TGO Challenge - That's All, Folks!
Derek Goffin's high level TGO Challenge account will be the last to be published on Doodlecat.First, some background to the decision. Back in 2005 I was chatting with Alan Sloman who had just written up our 2005 Challenge. He had been very impressed by Shirley Worral's website, and thought that the web would be a superb way of publicising the event, along with the TGO magazine, to an audience who would otherwise never hear of it.
So I had a go at learning a bit of html, and Doodlecat staggered into life.
Over the last few years we have accumulated some wonderful stories on Doodlecat. Some have been revisited hundreds of times - especially in the two or three months when routes are being planned! So all the current TGO material will remain, and I am sure that it will be a source of inspiration, information and entertainment for years to come, thanks to the excellent authors who have taken the time and trouble to record and share their experiences.
So if it's so popular, why stop adding to this archive?
Well, in addition to the magazine's own website, there are many more personal websites blogs & podcasts that cover the Challenge than a few years ago, when there were almost none. The main reason, however, is that most types of crossing are now represented on Doodlecat, from my and Alan's convivial low level route in 2005 to high level gutbusters. We have accounts that cover over 25 years of the Challenge, and I feel that there comes a point when the archive is big enough to be a useful, varied and entertaining resource, but not so big that too much material is repeated. That point, I think, has been reached.
Huge thanks to all who have contributed to the TGO pages and made them such a popular resource. It's been great fun putting them together. Your tales are now read by people across the world from Burnley to Beijing, and, come May, someone somewhere in a windswept scottish glen will be thanking you for getting them there ;-)
posted by Phil at
Monday, October 05, 2009
14 Comments:
I, for one, have found the stories recounted here an invaluable resource in the planning of my own Challenge, (hopefully!).
In addition, each one has been a virtual adventure and hugely enjoyable, I feel as though I've giggled my way through the glens and over the mountains. I just hope I'm giggling so much at the end of next May...
Thanks for putting the effort in to present all this in one place, it has made it so easy.
Thanks for all your efforts. It's been great to read all the varied accounts. Much appreciated.
Glad you've enjoyed all the reports, but the real thanks must go to the authors who have shared their experiences. So if you meet any of the scribes in the Park Hotel in May (or anywhere else) be sure to buy them a dram or two.
Blogging can be very timeconsuming and sometimes there are other to do, like walking. All things, good and bad, must come to an end. It's a pity (the good things).
Does this mean that the contributions of your co-writers also come to an end ?
Theo
So then, sweet thang!
Does this mean that we will have to devise and plan our own route this year?
Has Doodlecat been a secret means of pinching, wholesale, great chunks of route?
:)
Ho hum, back to the maps then, Phil!
The reports you've published are a tremendous resource, they must have helped countless Challengers (including me) put their routes together.
Thanks must go to the Challengers who have been good enough to write up their crossings, and to you Phil - for being kind enough to make them so readily available.
JJ
I've loved reading the Chally accounts on here, and no doubt I'll be back to re-read them in the future.
So! Now that you're not putting any more up, presumably you'll be out picking sloes? I've still not found a source of them up here *wee soblet*. I'll have to look harder!
(Piglet and Piss-Piss send licks and scratches for Doodle.)
Theo: I'm leaving the 'team blog' as it is for the time being, so please feel free to use it whenever you like :-)
Of course if anyone wants to submit a piece for 'Random Doodles' I'll be delighted - this is the part of Doodlecat that I'd like to expand. We already have superb articles by Mike Knipe and Steve Smith. More please! The only criteria are that it should be outdoors related, entertaining and informative. Nice pics help too. Oh, and preferably not lewd or libellous. Other than that, they can be about anything that takes your fancy.
Shirl - sloes don't grow on the enormous hills that you drag that poor wee doggy up. Try a gentle amble along the hedgerows on some nice flat farmland. My sloe gin recipe HERE. Enjoy.
The Doodlecat says Meow. ^.^
Say it isn't so!! Doodlecat has been our "clearing house " for quality photos and blogs. We thank Doodlecat and shall miss him...
Hi Lou & Phyllis
Sorry to say it is so - but all the existing material will remain, so there's plenty to revisit :-)
Hi Phil,
Last year I found Doodlecat - TGO - a great source of information and inspiration - even though it was after I sent in my route plan!
I'm sure it will continue to entertain and inform any new Challengers, as well old hands, for years to come.
Many thanks for creating the Doodlecat concept.
I look forward to the Random Doodles continuing and expanding.
Cheers.
Gordon
Whoa - I've just written next years account, complete with all the photoes.
I feel like one of those blokes up on Stanage Edge who'd just finished chipping out a batch of 30 x one ton millstones when the bloke came up and said they asked for milestones...
dhuhh....
Sssssh ... I like telling gullible kids that Stanage used to be the Flintstones' car factory.
Written up next year's already eh Mike? Only a nine timer certain of a free pass could do that. Did we meet? Did we get trollied? Did I have a good time? I suppose the only way for me to find out would be if you sent over the story and I....
Aaaaaaargh!
Post a Comment
<< Home