Every County in the British Isles

Last Monday (The 16th September 2013) I went to the Night of Adventure at the Vue Cinema in Leicester Square.  An entertaining and inspiring evening, watching a selection of interesting, vibrant and well travelled people giving presentations on a range of adventures or initiatives.  I won't try to explain in too much detail, have a look here: https://www.facebook.com/NightOfAdventure or here http://www.hopeandhomes.org/get-involved/fundraising-and-events and try and go along to one if you can.

Anyway in the interval, as I was too reticent to spark up conversation with too many other punters (and by the way I was quite surprised by the youth and good looks of the crowd, and the relatively equal gender split, for some reason I was expecting a range of guys my age and older in karrimore jackets geeking out on adventure kit) so I idly tweeted an idea that came to me on the idea of adventures in one of the earlier presentations.

At #nightofadventure just wrote a note to myself to visit every county in the British isles in the next 12 months!
— Ben Hockman (@BAHockman) September 16, 2013

Having recently returned from a cross continental bike trip, albeit a relatively comfortable one, I am determined to actually start this career in planning, or place-making, or urbanism, or whatever I can work my way into along the lines of the reason I returned from NZ and went to get that degree.  So I figured a way to have adventures, and get to see more of my home nation was that as outlined above.

After a simple google search I found this website: 

http://www.rahbarnes.demon.co.uk/Counties/list.htm

There are a few lists on there, I decided to pick the first one, as it didn't seem so comprehensive.  So I'll leave this hanging here now, and come back and update when I have some sort of evidence of having visited that county.  Lets see if by this time next year I've Done 'em all?

Aberdeenshire
Anglesey
Angus (Forfarshire)
Antrim
Argyll (Argyllshire)
Armagh
Ayrshire
Banffshire
Bedfordshire
Berkshire
Berwickshire
Brecknockshire (Breconshire)
Buckinghamshire  -  Done 21/09/2013 - passed through on way to Oxford, but will be back there a bit I'm sure.

Buteshire
Caernarfonshire (Carnarvonshire)
Caithness
Cambridgeshire
Cardiganshire
Carmarthenshire
Cheshire
Clackmannanshire
Cornwall
Cromartyshire
Cumberland
Denbighshire
Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
Down
Dumbartonshire
Dumfriesshire
Durham
East Lothian
Essex
Fermanagh
Fife
Flintshire
Glamorgan
Gloucestershire
Hampshire - 30/11/2013 - Back to the county of my birth and formative years.

Herefordshire
Hertfordshire
Huntingdonshire
Inverness-shire
Kent - 12/10/2013 

Kincardineshire
Kinross-shire
Kirkcudbrightshire
Lanarkshire
Lancashire - 27/10/2013

Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
Londonderry
Merionethshire
Middlesex
Midlothian
Monmouthshire
Montgomeryshire
Morayshire
Nairnshire
Norfolk
Northamptonshire
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire
Orkney
Oxfordshire  -  done 21st September 2013 - Working at Virgin Do

Peeblesshire
Pembrokeshire
Perthshire
Radnorshire
Renfrewshire
Ross-shire
Roxburghshire
Rutland
Selkirkshire
Shetland
Shropshire
Somerset
Staffordshire
Stirlingshire
Suffolk
Surrey  29/09/2013 

Sussex -  26/09/2013 Brighton.  Easy
Sutherland
Tyrone
Warwickshire
West Lothian (Linlithgowshire)
Westmorland
Wigtownshire
Wiltshire
Worcestershire
Yorkshire 26/10/2013


Oh yeah, and the British Isles includes Ireland:

Antrim
Armagh
Carlow
Cavan
Clare
Cork
Derry
Donegal
Down
Dublin
Fermanagh
Galway
Kerry
Kildare
Kilkenny
Laois
Leitrim
Limerick
Longford
Louth
Mayo
Meath
Monaghan
Offaly
Roscommon
Sligo
Tipperary
Tyrone
Waterford
Westmeath
Wexford
Wicklow 

There aren't any rules, just try and visit, or pass through.  And try and fit it in with everything else.  And no castigation if I don't complete it, just a bit of an achievement if I do.  It looks like a big list from here, but if I keep it in mind there's at least a chance I'll see a few places I've not seen before.

Open House London 2013

Having worked a long day on Saturday I made it out a little later than planned.  I had intended to go and see Battersea Power Station having seen a presentation about the redevelopment of the Battersea Nine Elms/ Nine Elms and Vauxhall Development /Nine Elms on the South Bank, or whichever name it decides to go by on Thursday.  I was also keen to see the photography display there.  But I heard that it was closed to new visitors by midday due to mile long queues, and having already been inside for a lavish launch party last year hastily assembled a list of other places to see through a quick look at Londonist and twitter.

I headed over the hill to the William Booth College opposite the Denmark Hill station, but discovered that that was only open on Saturday.  So I rode up towards the south bank (stopping off at the cop shop to have my bike registered) and aimed to go and see Neo Bankside.  Again however, they were only open on Saturday.  Having now looked at the website and discovering that the last few apartments are still available from £1.25m, maybe it's just as well I didn't get to see them seeing that my bugbear this week, and recently is the state of housing availability and affordability.




So I went round and over the millennium bridge, and found myself at Guildhall to get some info.  Had a quick coffee and unavoidable conversation about cycling in London vs cycling in Wellington.  While perusing the Open House information I found out that there was an Alleyways of the City tour departing almost immediately.  

I don't recall the exact route now, but was a fascinating tour of the city.  Covering a lot of the importance of the Guilds and various industries over the years.  Recurring theme of destruction and rebuilding, often largely due to the Great Fire or Blitz.  The displacement of peoples or industries, largely due to greed and power, and essentially the control of capital and influence.  So nothing really changes.  Though lots of this is re-covering things I may have learnt, or at least heard of before, hearing the story of the streets and the city while walking through the City of London really made a big impression on me.  

I have little business in the city, so tend to be bombing through on my bike, getting disorientated around one lane or another, until I see a signpost, landmark or road that I recognise, and continue my journey through, and generally onwards.  but this walk purposefully took us through the still existing medieval alleys and passages.  Probably the biggest impression for me of this was taking me back to the 'Designing Places' module in the first year of my planning degree.  Partly an 'Urban Design 101' I recall a series of slides showing how great places reveal themselves from different angles.  Through the City of London you will walk through a cramped alleyway, and as you emerge form a Tudor or Elizabethan scene, be presented with the stark skyscrapers of the new City, emerging daily now with the collection of variously monikered buildings which grab glimpses along the way.  This is an effect that I've never experienced in any other city, certainly not with the degree of contrast and depth of history available in my home city, which I've explored so much less than the many cities and towns I've blasted through in comparatively short time spans.

So I've resolved myself to spending a little more time exploring the city by foot soon, before my days become too busy and the nights become too dark.

So the tour ended at Liverpool Street Station at around 3.20, I consulted the guide book to see where to go next.  I'd made a note earlier to try for 8 Stoneleigh Terrace which was brought to my attention on Londonist: "Those interested in the architecture of housing need to visit Stoneleigh Terrace in Archway".  The booklet which I had now got my hands on said that there was a final tour at 4pm.  With my handy new smart phone I worked out it was about 5 miles and made my way up.  With a home match at Highbury making the journey a little more colourful I made it to the location bang on time.  There was a fair crowd waiting outside and I loitered assessing the situation.  As people were being let into the flat I went and locked my bike up and just squeezed into the back of the room as Fabien(?) very generously accommodated what must have been around 50 or so people in his front room.  The dimensions of which can be figured out from this picture:

There's no urgent need for me to disseminate the whole project as details are better elsewhere, but as I understand it was a social housing project in the 60's with a certain amount of idealism and holistic thought that many developments lack, especially social housing.  The design and construction was compromised in a number of ways over the whole planned estate (economics, politics, the usual), but the result with the Highgate New Town stage one is delightful.  So many details of what is studied as 'good urban form' and good design and space in the dwellings.  Was excellent to have a walk around, see inside the flat and have the story told by someone who lives and understands the place, without going into the architectural theory and abstracts.  It was also nice to just walk around, the different angles and shapes, and the sound of children playing in the streets.

Riding back it was a shame not to have got into a few more buildings, seen one of the 'big ticket' items and a selection of smaller off the path ones, but with other commitments (such as work and sleep) it was a great impromptu day to give more inspiration about cities and places and housing, at the end of a week when I've been learning a lot.

Next year I may try and plan in advance a little more and really take advantage of the day.  Or maybe I wont, we'll see.  But for now, Cheers to Open House London 2013 and particularly the excellent guides I encountered.

Report to MP's

When not whistling through the countryside or cities of a strange land the adventures seem less immediate, and less worthy of commentary.

But a couple of weeks ago we released the first research output of the ride.  It was circulated to MP's for the opening of parliament and the debate to 'Get Britain Cycling'.

Take a look at it here:

P2P report to MP's : Learning from America.
http://www.portlandtoportland.org/media/downloads/p2pbrochure.pdf

There is, as always, plenty of other stuff to talk about in relation to this.  Other endless commentary and analysis of policy, action, inaction.  Infrastructure, money promises.  There are also more comprehensive reports to compile in the coming weeks, but my focus has to change into more long term adventures for now.

But whilst doing that there will be plenty of time to re-visit the P2P stuff here, the research, friendships, pictures, movies and memories.  And there is plenty more to do to get Britain cycling.  But right now I'm at a desk ploughing a furrow in my brow.