Rainy Days

Greetings! I hope you like the video bar I've added, there's the usual films of people rolling down the dunes but also some interesting aerial film of Saunton Sands and, most impressively, the film of the Hercules landing on the beach, goodness only knows how these people managed to film it without being cleared away by military personnel but anyway, here is it for your viewing pleasure! If it's not immediately obvious on the video bar to the right, go to YouTube and type C130 Hercules Beach Landing.

So then, this week has been very rainy and it hasn't helped one bit with my route planning. The routes for the multimedia tours have already been identified but I'm now in the process of mapping them accurately, creating descriptions, taking photos along the way and deciding where the 'hot spots' for the gps-driven interactivity should be. The rain hasn't helped my photography and most of them have come out dark thanks to a menacing sky but some are ever so slightly artistic. Tess (the dog) and I walked the Great Field route yesterday and, once I've successfully transferred those photos to my computer (fingers crossed!) I'll just need to pop outside and take a few more then I'm done. I'm meeting our lady from Node this week, who are providing the multimedia devices, and we'll walk the awkward parts together to iron out any issues that are foreseen at this stage. Then it's on to the production stage and a lot of frenzied activity between now and the end of March.

I'm encouraged by the involvement of the Biosphere Schools and together we plan to do an educational tour at Saunton. It'll be relatively short but will, I think, be of great interest to everyone, not just school children. That means there should be four tours altogether - the Great Field, Braunton Marshes, the south end of Braunton Burrows and Saunton.

Work continues on the web-site too, I'm hoping to have appointed a web-designer by the end of the month. I have some content ready to give them, so they have something to work on, but I desperately need more content - any contributions most welcome!

So, I'm off to take the last of my photos, finish my tour descriptions and then, after making some phone calls, settle into some funding paperwork, which will enable me to claim the final payment from the AONB Sustainable Development Fund. I'm feeling quite pleased with myself, having arrived at work at 7.45am yesterday and today. I've even taken up running in the evenings! Will probably have an evening off this evening though, the other half is working late so I won't get a peaceful night's sleep and I'm planning a LOT of walking tomorrow and I'm not sure my poor legs will last to the end of the week!

Chat soon!