cards, only that it’s not going to happen in 2012 or 2013.

Once I make a decision I don’t hang about and so I’ve already booked a flight for next April. Over the next few months I’ll enjoy pondering which walks I should do. At this point I’m thinking I’ll stay in England or Wales and then venture back to Scotland in 2013. One option is the Channel Islands Way (and thanks to Brian C. I now have the recently published guidebook) and another is the Thames Path plus something else, possibly the Ridgeway. I like the idea of flying into London and then walking out of it, and I always enjoy walking along water. I have some family history to research in the Forest of Dean and so the Wye Valley Walk (after the Thames Path) is another option. If any of you have walked the Thames Path or Wye Valley Walk I’d be interested in hearing from you.

British (Columbia) Summertime

When anyone asks me when they should visit the west coast I tell them the last two weeks of July are a sure thing if you’re looking for hot and sunny weather. So much for that sage advice. The warm weather that had arrived in time for my last posting is a distant memory and the less said about the Stanley Cup Finals the better.

I recently found a book entitled Best of British, “a humorous collection of all things quirky about Britain and the Brits”. Apart from spelling ‘humourous’ incorrectly it’s a great little book and I couldn’t help but think their page on British Summertime described our own situation rather well.

I haven’t made much progress on planning my next UK walk but I did subscribe to Ordnance Survey’s GetaMap service which allows me to plot routes, organize them and print them out. It can also overlay a variety of ‘Points of Interest’ including accommodation and pubs. My initial impression is that it is well worth the £18/year subscription (a special promotional price … I believe it normally costs £30/year). Note: Getamap requires the Microsoft Silverlight plug-in be installed on your browser.

I just joined a UK walking discussion board which I look forward to participating in. I’m also trying to get my hands on a new book called “The Channel Islands Way” although for some reason the publisher won’t let Amazon.co.uk ship to overseas addresses. I’m trying to contact the publisher directly but the email address I was given apparently doesn’t exist . At this point I’d be more than happy with an e-book version for my iPad.

Spring … and just in time too

Summer is just over a week away but you’d hardly have known it a couple of weeks ago. We’ve had an unusually cold and dull Spring but it looks like the warm weather is finally here. It’s probably just as well that most of us have been holed up in living rooms and pubs watching the Stanley Cup finals … the province is holding it’s collective breath as the Vancouver Canucks are one game away from winning their first championship in franchise history (which began in 1970).

I’ve also been reminiscing about last year’s LEJOG as I follow some excellent blogs. They are listed on my links page but here they are again in case you haven’t seen them yet: Jack Frost’s 2011 End to End, Ken Klug’s My 1200-mile Summer and Charlie Lee’s Epic Walk around Great Britain.

I’ve been giving my next walk some serious thought lately. I’ve suffered some health problems in the past few months and although I’m feeling much better these days it has underlined the importance of seizing the day. Had I been an attempting a LEJOG this year I would have been forced to cancel my plans at the last minute. I mention this only in case you are reading this and contemplating your own LEJOG. My advice: if the walk really is important to you then don’t procrastinate! Just make it happen.

My long-term walking plans have flip-flopped between an annual but short term (3-4 weeks) walking holiday and a less frequent but multi-month walking adventure. The former is definitely easier to organize but the fact is I’m a sucker for a good adventure and love living an alternate lifestyle, even if it’s only for a few months every few years.

I’ve been trying to come up with an interesting route that is as challenging as a LEJOG but one that covers new ground … and I think I may have found it. I’ll share the idea here once I’ve given it a bit more thought. I’m tentatively scheduling it for early 2013, assuming I can arrange another short-term leave of absence from work.

I leave you with a link I stumbled upon this morning. If any of you are planning a walk in the Scottish Highlands you might appreciate this Midge Forecast sponsored by a Midge repellent company.