Walk Leaders Workshop

Introduction

We are going to run through the process of putting a walk together with some hints and tips that I really hope will help you feel more confident. Please feel free to ask questions as we go along or make a note for the question session at the end… and remember - no question is a silly question!

A couple of things to remember before you ever start planning

• The Golden Rule is don’t get too ambitious!

• A historical walk is slightly different from the norm - you need the time and safe places to stop for those history soundbites and that really is the overriding factor you need to consider at every stage
  
  

So Where do you start?

• You may have somewhere already in mind that you enjoy walking

• It could be a single building, a feature or even a village or town - most places have history so look around and note items of interest

Then look at a route

• You can’t include everything! So aim to walk for 2 to 2 and a half hours and that may only cover 3 to 4 miles, maybe less

• As a rough guide you want to start around 10.30am and aim to finish between 12.30 and 1

So how do you know how far a route is and transfer that detail to a map?

• Well, there are several tools out there to help you and the one I often use  is bikehike course creator (bikehike.co.uk). There are others, Route Planner for instance, it’s just finding one that you feel comfortable using

• But as I say I generally use bikehike, it’s free to use, you can print up to 10 copies of the OS map for free, so it’s worth us having a little look at how this one works

• So here we have an OS map and a footpath map

• You can call up any area you wish, so lets call up Crowthorne and find exactly where we live

• You do your plotting on the footpath map and it automatically transfers that to the OS map as you go along

• Looking at the list of mapping controls on the right, you can see at the top it says ‘follow road’ - if that is ticked it will follow any road that you click…..on an iPad it works just as well with ‘touch screen’

• So click where you want to start and you get a green marker, just keep clicking your route and you can see exactly where you are with the red marker

• When you get to a footpath, just untick the road box and continue to  click your route along the path. When you get back to the road tick the box again and you can proceed in any way you wish

• We are just going around the block and back through Wellington College to our starting point

• If you make a mistake then click undo and it will take you back one step

• You can also see at the bottom that it tells you exactly how long your route is, I use miles but if you prefer you can have km

• Once you are happy with your route then you can display it in 2 ways, a large footpath map and a small OS or, if you click ‘toggle map sizes’, you can do it the other way round

• I take a screenshot of each one, add it to my photos and then when I send out the joining instruction for a walk I can attach a copy of each   from the photos - it keeps it very simple, there is no need to complicate things

• I will send over the notes, which include the websites, so have a play….any problems then I am always at the end of an email for questions

So when you have an idea of your area and a rough route, then pick out 8/10/12 points of interest along your route

Its at this stage that you start to research and write up your history

• Write ‘soundbites’ down under your possible stopping points, then edit and re-edit, it’s surprising how much time you have to give to this part of the process

• Then do a trial run, work out safe places to stop, pause and read through your history soundbites and you should get a good idea of how long it takes and if you need to add or cut

• Then go back and finalise a script - if you do that you will not forget anything on the day or when anyone interrupts you with a question …..Two things to remember 

• the more people you have, the longer the walk will take

• and always wait for the last walker to arrive before you start speaking

When you feel that place, route and script are ready to go, it’s time to advertise your walk

• Select a suitable date and time

• Advertise your walk in the diary by giving a brief overview of the area, length of walk etc - a bit of a sales pitch and your contact details for booking a place……that’s all you need to do at this stage

• Keep a list and acknowledge requests as they come in

• Don’t send out the joining instructions too early - sadly they will only lose them!!

How do you write those joining instructions and what do you have to consider?

• Well we have a form to help you with that

• This is an easy to follow, tick box form, which acts as a reminder for the information that needs to go out to your walkers and it also acts as a risk assessment

• You should fill in one for each walk you do and one is attached below