Let's go for a walk!

Do you fancy a healthy and friendly walk? Come join the Bristol Walk Fest on Friday 24th April! The Walk Fest 2015 is having a launch event with a difference: a huge, multi-stage walk across Bristol!

The launch event is made up of 20 short (2-3 mile) walks through some of Bristol's nicest green spaces, stopping off at community venues along the way. There will be refreshments at some of the stop points to rest and recover! It's free to take part in the walks, you can join as much/little as you like... or alternatively, catch up with at Cascade Steps from 5.15pm.

Besides the launch event, there will be many other events from 1st until 31st May in this UK's largest urban walking festival.

I found it very interesting that some of the walks will make you travel back in time to a city of Bristol in riot (2nd May), will help you improve your posture through walking (5th May), will introduce you into Tai Chi in a quiet Ashton Court (6th May) or will make you discover Bedminster's hidden stories of love, sex and violence (9th May).

I have selected some interesting (and original) events below but you can download the complete programme here.

• 2nd May - Bristol in riot 1831: a stroll from Totterdown, past Temple Meads and up to Bristol Bridge, through the city centre and calling at places that figured in the riots, ending at the New Gaol. 
  Starts: 10am Duration: 2.5 miles Cost: Free
• 5th May - Improve your posture through walking: after some warm up exercises, a trained walk leader will show you how to improve your breathing and posture while you walk. Get into the rhythm and you will start to feel as though you float!
  Starts: 10am  Duration: 1 mile Cost: Free
• 6th May - ‘Qi’ in the Woods -a mindful excursion: a quiet walk through park and wood, interspersed with pauses for mindfulness meditations, and Qi Gong/Tai Chi exercises for all the senses and deeper awareness of the present moment.
  Starts: 2pm Duration: 3 miles/2 hours Cost: Free
• 9th May - Why Don’t We Do It In the Road (North Street): discover Bedminster’s hidden history of love, sex and violence. Your guides will introduce you to a host of real-life local characters who tell their extraordinary stories. Repeated on 16 & 23 May.
  Starts: 11am Duration: 1 mile/1 hour Cost: £3-5 
• 17th May - Burrington Combe and Dolebury Warren: starting in Burrington Combe we’ll climb up through woods to the ancient hill fort on Dolebury Warren, then skirt the edge of the Mendips before returning. All welcome but aimed at people in their 20s to 40s.
  Starts: 10am Duration: 7.5 miles Cost: Free
• 19th May - Pre-School Storywalk: join us on a buggy-friendly stroll around St George Park, with stories and rhymes to entertain us on the way. Perfect for pre-school children and their parents or carers. Starts: 10:15am Duration: 0.5 miles Cost: Free
• 21st May - Walk in Giants’ footsteps on Dundry Hill: learn about the legend of Gorm, a local giant, as we explore Norton Malreward, Norton Hawkfield, and Maes Knoll hill fort. Magnificent views of the hills around Bristol and even the White Horse of Westbury.
  Starts: 10:30am Duration: 3.5 miles/2.5 hours Cost: Free
• 23rd May - Bristol Nordic Walking: a 40 minute Nordic walk on Clifton Downs with qualified instructors.
  Starts: 10am Duration: 1.5–2 miles Cost: Free  
• 26th May - Pirates Love Underpants Stomping Story: take a sail walk with your kids on the Pirate Ship Black Bloomer in search of the Pants of Gold! After we’ve nabbed the booty, we’ll make a pirate hat to take home. Aimed at children of 3+ years (babies and toddlers go free).
  Starts: 3:45pm Duration: 0.5 miles/45 minutes Cost: £3 per child + booking fee, with adults accompanying for free
• 29th May - Night at the Cementery Guided Tour: revealing the darker side of Arnos Vale Cemetery at dusk, in an atmospheric torchlit exploration of tragic tales, folk customs and funeral etiquette of Victorian society. All welcome, but aimed at a 16+ audience. Starts: 7:30pm Duration: 1.5 miles/1.5 hours Cost: £8.40 + booking fee

WEBSITE: www.bristolwalkingfestival.com/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/events/805397009542624

Travelling? Check this out!

Although I have mostly been supporting and encouraging local stores until now, I found it impossible not to mention one of the best bookshops entirely dedicated to travelling.

Located in the historical Corn Street, there is a store you must visit if you are travelling in the near future. The store is called Stanfords and for those who don't know, the Bristol branch was the first store to be opened outside London back in 1997. 

It's a two-floor shop where you can find anything you can imagine related to travelling: travel guides, maps from all over the world, travel-themed board games, Bristol merchandise, cycle-routes, kayaking routes, inflatable or decorative globes, books, stationary, sweets, travel diaries... even decorated canes!

Upstairs, there is a section where you can find sweets and candy with globe shape, stationary to keep track of your trips, beautiful journals and diaries... and also Bristol merchandise: magnets, mugs, coasters, calendars and many more stuff. There is a promotion now on selected travel guides: if you buy one, you get the second one half price. 

Next to the stairs, you will find books for children, board games related to travel and whole collection of "Mr." books to choose from. Even inflatable globes!

There are books about birds, best areas for kayaking, best bike routes, thousands of maps...

Downstairs, I found a great selection of high-definition maps from every single country I can imagine. I found a laminated flexi-map from Sri Lanka, where I will be travelling in a couple of months. Very good map which allows to mark the route with a non-permanent marker pen and then easily erase it. I think it is a very good idea so I bought it (5.99 pounds).

 

I also found my country downstairs: The Basque Country. The guide-book, which by the way doesn't have many pictures, was located next to the Spanish guides. It is written by Paddy Woodworth and gives a good idea of the most important areas and events in the Basque Country. I couldn't resist to take a picture! :)

Website: http://www.stanfords.co.uk/