The small hand is on the backpack, the big hand is on the sleeping bag, and by my reckoning that makes it a quarter to Adventure O’ Clock. Now that the groundwork’s been laid, it’s time to get on down to the nitty gritty. If you’ve no idea what in the name of Shackleton this post is about, you can start at the very beginning (a very good place to
start) by reading the original post here.

HOW IT WORKS (a recap)

Not that you’ll have forgotten, but I know that there’s a lot going on in your life. And although the (non)plan for this journey (sort of) makes sense in my head, I’d be a fool to assume that the same were true for everyone. So. Just so we’re clear… Every day or two I’ll post three options on Facebook and Twitter. They won’t always be about direction, I’m sure I’ll find a million and one decisions to share along the way, but here’s an example using direction:

Facebook

Voting via the Facebook page will be decided according to the number of comments. An example post would be:

“I’ve just arrived in Calais! Lardy dah. Which way now team? This vote closes at 8.30am on February 20th.”

  • Left – along the coast towards Dunkirk
  • Right – Into the national Park and towards Bologne-Sur-Mer 
  • Straight on – to St Omer

Then you’ll all go bananas and tell me where to go (I hope).

Twitter

Voting on Twitter will happen via a poll – there’ll be three short options to choose from.

The option that receives the most number of votes / comments / poll choices across both Facebook and Twitter is the winner. Simples.

Twitter vote

FINGERS ON BUZZERS

Saturday Feb 13th: I’ll post the first option on Social Media.

Tuesday Feb 16th: Voting closes at 8am. Twitter votes and Facebook comments are counted by our independent adjudicator (I don’t really have one of those, but I like the sounds of it) and I begin walking at 9am.

March 13th: Wherever I am, whatever I’m doing – I must make my way home in order to make it onto the stage at Night of Adventure on March 15th.

TRACKING

The lovely gang at Zero Six Zero have only gone and made me a bespoke map again. I’m smiling in it and EVERYTHING. I’ve now added a ‘Where’s Anna?’ tab to the main navigation bar on my website.

You can also always locate me using this link: http://z6z.co/beyond_my_back_gate

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SCHOOLS

I’m pretty stoked to have 5 schools on board, with the kids following the adventure and firing me questions as we go. The schools are spread out across the world, which makes it doubly-triply-exciting. Who knew Geography could be so fun?! Every now and then the kids will get to make a decision instead of the general public, I’ll let you know when that’s happening.

If you’re a teacher yourself and want to get your pint sized adventurers involved, you can download the briefing pack for the adventure here:Beyond My Back Gate. Info for schools.

Follow along as much or as little as you like and email any questions they have to anna@annamcnuff.com.

DIY (Do it yourself)

This adventure is much about you lot as it is me. Without you, my precious and loyal adventure army, I’m just a chick with a backpack wandering around on the continent, sleeping in ditches. Although that alone would make my mother proud, I thought it’d be nice to share a few suggestions on how you could replicate the non-planned, flying by the seat of your pants approach over a few hours, a day or a weekend. 

  • Consequences: Remember the game consequences? Where you wrote down an event / meeting place / cryptic word on a piece of paper and passed it on to the person next to you? That works for adventures too. Write down 10 very vague instructions on a piece of paper which can be interpreted in most environments. Set out for a day of adventuring and every 30 minutes, open up a new instruction. Ideas for instructions include:
    • Head to the nearest town beginning with ‘M’
    • Call your Mum and ask her whether you should go straight on or turn left
    • Stop, find a cafe and have some nosh
  • The big flipper: Go out for a 2 hour walk and flip a coin at every junction to decide left or right. This was tried and tested last month. It resulted in the pair of us walking in a big circle, but ending up with our faces in a slice of banoffee pie at the end. Winning.
  • Best finger first: This is an often used firm favourite of mine.
    • Get a map out of your local area. Or get one up on a computer screen.
    • Clean your right index finger thoroughly.
    • Find a suitable Eye-mask (see below) to cover your eyes.
    • Take a deep breath and put your finger on the the map. Remove said eye-mask.
    • GO THERE!

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AND LASTLY 

All that remains to be said is that honestly, I’m rather nervous. There is a large part of me that would quite like to curl up in a ball and pretend I hadn’t gone and told everyone that I was going to do this. Because quite frankly my normal life is simply lovely. It’s a life that I cling to like a snuggly blanket because I wake up each morning with a fair idea of how the day will pan out. I know where my favourite coffee shop is. How long it takes to get to Victoria on the tube. I know where I’ll sleep at night and that I won’t have to be forced to use awkward sign language and smiles to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t speak my language. But that’s precisely the point.  That back gate of mine might as well be the edge of my comfort zone. And I know that I’m going to learn a whole lot more by walking out of it, than I am by sitting here and wondering ‘what if.’

So, Until next time homies. Here we go (again)….!

McNuff out xx