Wow. Geology really does rock!
A lot has happened since our first geology walk back in June. The Geopark were looking for organisations to run events as part of a small post-lockdown mini Geopark Festival. It was a bit last-minute but we cobbled two events together for that week: an evening geology walk at Babbacombe, and an open ‘Meet A Geologist’ session at Torre Abbey. These being early days for Taleblazers, we didn’t have much reach and responses were slow. We nearly cancelled the geowalk a couple of days before because we only had a couple of bookings, but I remembered some advice from somewhere that when starting a new business you should never cancel anything and we went ahead with an audience of half a dozen hardy enthusiasts. I was really nervous but stumbled through my explanations, we had a pint afterwards and decided that everyone seemed pretty happy so we should probably do another.
A couple of days later, I seemed to be facing a quiet day at Torre Abbey before my two sons, on half term from school, intervened and politely charmed in 100 people to look at my collection of rocks and maps on the open day. It wasn’t the last time I would glad of other people spreading the word on our behalf. Our next walk was planned for a few weeks later at Goodrington, and word was starting to spread. My amazing first group of walkers were busy on social media, telling people how much they’d enjoyed it, inviting friends, telling people on websites I’d never heard of about the next walk. It sold out.
We were up and running. From then on, much to my astonishment, every walk sold out. Together we got our eyes in peering at the fossils at Hopes Nose, slid on our bums down the precipitous little slope at Triangle Point, puzzled over the Neptunian dykes at Shoalstone, and I loved every minute. In July I nervously gave a presentation to the English Riviera UNESCO Global Geopark Management Group, and was thrilled when we were accepted as Associate Partners at the end of the meeting. The walks continued and seemed to sell out quicker every time. We finished on a high, returning to Goodrington on a super-low tide to take in the unconformities and mysterious burrows around the intertidal headlands. It was just brilliant. Geology to me is endlessly fascinating: an eternal record of past environments and landscapes, the drama of volcanic eruptions and the slow violence of mountain-building, a window into a past so distant and different our minds can barely comprehend the scale of it all. I hope I managed to get some of this across over the weeks of our walks.
So thank you to everyone who took a punt and came out to find out what it was all about. I hope you all learned something new about our amazing Geopark and the geology found here, perhaps gained a little insight into why it is internationally important, maybe even gained enough knowledge to share a bit of the love with your friends and family. And thank you in particular to those first six people who did so much to spread the word and perhaps even believed in me a little bit more than I did.
The walks are now finished for the season, those long sunny evenings on the coast seeming so far away now, the coast altogether more blustery and less hospitable. We’ll pick them up again as soon as the clocks go forward, but in the meantime there is our winter course where we’ll be learning about the geology of the Geopark in the warm at Torre Abbey. I’d love to see you there.