Hello Guides,
I host an all day walk twice a year through my city. I really mean all day, 8am to 8 pm. I do it in the spring and fall when the weather is usually decent and invite anyone who might have an interest.
The truth is though, that it can be done in almost any city. I personally have done the Full Cleveland in Reykjavik, Glasgow, Chicago, New York, Toronto, and even Cancun. I’m not a professional guide btw, I just enjoy walking and having company on the walk. That’s why I only do it twice a year. With our last one, in total 60 people attended (most times less than 30).
So here is my format, feel free to use the @FullCleveland if you like, or make your own, @ FullYourCityHere.
In general, I plot out five major stops. Really, just two are the ones that matter, and the rest are filled in by those two choices. I share an itinerary of where the major stops are, and around what time we’ll be there, and allow anyone to join in when they like, or jump out at any time.
- Choose a mid morning specialized 1 hour tour.
- It should be something unique to your city. The more unique, the better. For yesterday’s event, I chose ICA, the Intermuseum Conservation Association. It is the only place in the US where they restore antique art in several specialties. In order to work there you have to earn a Double masters degree, in both Fine Art and Chemistry. Only 15 people work there, but they are all absolutely amazing. So the size of the institution is not important, just that they are doing interesting things. In your city, there are amazing people doing totally cool things, you just have to find them.
- Choose a mid afternoon tour, within 3-5 miles of the mid morning tour.
- Again, this one should be just as amazing as the first one, but it could be in a totally different vein. In this case I chose Zubal Antiquarian Books, one of really two places in the US who specialize in rare antique books. They only sell online, so their warehouse is not open to the public. But it is 400,000 square feet of books, in an old building where the lights have to be turned on in each section, and a place next door where they bought a former Twinkie factory to hold books, and when they closed the factory, they left Twinkie stuff in the pipes! (I’m sure it still sits there, as fresh as the day it was made) This is another place with few employees, but walking through is like a trip through the library in the Game of Thrones. It is absolutely fascinating. And it happens to be in Cleveland.
- So that is the hard part, two interesting places within 3-5 miles of each other.
- The next step is finding a lunch place in between. It should be someplace that has an extra room you can schedule that will hold the amount of people you are bringing. You need to avoid walking into a busy restaurant at a busy time with 20 people. Again, critical that it be a local place, not a chain. It should have good ratings and a story to tell. I chose Le Petit Triangle Cafe, an authentic French restaurant, which we sold tickets for since they needed to prepare in advance.
- Now you need a beginning and an end point. It could be the same place if your plans allow it, or it could be different places that are accessible to each other by public transportation.
- The spots should be close to good breakfast/good coffee, and the end should be something iconic to your city. I also inform those places that a group will be stopping by, but the end one usually is a fraction of the people who start out. Not everyone can do the 12-15 mile walk, nor should this be a death march.
In those twelve hours, yourself and your guests will likely become the most knowledgeable people about your city that exist. Because walking matters.
My plan tends to be about 8 miles start to finish, but with zig zagging around we usually cover around 14 miles in a day. I know it sounds like a lot, but in general, a healthy person can cover a mile in about 20 minutes at a leisurely walking pace. So divided by hour, you get about 20 minutes of walking and 40 minutes of touring, resting, playing around and drinking or eating.
We fill in tons of things in between, at least one great coffee place/bakery, and at least one dive bar, and at least one shop where you can buy things made locally, a bit of nature. We really have about 20+ stops in the day, but the little ones are just fun in between things that tend to also be amazing just because you are walking.
Oh and you can eat anything you want that day! You are burning it off, whatever it is!
So here is the format in a nutshell:
- Pick a midmorning 1 hour tour
- Pick a mid afternoon tour within 3-5 miles of the first place
- Find a lunch spot in between
- Find a beginning and end
- Write and share an itinerary, at least 2 months in advance.
I’ve been doing this on Facebook Events page for a few years, but I’m sure other platforms could have similar results. Since I’m in a smallish city, I’m pretty much the only one doing anything like this. But I really haven’t run into anyone else doing this anywhere. But it is a blast! And healthy and fun!
Feel free to comment or take a look at our The Full Cleveland FB page, or our recent event page The Full Cleveland Circle Route from 4/21/18. About 70% of the attendees were from Facebook, 25% non-internet, 5% other platforms.
Cheers