Smart Walking Sticks

We like to keep up with the latest gadgets and recently came across this one. It's a GPS enabled walking stick, initially aimed at elderly people, designed to help them get around. The stick can be loaded with pre-programmed route and guide its user with a visual arrow, or by vibrating when a turn is needed.

The stick also has safety features for the infirm and can send a distress call by 3G if the cane is suddenly dropped, or if the user falls. I don't wish to seem ageist, but my old Mum, 94 in August, would find it hard to get used to and impossible to programme. However, I can see distinct possibilities for the walking market-a beacon distress device, a GPS unit, a health monitor and a walking stick combined. Maybe next Christmas!

You can see more at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21620624

Greetings on St David's Day

Greetings to you all on St David's Day, Friday the 1st of March. This is the first day of spring and we are all looking forward to the spring and the summer and a much better trading year than last - better weather and more customers. We celebrate March the 1st because that was the day on which St David died (curious but it's true). The historical authorities can't seem to agree on the year in which St David was born or died (maybe 490 to 590), but it is thought that he lived for 100 years - largely due to his healthy lifestyle and drinking nothing but water, which doesn't bode very well for me!

St David was a pivotal figure in the early Welsh church and crucial in maintaining the separate identity of the Celtic church. He founded St David's cathedral / monastery which was said to be "filled with angels as Christ received his soul." His last words to his followers "Be Joyful and keep your faith and your creed. Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us." This phrase "Do the little things in life" is well known in Welsh "Gwnewch y pethau bychain mewn bywyd".

Big Event for the Outdoors on Tuesday

We have organised the Outdoor North Wales Forum at Llanrwst on Tuesday the 5th of March. We have done this now for several years and every year it gets bigger and bigger and the quality of the speakers goes up and up. All the details can be seen on the website www.outdoornorthwalesforum.co.uk.

Our keynote speakers this year are Ed Parsons of Google, who is going to acquaint us with the cutting edge of mapping technology and all things geo-spatial. Rory Fegan of Pearl-Fisher is going to unveil the new North Wales Adventure brand identity after lunch and there are a host of other superb speakers.

We have 200 people attending and it's going to be a great day.

Discovering Britain (and Wales!)

New walking websites are appearing all the time, and a particularly good one called Discovering Britain, has just come online from the Royal Geographical Society. It explores different places, explaining how forces of nature, people, and the economy shaped the landscape. Several of the walks have significant interest for lovers of military history, particularly those about the defensive positioning of cities, fortifications and battle sites. These are self guided walks with loads of information and can be downloaded free from the website.

As yet there are no walks in North Wales, but due to our efforts there soon will be! We regularly review walking websites and always make sure that North Wales is well represented.

Looking forward to 2020

In the years when I took my 3 children to hotels for holidays, Llandrindod Wells and the Metropole Hotel was a favourite. It was a great place from which to explore Wales and I found the Victorian architecture and their Victorian themed festivals enchanting. I returned last week to meet all the "higher ups" from Visit Wales, Cardiff for the launch of the draft Welsh Government Strategy for Tourism 2013 - 2020. The minister has yet to give her approval but I can reveal that the overarching theme is the partnership approach. Hopefully this means that the Welsh Government will be working alongside us to tackle the strategic challenges that we still face. There is an admission that innovation is going to be vital and the next time that I am told off for breaking the mould or rocking the boat I am going to quote the words of this document "doing things differently is a pre-requisite for further success".

We are also promised an annual action plan and a focus on key overseas markets which are taken to be Germany and the USA, and, surprisingly, Ireland. In the early years of our business I made many attempts to do business in Ireland. After all, it is the place next door and it has good ferry links and it looked like a rich country. However, I soon realised that the airport links from Ireland to the Rest Of The World were brilliant as the Celtic Tiger had built airport after airport. The Irish and the Welsh countryside and climate are remarkably similar, and there was simply no tradition of going to Wales as a destination for holidays. I attended a number of Visit Wales promotional visits and the Outdoor Ireland exhibition in Dublin. I even did a deal with a local Irish newspaper to sponsor a reader offer of a walking weekend in Beddgelert at the Royal Goat. Nothing seemed to sell, even when the Irish had money. Now they clearly haven't (following the property crash, the banking collapse and the virtual bankruptcy of the Irish Government) it is going to be even more difficult.

However, we will be working in partnership with Visit Wales and we are working on a scheme to bring German walking tour operators to Wales this spring.

Fearless Duathlon photos now up

Duathlons are similar to Triathlons, but lack a swimming leg - so it's running and biking. The 2013 event took place on Sunday the 17th of February and the photos can be seen here.

Walkers are Welcome

You may have noticed these signs on B&Bs and other accommodation in Wales.

The Walkers are Welcome logo is an initiative by Visit Wales, the official tourist authority for Wales, to indicate which properties are particularly suitable as bases for walking holidays. Properties are assessed by VW grading officials, who ensure that the owners are welcoming to walkers, and have made provision for their needs, such as installing a drying room or area for wet and muddy boots and clothes. Walkers are welcome properties often also have maps and guide books available for guest to borrow.

If you would like to find out more about this grading scheme, or own accommodation yourself that you would like to be certified, you can go to The Welsh Government's website - http://wales.gov.uk/topics/tourism/gradingl1/schemes/awards/?lang=en