Outdoor Show 1

I thought it might take me a while to write about the Outdoors Show, but here I am interned in the Raven Hotel in Droitwich Spa with, probably, more than a few chances to do some writing. It’s a strange hotel this, a place which – I guess – has its origins as an old coaching inn. Some people might say that this is a hotel with character but, if that’s right, its one with a personality disorder.

I’ve been here before; it’s an occasional job the comes around from time to time. Externally the hotel is all black and mock Tudor white. Inside the hotel specialises in the kind of decor that you only now find in old fashioned, Asian restaurants. It is very dark everywhere, with large, dark brown leather seats and sofas. There never seems to be anyone staying here except myself and my colleague. We’re outside of the tourist season and all kinds of clues suggest that our American cousins are its stock-in-trade guests; Americans of a certain age I would guess. The staff – as is now traditional – are all Eastern European and while they are wonderfully polite and pleasant their English is often strained and it can be difficult to communicate. I could be in Riga, or Krakow, or Budapest or Bucharest but there I’d probably find it easier to communicate. I wonder what kind of sense the ageing visitors of North America make of Europe in a place like this? Still, I digress.

It was hard work the Outdoor Show, hard work interviewing people that is. You’d have thought that people who are freelancers would be pleased with a bit of free publicity, but no!

I was keen, for example, to interview some of the Trail family of writers as they’ve yet to make it into the Podcast world. I know from mates elsewhere in the eMap empire that they do things their own way there, but at the show I thought I’d be luckier. Still, these folks were very busy and were working hard so I may have just been unlucky. I did have a couple of good conversations though which will be worth reporting a some point.

The ‘celebs’ are a nightmare. I presume they have so much publicity that they don’t need any more. When interviewing the bloggers for the upcoming project I’ve been struck by how important the sense of community is for them, especially for those who are tucked away in parts of the country far from the hills. It is very interesting to see which personalities and companies understand this and try to oblige. These are companies that work hard to connect with their public. Don’t they all, I hear you ask? A resounding NO is the answer.

Still, what do we have?

Well, we have the Sports Minister being clear that probably not enough is being done to promote the outdoors and that it is his and his colleague’s responsibility to push on. We have two gear manufacturers keen to talk us through their new ranges (but only two mind); more about them later. We have an interesting piece about walking in Croatia and Montenegro, an amusing catch-up with Kev Reynolds and an extended interview with Paddy Dillon who talks about his walking lifestyle, how he got started, how he tackles his work and how to become a guide book writer! Ronald Turnball was as delightful as ever talking me through his new production, “Three Peaks and Ten Tors”, and lovely effort written in his own inimitable style. Both Paddy and Ronald are great to interview; they both share the seeming ability to talk forever!

Elsewhere, it is the 30th anniversary of Harvey’s Maps and I had a very enjoyable time talking to Sue Harvey about the companies journey from one simple map of the Howgill Fells to the current catalogue of over 100 titles. Harvey’s are currently building a new range of walkers maps which are radically different and very impressive. One luck competition winner will walk away with a signed copy of the new award winning map of Snowdonia. On the same theme, Cicerone have donated a prize in the form of a new copy of Ronald’s book (signed by Ronald) and Ronald himself has donated one of his lesser known, and philosophical, works about the Spinx Stone.

Elswhere, I’ve some pieces on becoming a Mountain Leader: how much time does it take and how much does it cost? What kind of life it is being an adventure travel guide? Also, one of the major Kayak adventure companies suggests a first sea-bound adventure for the backpacker. The Doune Hotel on Knoydart tell us about that wonderful peninsula but also show us how we can enjoy it all with a little bit of luxury, if wild camping isn’t your thing. Shewee talk to as about life beyond, well, the Shewee! And we here about a non DEET based, organic, insect repellant that really works!

It would have nice to do more but I reckon there needs to be, at least, two of us to help the press office tie these big names down.

I did, of course, put in for interviews with the podgy bushcraft geezer with the tardis-like rucksack, but he’s obviously more nimble on his feet than looks would suggest.

Finally, it is depressing when ‘celebs’ can’t even understand why you might be doing something. Consider a certain, northern English, mountain climber – one at the top of his profession. On several occasions I tackled him in the press room. He was always busy but would try and catch me later – in the way that just tells you he has no such intention. On our second encounter he asked why Bob and I were doing this, producing these podcasts for free. I explained that it was about using new media to communicate with the disparate hill walking community. He looked at me as if I was completely mad. I got the impression that there was a real problem for him in all of this. If we were doing this for free then he wouldn’t be able to charge us for the pleasure of talking to him. And if he couldn’t charge us, well then what was the point! I gather our northern hero has recently lost his sponsor. I wonder why!

Must sign off now. It’s time to search for dinner. But I’ll leave all of that stuff to Sloman. He does it so well