Cycling the Americas

I posted the other day about Mark Beaumont's new adventure, and you can find links to his blog and Twitter feed there.

Some more good news though is that Mark's former Geography teacher, Val Vannet, will be writing a parallel blog, looking at the geography of the places Mark visits on his journey from Anchorage to Ushuaia. You can follow the blog here and if you missed the blog that Val wrote as Mark cycled around the world then you can catch up with that one here.

The Blogging/Tagging Game

It seems that I have been tagged by Alan Parkinson (aka GeoBlogs) for a blogging "game". The idea is that I tell you, Geogtastic readers, seven things you didn't know about me! So here goes...

1. I am left-handed... That is, I write with my left hand, which means that when I write on the board, it is with my left hand, although given the regular interjections in my lessons along the lines of "Why are you writing with your left hand, Miss?" that is not something that is widely known. I throw [badly] with my right hand though, and if I was forced to kick a ball I would probably do it with my right foot. I hold my knife and fork as though I were right-handed, but can't use a spoon in my right hand (much to the upset of my late great grandmother, who apparently used to take the spoon out of my left hand and force me to use my right.

2. I spent a year before university living in South Africa. I taught Biology, Physical Science, Speech & Drama, PE (!!) and Art (!!!) and was a houseparent looking after twelve 15-year old girls... (I was 18. It was good experience!) I seriously looked into staying in South Africa to do my degree - in Biology, not Geography... It turned out to be too expensive, which was probably for the best... I wonder what would have happened if I had stayed there?!

3. I played the clarinet, the saxophone and the piano when I was at school. I was never very good at the piano because I didn't like having short nails, but wasn't bad at the clarinet or saxophone... Not played either for a long time though, until last week.

4. I like filling in forms.... strange but true... I don't understand it either.

5. I caused myself a nasty injury trying to wash a tomato tin for recycling... Since then, despite the fact that I do recycle glass, paper and card wherever possible, and buy things with not much packaging, etc.), I don't always recycle tins. I think that better be my New Year's resolution...

6. I like cooking and baking, and like to think that I am not bad.... Ask Mr Rodgers or Mr Hoben about Malteser Cake.

7. Despite telling Alan Parkinson a couple of years ago that I couldn't understand his interest in what he referred to as "Cool Geography", I seem to have developed a strange fascination with ice, snow, cold places... Antarctica, Norway (far enough north to see the Northern Lights), Svalbard and South Georgia (blame the penguin webcam) are at the top of my "To Visit" list, together with Japan, Madagascar, New Zealand, the Grand Canyon, and lots of other places...

ps Several other people who have completed this "activity" have added photographs to illustrate their seven facts. With the laptop issues I have had of late, I can't easily lay my hands on relevant pictures, but will try to add some over the next few days.

I am supposed to "tag" seven other people to continue this blog game... Several of the people I would have tagged have already been done, so I will add:

Mrs Magee - Histatic
Mrs Kambalu - Adventures in T&L (amongst others)
Val Vannet - GMPaY
Anna Simpson - Natural Wonders
Ayrshire Geography
Mr M - Hulme Geog Blog

The Man Who Cycled The World...

You might well remember me posting about Mark Beaumont's record-breaking round-the-world cycle... 18,000 miles in 194 days! Well, as well reading Val's epic blog which explored the geography of Mark's journey, you can now see the BBC documentaries - Monday 18th-Thursday 21st August, BBC1, 10.35pm.

You might also have seen a new Orange advert in the past week or so - featuring Mark... If you haven't, check it out here together with a short documentary about Mark and his journey.

And if you are a new Geogtastic visitor and don't know what I'm talking about, click on Mark Beaumont at the bottom of this post, or check out Mark's website.

Around the world in 195 days! On a bike!

Back in August, I posted about Mark Beaumont - former pupil of a geography teacher friend - who was just setting out on his round-the-world cycle...

Well, today - just 195 days later - Mark has arrived back in Paris, smashing the previous record of 276 days!!

His former geography teacher, Val Vannet, has been blogging about the geography of Mark's journey - http://www.geobloggingwithmark.blogspot.com/... check it out now if you haven't already been following the journey!

BBC News coverage of Mark reaching the finish line here...

A White Christmas?

Just spotted this great site on Val Vannet's blog... Click on the picture to create your own snowflake!

Geo Blogging with Mark

I've posted a few times about Mark Beaumont and his round-the-world cycle challenge, and I've also mentioned Val Vannet's excellent blog... Val is Mark's former Geography teacher, and is writing a really interesting summary of Mark's journey with extra geography for free! She's just started a new blog http://www.geobloggingwithmark.blogspot.com/ - a prize for the first SHS person to tell me the capital city of the country where Mark is at the moment!!

Don't forget, you can also follow Mark's progress, and read his "diary" on the World Cycle website...

Geography: My Place and Yours

I've mentioned Val Vannet's excellent blog before, but it's particularly good at the moment, because she is following the journey of her former pupil, Mark Beaumont, as he cycles round the world.

You can track Mark's journey yourself, read his diary, etc. at the Artemis World Cycle website, but if you have a look at Val's version, you get the geography of the places Mark's travelling through as well!

On the way!!

I posted the other day about Mark Beaumont setting off on his 18000 mile cycle trip around the world... Well, Mark set off this morning from the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysees, and is on his way...

You can follow Mark's progess on the website here, or on the BBC site that is tracking his journey...

Good luck Mark!

18000 miles...

That is how far Mark Beaumont will be cycling on his round the world trip which starts on Sunday morning from the Champs Elysees in Paris.

Mark - who is a former pupil of a geography teacher friend Val Vannet, at the High School of Dundee - plans to cycle 18000 miles through 20 different countries, in an attempt to claim the record for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle.

The current record is 276 days, 19 hours and 15 minutes; Mark hopes to complete his journey in 210 days, returning to Paris in February next year.

You can find out more about Mark's journey at http://www.artemisworldcycle.com/ and follow his progress on the BBC Online Documentary.

Turn to 30!

Val Vannet has found this excellent image... Click on the picture to find out what it's advertising, and find out why you should "turn to 30"!!

Year 13!!

An interesting Chinese proverb from Scottish geography teacher friend Val Vannet on her Higher Geog Blog...

And loads of useful stuff for Year 13, both for A2, and for those of you who are resitting AS modules...

Weather Pixie!

I've just spotted the fantastic little "Weather Pixie" on Val Vannet's blog (thanks Val!) and thought Geogtastic ought to have one too... Ours is a Weather Geisha, and her outfit will change as the weather at East Midlands Airport changes (apparently!).

At the moment, she's telling us that there are south/south-westerly winds, blowing at 6.2 metres per second, the temperature's 13oC.

Keep an eye on her and see what happens!!