All right, pay attention please!

This is simply another of those routine posts. It’s to tell you that I’ve tidied up the blog and posted the Corner-to-Corner record on one of the side pages. Yes, I know many of you have read all this before, but there are several new readers who haven’t. So this (quoted largely from the analogous post last year) is for them.

“I’m sure most readers of theendtoendblog appreciate that all of the posts in it describing my long-distance walks were created originally in computationally non-optimal situations. There I was, pecking away one-fingered on my little smartphone, either when I was sitting in a pub having a meal in the evening, or when I was back at the B&B or the bunkhouse, or when I was lying half awake in my tent. I don’t have access to a computer of any sort when I’m walking, nor do I have continual access to WiFi. This means I can’t readily use blog-editing software. The posts you get to read – those you get sent as emails – are therefore best described as raw.

These raw posts are all tidied up when I get back home. That doesn’t mean simply that typos are corrected and grammatical errors removed. It means also that photographs are processed (or in some instances are replaced or deleted), that track files are edited and screenshots of them made and loaded, and that links to videos and voice recordings are inserted. It’s a lot of work, but work that’s worthwhile in the end. What you finally have on the blog is a fuller and far more readable account of how the walk in question went.

Now to the important point: WordPress doesn’t send you out an email every time a post gets tidied up! Thank goodness, as otherwise everybody’s inboxes would rapidly fill up. The down side, however, is that if you do want to find out more about how a particular walk went – and obviously many of you do – you have to read the blog itself. Go on, try it! You know you want to!

I’ve now done all the tidying up for Corner-to-Corner. All of the relevant posts are now marked, for instance with ***with track and video***; all of the photographs in them are now captioned (and hopefully are now of acceptable quality); and all of the videos and voice recordings I made now have Dropbox links. The first relevant post (‘The first day’) was on April 25; the last (‘The final day’) was on June 1.

There have to be caveats and health warnings, don’t there? Yes! Firstly, please remember when you read this blog that it isn’t meant to be a professional journalistic record; it’s a blog that’s there to let you know something about what’s going on – what I’m doing, what I’m seeing and hearing, who I’m meeting and talking to, what I’m thinking and feeling, and so on. Oh, and it’s also a blog that’s there for me; it’s a supplement to my own unrecorded memories. Secondly, please remember that I’m not a professional photographer, or even an amateur with a proper camera. All the walk-related photos you see on the blog were shot on my phone, often quickly and in rather poor conditions and always by letting the phone pick the focus and exposure settings it wanted. Thirdly, please remember that I’m not a Steadicam operator. Many of the videos were shot in extremely windy conditions and on exposed hillsides and cliff tops; they’re consequently far from cinema or TV quality. Fourthly, please remember that I don’t have a script when I’m making a video or a voice recording. What you see and hear is me, warts and all.

Finally, just a few notes for those of you who might need help:

1. The blog address is https://theendtoendblog.wordpress.com
2. To enlarge any photograph, left-click on it. To return to the post, left-click on your browser’s ‘Back’ button.
3. To download a video or voice recording, left-click on the link; this is in bold letters. You’ll automatically get routed to a Dropbox page with a button labelled ‘Download’ in the top right-hand corner. Left-click on this button and you’ll get two options: ‘Direct download’ and ‘Save to my Dropbox’. Left-click on ‘Direct download’. Eventually (this may take a few moments) your browser will ask whether you want to open the video or voice recording directly or instead save it to your computer or phone. I strongly suggest you always save it (you can then open it later any time you want), as otherwise the video or voice recording quality can be adversely affected.
4. To get back to me with any comments or criticisms or notifications of things that don’t work, email me either at johntde(at)hotmail.com or at the address you normally use for me. You can even send me a text. All feedback is gratefully received.

You’ll find the records for Corner-to-Corner on one of the left-side pages. These comprise the day-by-day statistics, the track files, and a summary map.”

Now all I have to do is get out the invitations to the next Lejog Blog bouquet festival. You’re invited, of course, so you’d better start checking out your wardrobe now. Will it be Versace this year, or perhaps Saint Laurent or Balmain? Have fun!

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