Leeds - Liverpool

A day yesterday cycling along the Aire valley towpath for MISSION EXPLORE.
The aim is to create another badge for cycling similar to the YORK CYCLE EXPLORER badge which went up on the website recently.
This time it's based on LEEDS, which seems to have less opportunity for greenspace than  York based on this exploration...

Today it was along the TRANS-PENNINE TRAIL, but rain has currently stopped play, so blogging this from the cafe of the ROYAL ARMOURIES.


Interestingly the BARRACUDA content filter that is used for the public wifi wouldn't let me have access to Mission Explore because it comes under the category of 'game playing', which is evil right ?

And I didn't go all the way from Leeds to Liverpool by the way, although my bottom thinks we did....

Design a DREAM STREET with Sustrans

Going to be spending some time later in the year working on a project involving SUSTRANS as part of the growing range of work that we are doing on MISSION EXPLORE with the Geography Collective.

SUSTRANS have announced their DREAM STREET competition.
A new competition to design a DREAM STREET....

Check out the rules and get designing.
Connects well with work looking at the local area, sustainable transport etc.

Sustrans: National Cycle Network App

Mission:Explore is going to be working more closely with the SUSTRANS National Cycle network in the near future, following the GeoVation success last month.
Watch out for the development of our new project...

You can now download a free iPhone app which provides a range of information, mapping and guidance across the whole National Cycle Network....
There is a range of mapping including OS and Open Streetmap

Maps can also be viewed according to your location and then stored for viewing offline, which is a useful feature...
Worth installing !

On your bike..

Image from HERE - with thanks....
Some new resources for Primary colleagues have just been added onto the GA website.

The resources are called MAP IT, BIKE IT, WALK IT, and have been developed by a Sheffield SUSTRANS group in association with the GA.

Here's a brief description of the project.

The project was piloted in Sheffield in 2010. The lesson plans and resources included in this section will help you to adopt and adapt this project for your own school.

The school catchment area is something that occupies a large part of a young person's personal geography. It contains their own home, the homes of their friends, shops and services that they use, spaces that they play in, clubs that they may be part of and of course the school that they go to. Then there are the places that connect all these together, spaces that may be just passed through or experienced in many different ways.

Because of this familiarity, not to mention the practical reasons, the area around your school is a great place to get outside and explore students' personal and emotional geographies. Whenever possible let the work be student-led, as this will make it more informative and enjoyable for everyone.

Why not check out the resources and see how you could make use of them with the students that you work with.