You have to walk the walk.

Yesterday I braved ice and snow and stepped out in Nether Stowey, which is the beginning of The Coleridge Way, and it is kind of long over due as tomorrow I am working with Nether Stowey school and shall be word harvesting along this stretch of the path.

Watery Lane, so called as a little way up it becomes a stream.

I have already worked with Dunster and Porlock creating some fabulous poetry over the last couple of weeks, but now it's Nether Stowey's turn, and being at the foot of the trail it really is a key community. This project in some ways has been quite simple, work with local schools along and around the Coleridge Way route, and create poetry inspired by landscape and place in a similar manner to Coleridge and Wordsworth. 

Walkers go left here and Horse's right,
Horse's actually travel along the stream bed
for a few hundred yards or so.

But this didn't feel enough for me so I added a twist. If I turned the poetry into QR codes and re install them along the route, then when walkers and families find them they could scan and reveal the poetry created in situ. Plus the QR codes can be printed on materials sympathetic to the location, almost camouflaged. (More about this in another post)

So yesterday was a mix of jobs, firstly to check the route for tomorrows walk with Stowey school, no trees blocking the path or dangerous obstacles (you never know!) But I was also scouting out finger posts and way markers to see if I can install QR codes on them. But what is a QR code? This is one, written by Dunster school last week, scan with your smart phone right off the screen, (scan apps are free and they don't need wifi or 3G to work).

In the original concept, going into schools seemed a simple and easy exercise, but as I figured out the practicalities of delivering this myself, I came to the glaring realisation that I was way short on teaching skills for the ages of pupils involved. So by a chance meeting, in stepped Jenny Mash, a Teacher, Photographer, Jeweller and Artist in her own right, she agreed to work with me, structure the days appropriately, and lead the sessions. And although I gave her a few headaches along the way (sorry Jenny) so far the sessions have gone really well, I have a really nice cache of poetry already made up into QR codes, and still one final school to go. 

Nether Stowey Castle (remains of)
on the tor above the village.

So wish me and Jenny well with Nether Stowey school tomorrow, we will be out braving the icy blasts and harvesting words appropriately, up Watery Lane, and perhaps even on the ruined castle tor above the village.

But I shall finish on these words written last week at Dunkery in wind, cold, fog, rain etc (we had it all!) with Porlock St Dubricius's School.

Dawdling coldly on the stony path,
the smell of the gorse bush,
pitter patter,
rain hush,
rain hush.