Did you hear that? It was the sound of the admission door to next year’s Hadrian’s Walk clanging shut.
Sunday was the deadline for people confirming whether they were coming or not and, with the exception of a few stragglers, I’ve now heard from everyone that I was expecting to.
I’ve decided against chasing people up any further. The level of badgering I’ve already engaged in comes close to earning me a whole bunch of restraining orders. If you really want to come and are worrying you’ve missed the boat don’t worry however, you can still email me and we’ll see what we can do. i just can’t promise anything.
So here’s the lineup, and it’s a very exciting one. In no particular order:
- Dan Hughes (me!), from All That Comes With It
- Oli Walker, who came on the original Dales Walk
- Cathrine Sinclair, a friend of Oli’s
- Richard Cockill, fiance of Cathrine
- David Graham, a veteran of both the Dales Walk and the Cumbria Way
- Craig Kelly, a veteran of both the Dales Walk and the Cumbria Way
- James Muscroft (Mushy), who came on the original Dales Walk
- Rich Brook, a veteran of both the Dales Walk and the Cumbria Way
- Clair, from Moon In The Gutter
- Michael Clarke, from Green Tea Ice Cream
- Jo, from Jo Beaufoix
- Nic, Jo’s friend
- Erin, from Fierce Beagle
- Noah, Erin’s husband
- Idaho Dad, from A Family Runs Through It
- Rajiv, Idaho Dad’s friend
- JJ Daddy-O, from JJ Daddy-O
- Archie Malcolm, my father-in-law
- Arjan, from Dutchnid
- Martin, from Xbox4NappyRash
- Josie, from Life in Biscuit
- David, Josie’s husband
- Rich Bassinder, a veteran of both the Dales Walk and the Cumbria Way
- Ian, from Single Parent Dad
- Emma, Ian’s sister
- Helen, a friend of my wife Kerry
- Tony, Helen’s husband
- Sherry, from ImPerceptibility
- Steve, Sherry’s husband
- Whit, from Honea Express
- Tricia, Whit’s wife
- NYC Watchdog, from A Pile of dog Bones
- Poppy, from Poppy Cedes
- Ed, from Zoe’s Dad
- Maura, Ed’s wife
And the part timers who’ll be hopefully joining us for just a day or two:
- Gary, from Jerry Chicken
- Gail, from Squared Off
That’s thirty seven walkers in total. thirty seven! Can you believe it! Thank you all so much for agreeing to come along. You’re doing a good thing here.
We’ve a mix of twenty four males and thirteen females with ages ranging from early twenties to late fifties. We’ve got people from England, Scotland, Ireland, America and Holland. We’ve got the personnel to start our own healthcare system: a paramedic, a doctor, and a couple of nurses; our own criminal justice system: a superior court judge, a case builder, and a couple of policemen; and an education system: a university professor and a teaching assistant. But that’s not all, we’ve also got writers, editors, stay-at-home parents, managers, bankers and unemployed bums. As my old cultural studies lecture might say: we have a true microcosm of modern society.
It’d be really good if Team Ocelot can try to get to know each other a little bit before we set off. It will reduce any social awkwardness when we all come together for the first time. Idaho Dad has very graciously agreed to be appointed a sort of net based social secretary and we’ve come up with a number of relatively painless ways of starting to break the ice. All the walkers will no doubt be hearing from him in a couple of weeks.
In the meantime though it’d be a good idea for everybody to add all the blogs listed above to their feedreader, blogroll, or bookmark folder. Even if you’re not going on the walk there isn’t one amongst them isn’t worth a read. And of course if you’re not already checking out the Hadrian’s Walk blog: http://hadrianswalk.org then I urge you to do so as I’m going to start posting organizational stuff on there rather than cross post it here.
And finally any of the bloggers coming on the walk should feel free to display the badge of honor below on their blogs in order to alert the world to their heroic status as a Hadrians Walker. If you need any help writing the html or hosting the image then email me and I’ll give you a hand.
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Awesome list! I’m glad to see so many people can make it. Sorry I never got back to you, I wish I could do the walk but I just can’t commit this far out. Too many things coming up in the next year (move, house purchase, possible second kid on the way) to plan on going to England. If later in the year, people start dropping out and things work out, keep me on the list of replacements.
Brandon´s last blog ..A Snap Judgement Snap Judgement
@Brandon, No worries man, I appreciate that it’s a lot to ask and am just grateful you considered it.
Cool list, especially about 24/37 down it.
No objections, to me hosting the Hadrian’s image, on your Flickr account?
SingleParentDad´s last blog ..Glitterati and Drayton Manor Park and Zoo
@SingleParentDad, feel free to use the image from my flickr, I can send you the html code if you want. I’d try to put it in the post but don’t know how to make the blog understand that i want the HTML just printed out rather than acted on.
that’s one awesome list.
I’m working 46 hours a week at the moment..so following all blogs..hmm might have to catch up on the weekends :P
Arjan´s last blog ..Magnetized
@Arjan, 46 hours a week? That leaves you 122 hours a week to blog surf.
@Dan,
got me there..I’ll cut down on sleep, food and travelling :P
Arjan´s last blog ..Magnetized
Daniel, that isn’t actually my name.
I’m actually really surprised to see some of those names, this could be interesting.
Xbox4NappyRash´s last blog ..Misery and milestones
@Xbox4NappyRash, I am aware that isn’t your real name Marmaduke, but i didn’t want to out anyone’s carefully crafted blog pseudonym without asking.
I’ll alter yours forthwith.
@Dan, The third, Marmaduke the third.
Fire away.
Xbox4NappyRash´s last blog ..Misery and milestones
I am so excited Dan. You will here me say this quite a lot. Sorry. Will add everyone to my blogroll etc soon. Can’t wait for the icebreakers. I think…
;D
Jo Beaufoix´s last blog ..Ponderings of an Exhausted and Slightly dazed Singleton
@Jo Beaufoix, I’m the worlds biggest hater of “group hugs’ and “trust exercises” . When i say Icebreaker all I mean is Phil is going to devise a sort of interview meme thing and put it to each of the walkers, both with and without blogs. so we at least have a introduction to each other.
Plus i’m going to try and encourage mutual facebooking, twittering and blogging over on the hadrianswalk.org blog.
And I always thought Xbox was called Mandy?
Jo Beaufoix´s last blog ..Ponderings of an Exhausted and Slightly dazed Singleton
This is going to be so much fun. I’m really looking forward to the walk and meeting everyone. Also, you can use my first name. Almost everyone that read my blog knows it anyway! I’m not good at keeping secrets.
@ImPerceptible, Jolly good, I shall change it now.
You should know that imediately after you commented my blog imploded for some reason. It’s taken me two hours to put it right. I blame you of course.
@Dan, Sorry about that. Hope that’s not a sign from the gods. :)
ImPerceptible´s last blog ..Sometimes Things Get Complicated
Looks like a great group. Should be a lot of fun. I wish I could have arranged to be there but its just bad timing for me. Perhaps the following year, if it happens again. I hope it does.
VegasDad´s last blog ..creative discipline
@VegasDad, We’ll see how this year pans out, but I hope it does happen again. If so it may well take place on the US side of the ocean, maybe a national park of some description.
We’ll see. Better concentrate on this one first really :)
Fantastic roster!
I just hope I can stay off the “You are not welcome in the UK list!”
NYCWD´s last blog ..Michael Jackson… Is Dead
@NYCWD, just don’t start denying the holocaust or inciting racial hatred and you should be fine.
The only bad part about this is the year-long wait. Of course, that’s also the good part, as I have a whole lot of training to do. You will all hear from me after this weekend most likely. It will be fun, and educational, to get to know everyone. There should be no strangers among us by the time we get started on the walk. – Phil
@Idaho Dad, you’re a good egg Phil.
I am so relieved. I actually find all the embarassing, contrived ‘put yourself out there’ stuff terrifying. Facebook and twittering sounds perfect, though me and Nic would be uo for a night out and a few bevvies with anyone who was up for it. P.s. I promise I won’t hug you next time, but I may well hug Kerry again. I do hugs. I will try and contain myself though.
Jo Beaufoix´s last blog ..Drayton Manor Blog Invasion
@Jo Beaufoix, I don’t even hug Kerry. Our children were conceived in a very similar way to Michael Jackson’s.
What a fabulous idea. I’ve wanted to do this walk since I lived in the U.K. but have never found anyone interested in going with me. This and a Wainwright walk are on my “shit to do before I die” list. I’ll be in England next July but I’ll have an 18 year old boy in tow who’s idea of a walk is the 30 foot path between his bedroom and the kitchen. Found your blog through Ian (SPD) and I’m likin’ it.
Smitten by Britain´s last blog ..Weird Wednesday
@Smitten by Britain, I’ll warn you, Wainwright loves his big bloody hills!
@Dan, Yes, I know, having watched the Coast to Coast series recently. I’m still game though, not too old just yet.
Smitten by Britain´s last blog ..Weird Wednesday
My husband and I have mulled this idea over since you posted it and we’d love to come, but as the door is shut we obviously can’t come with you all. BUT if we happen to ‘bump’ into you all as you are walking, we will make some sort of Obvious gesture to make it known that we are outside participants. Perhaps we could walk the opposite route….still mulling.
Carla´s last blog ..This just in…
@Carla, I’m sorry; i didn’t realise you were mulling or I’d have pestered you with deadline looming emails like I did everyone else.
The door is semi closed, but there are always possibilities. contact me when you’ve finished your deliberations and we ca see what we can do.
Holy shit- you have Poppy and the Dawg joining you? Crazy!
Avitable´s last blog ..Your TV education
That’s a pretty impressive list. I wish I could be a part of it, but circumstances won’t allow.
BTW, I was at your wedding chapel a couple of weeks ago. The birds send their regards.
Darren´s last blog ..Maid Marian on Her Tiptoed Feet
@Darren, I’d noticed you’d been. We didn’t see many birds due to the time of day (night). We did see a lot of cockroaches though.