The Outdoors
The new home for mycountryside.org.uk: exploring and enjoying the British countryside Jump to: Outdoors
The Web
Discussing the internet, developing for the web, and being a freelancer Jump to: The Web
Sharing Adventures
Using the internet and social media to share your adventures Jump to: Sharing Adventures

My first podcast: the inspiration and how I turn an idea into reality (at low cost)

“Welcome to episode one of the Social Hiking podcast”…. so began my first ever podcast, recorded with my friend Nina (@smirnieoutdoors) in her house in Shropshire. The podcast itself, now it has been published, has gone down really well (the feedback has been beyond my wildest dreams), but it is hard to believe that, as we sat there in Nina’s sitting room with our show notes and podcast sponsor, it was only two weeks before that I scribbled in my notebook: “podcast? guest co hosts? Nina?”. This post is the story of what inspired me to decide to record a podcast and how it went from an idea to reality (at minimal cost). Hopefully it will interest, aid and inspire.

Google Authorship Oddness

Quite a while ago, Google launched a feature called authorship, which allows people who publish content online to link that content with their Google+ profile. The most obvious effect of this is that your Google+ profile picture and link appear in Google search engine ranks. I see this as having a real benefit for content creators so I decided to give users of Social Hiking the ability to claim authorship of their maps. Imagine my surprise to discover that Google was inferring authorship of pages where it was not explicitly defined.

Review of Berghaus Akka Mens Down Jacket (by Tim @ukjeeper)

Hot on the heals of my few months trying out the Target Dry Origin Thermalite Insulated Jacket, I was approached as to whether I wanted to try out the Berghaus Akka Mens Down Jacket. I was really impressed with the warmth of Target Dry’s jacket and I thought it would be interesting to compare it with a (almost double the price) down jacket. Unfortunately none of the sizes available fitted me so, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I managed to conscript Tim Cooper (@ukjeeper on Twitter) to try out the jacket on my behalf. Tim, whilst not a blogger himself, is a regular on several walking forums and social media sites across the internet, and he is as a regular sharer on Social Hiking (he was in fact the first user other than me!). There is hardly a footpath in Essex he has not walked (if you don’t believe me, take a peek at his map of his Essex walks 2009-2013) and he can be found by his fire pit most evenings whatever the weather!

Audio interviews about Social Hiking

Over the last couple of weeks I have done interviews about Social Hiking – shareyouradventure.com for The Outdoors Station and BBC Radio Northampton.

Do you know what your ‘seo expert’ is doing? It could be damaging your brand!

If you are a blogger, you will have almost certainly come across seo/link spam – this takes the form of irrelevant comments left on a blog post solely for the purpose of getting a link back to their site (ideally in the comment itself, but also as the link associated with the name of the poster). The ‘wisdom’ is that these links help boost the originators site in search rankings (with a bonus that someone might actually click on it).

Who is sharing your adventure with you?

Photographer John Butterill discovered a way he, and subsequently other photographers from around the globe, could share photo walks using Google+ hangouts to bring the world to people bed-ridden from Multiple Sclerosis and other illnesses. Read more

Review of Target Dry’s Mens Origin Thermalite Insulated Jacket

Target Dry, an outdoor clothing company from Belfast, Northern Ireland, is not a brand I think I have come across before, so I was curious when they got in touch asking if I would be interested in trying out one of their garments. Their main product is the Mac in a Sac, which I have heard of, but, with winter drawing in, I opted for the Mens Origin Insulated Jacket. I usually have a Craighoppers Down Gilet (it was a bargain buy from a closing down sale) shoved in the bottom of my rucksack that I wear during breaks and when camping but it is not an ideal solution, so I have been looking out for a suitable replacement.

Outdoor wild swimming in Northamptonshire

I always think Northamptonshire gets forgotten when it comes to outdoor activities. For the first few years I subscribed to Countryfile Magazine I religiously collected, ordered and stored the ten route cards included each month – whilst almost every part of the country was covered, there was not a single route in Northamptonshire! So imagine my excitement to discover Northamptonshire has, in the opinion of Daniel Martin – Extreme Athlete, one of the best spots for wild swimming in the world!

Initial look at Kampa Carbis 5 family tent

It turns out that three people and two dogs do not fit comfortably in an Outwell Arizona L – a three man dome. This was the discovery I made on a family camping weekend away a few months ago in Peak District. Originally bought for two people (and a dog), what I liked about the Arizona L was that I could stand up in it and it had a porch to shelter from the inevitable rain , but it was time to accept that my needs had outgrown it. So, after a bit of research, I bought a Kampa Carbis 5 from Camping World and took it on my trip to Cornwall.

Celebrate London 2012 Olympics by hiking all or part of The Games Way

After the initial excitement back in 2005, there has recently been a lot of negativity and cynicism and about the London 2012 Olympic Games – whether it is the McDonald’s monopoly on chips, the failings of G4S, spiralling costs or restrictive social media policies. However, for the last two years, project manager Mark Stanley has been working on a fantastic positive project for normal people to get involved in the Olympic celebrations – The Games Way, a 184 mile long distance path between Weymouth (the location of some of the Olympic sailing events) and the Olympic Park in London. The route goes through some fantastic British countryside – the Jurassic Coast, the New Forest, the edge of the South Downs, the Surrey Hills and along the Thames, past ancient castles, over hills and through woodland and across fields. The opening walk leaves from Weymouth on Saturday 28th July – you can either walk (or run) the whole thing, or join in for different stages.

From animal hide to hiking boot: leather

To be honest, I had never really thought about where leather hiking boots (or indeed any other leather product) come from before I met Michael Redwood (@michaelredwood), visiting Professor in Business Development in Leather at The University of Northampton, at this year’s Innovation for Extremes conference (write up coming soon I promise!). Mike and I were both on a panel discussing whether wearable technology in footwear was inevitable and, as I live just down the road from Northampton, we got chatting about the leather industry and in particular the Institute for Creative Leather Technologies at the University. A few weeks later Mike invited me to visit the Institute for a tour.

Sharing adventures as they happen with Google’s glasses

Is this the ultimate is sharing your adventure live as it happens? In this video Google’s Sergey Brin leads a demo of Google’s Project Glass with a group of skydivers, bmxers and abseilers all using Google’s new video-capturing spectacles sharing live via Google Hangout.

Google hopes to start selling the devices, which broadcast images directly in front of the users’ eyes allowing them to stream video and social media applications, as early as 2014.

Quick sharing of photos whilst outdoors: Instagram

Over the last few trips, I have been experimenting with different services for ‘instantly’ sharing photos. I am by no means a good photographer, but often I see something I think others will find interesting and I want to point, shoot and share to my preferred networks from my phone with the minimal amount of hassle. On a recent trip to Dartmoor I had a play with Instagram, and was pleasantly surprised with the results. Read more

Adventures in Devon and Cornwall

Despite being only a short break, my recent family trip to Devon and Cornwall was certainly adventure packed. Although we were only away for 6 days, we managed to fit in: crabbing in Looe, watching stormy seas in Polperro, a visit to Plymouth Hoe, exploring rock pools on Seaton beach, walks, swimming and a wild camp on Dartmoor, body boarding in Salcombe and a visit to the largest waterfall in England. Here is a quick write up of some of the things we got up to.

The cookie law – a resource for website owners

On 25 May 2012, the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 come into force. The amended regulations include the European Directive concerned with the protection of privacy on the web, especially something called ‘cookies’ (which is why it is nicknamed the ‘cookie law’). If you own or manage a website, it is almost certain that you will need to do something to ensure your site is compliant. With a maximum penalty of £500,000, it is definitely worth at least reading up on the issue so you can make an informed decision on what action to take.

Review of “And did those feet” by Charlie Connelly

I enjoy history – in my early days at school I spent hours slaving over projects on subjects like the Vikings and the English Civil War, encouraged by my parents who took me on daytrips to battlefields and museums. The realities of academic history surfaced however whilst I studied the World Wars for GCSE with a less than inspiring history teacher and I lost interest (unlike my brother who went on to study Medieval History at University). Like with walking, my interest in history has been rekindled in later years, so I was quite excited to receive Charlie Connelly’s And Did Those Feet, walking through 2000 years of British and Irish history, from the aforementioned brother for Christmas.

What I learnt doing a long distance hike with a dog

Before Offa’s Dyke, I wrote a blog post on the kit I was planning to take with me for my dog (you can read it here: http://www.mycountryside.org.uk/2010/02/15/the-weight-penalty-of-hiking-with-a-dog/). A comment today from Hilke has reminded me that I never really followed up on what I learnt from doing a long distance hike with a dog.

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