Despite the very wintry weather conditions we have at the moment we are pleased to report that the response to the Shirehike walking festival we have been promoting with neighbouring Counties has been a huge success.
We currently have over 640 members of the County registered and there have been 411 badges issued so far which is a fantastic response. Remember you can still register and take part up to the close on the 14th March 2021. Please do consider the current government guidelines, stay local and within the numbers permitted. Due to the popularity of the walks there is also now a small delay in sending out the bronze badges as a further supply has had to be ordered so please bear with the team while these are delivered and dispatched.
Thank you also for those who have sent in routes to be considered. We are currently assessing them and will be submitting these to the Shirehike team. If you do suggest a route please consider its suitability. Walks should be routes that start from a public place (not just a circular walk from your house) and be a route which others might find interesting. Ideally we need a link to a website or similar in which the route is mapped so that others can follow it. Unfortunately we don’t have the resources to do this at the present time. The route also needs to be between 3 and 10 miles in length. Of course, there is nothing wrong with still getting out there and enjoying these non-ShireHike routes – Why not share them directly with other members of your Scout Group who live local to you?
We also want to set a challenge to Scout leaders – can we get a circular walk of around 3 – 5 miles from every Scout HQ in Birmingham? Leaders, you could use this as a map reading activity with your sections and get them to come up with the description and a map of the route. We can then collect these together and share so that others can enjoy the Birmingham Scout HQ walks.
We have also had several questions about what will happen at the end of the project – the good news is that we are looking at ways of hosting the walks on our website so that these can be accessed during the Summer. The Shirehike team met last week and the plan is to relaunch the project in September so we can all join in this again later in the year and maybe even work towards a platinum or diamond badge!
So thanks to everybody who has taken part, we’ve had great feedback and seen some super photos. Keep walking…