​Lots of tourist guides have used the lockdown to create virtual tours but, as you know, I like to be out and about so had ignored all the training for this and concentrated on getting my real live tours off the ground.
However, during the second lockdown I received a call from a Midlands-based Society filling their speakers diary for the Winter and they offered a good rate for a talk and virtual tour. I decided to see this as a potential new source of demand.

I decided it was time to expand my horizons further.  There are so many platforms and formats for sharing tours virtually.  I knew one of my friends was suffering Covid issues with her wedding video business so https://www.kimritterfilms.co.uk had time to come and film some clips of me around town which I can mix and match for several types of jobs. However, that involved more skills and training via free webinars run by VIsit Britain and other partners. However, once I can edit I can mix and match clips for broadcast and for talks. 
Another skill involves keeping your temper when registering with behemoths such as Amazon Explore - platforms which are designed to work with say, identity proving documents from around the world and that kept rejecting my ID.!

I have discovered that you can have pre-recorded video tours on Youtube or Vimeo broadcast live at a set time accessed behind a paywall of, say Eventbrite, or you can have tailor-made tours provided on a private basis  through organisations such as Amazon Explorer, ToursbyLocals.com or AirBandB experiences etc.  I am learning movie making and registering with these various platforms. Watch for links in later chapters of this blog. None are yet ready to be published.
There are also audio tours linked to gps locations which can be downloaded from sites such as the excellent www.voicemap.com which I am working on now

I was still successfully running tours throughout September. Even after the children had returned to school and families were replaced by couples on short breaks.  However, a second wave of Covid loomed on the horizon and Conwy County was closed to visitors.  "O Well", I thought "There are still plenty of local residents up for listening to a good story", so I began to work on Ghost Tours building up to Halloween.

I started desk research on stories of  local hauntings and there was a wealth of quality material. A tour began to take shape. I also put out feelers on the community Facebook pages to find out if the demand was for a child-friendly tour or a scarier adult-focused one.  The response was amazing. All the lockdown restraints of events being cancelled were beginning to bubble up. Folk volunteered to dress up as ghosts to haunt the town towers etc. In fact, the response was so positive, it was pretty obvious that I wouldn't be able to ensure social distancing in the dark and could not ensure Covid security. Once again I had to rethink.

Other communities were doing pumpkin hunts etc.  for families to go round as individuals so I decided to turn my tour into a self-guided one and provide a downloadable treasure hunt free of charge on this website.  
I visited the local businesses who were incredibly supportive and enthusiastically agreed to put clues in their windows from cats in the cheese shop to bats in the toy shop; a carved swede in the flower shop and skeletons dressed as the resident ghosts in a pub, the Post Office and the Knight Shop. It was a fantastic opportunity to get to know local businesses and be known in the community even if I was going to make no money.

I began writing the worksheet and involved myself in more lockdown self-education learning to master a computer drawing programme for the illustrations. Then another blow - the Welsh Government announced a firebreak two week total lockdown.   I would have to cease work on even the free self-guided treasure hunt since it was neither of the permitted reasons for leaving home - work or exercise.

Excitement as the local lockdown ended as the school holidays started. The caravan parks and self-catering properties reopened and the town began to fill up - very strange after roaming the empty streets to see families with Liverpool accents crabbing on the quayside. The town walls and castle were still closed and the tiny nature of Conwy's specialised food  shops precluded social distancing. So the only tour I was able to operate was The Trail with Tales from the Lady of Wales. 

I had cycled around the local caravan parks distributing posters but many of them had their communal areas closed still. Local shops were very helpful in displaying the material and visiting them give me a chance to meet and chat with locals.  
I had publicised the meeting point to be outside the local Tourist Information Centre where there was shelter and seats for those waiting. However, these had been closed off due to the crisis and, as the building was shared with the Post Office and social distancing queueing was in operation, I agreed to have my meeting point over the road.The tours started and, I had a chance to review how things were different from my original thoughts.
Considering we were in international lockdown, I was surprised that so many clients - well over half -were from overseas when I expected mostly Brits. On chatting to them I discovered most were working in Britain and usually spent their leave visiting family abroad and, when this became not possible, decided to explore more of the UK instead.
I was very lucky that two of the these early bookers were Ashley and Rotem from ​https://www.myisraelphotos.com​  who kindly let me use their very professional photographs.
Another thing I discovered was that people had never used and did not understand the receiver machines. They thought that they were for pre-recorded commentary or translations but nearly all found them useful allowing for freedom to spread out or find a shady or dry space. Once the town walls opened the sets particularly came into their own.

 Other things I discovered working with real live clients, was the need for  a quiz to motivate the younger audience. I prepared a multi-activity one that allowed them to run around to find things where it was safe to do so but to focus on what I was saying in areas with traffic or other hazards.
Feedback was really good including those all important reviews. from AirBandB experiences, and Tripadvisor reviews to date all have all been 5 star!

One of the differences between a professional and amateur guide is the mindset of the tour in both delivery and creation.  An amateur guide will expand their personal interests into a tour and indeed there is a lot to be said for that as clients love a passion but, here is the rub, the guide must always be aware of the clients' needs and interests and moderate the structure and depth of the route, stops and commentary to take account of this.  To a  professional guide the tour is a product. That may sound derogatory but not at all!  A good product puts quality, added value and customer needs first.

Clients come to a guide and trust a) the facts are correct and b) they would be imparted in a varied and entertaining manner but there would be some sort of sorting of relevance towards understanding the town. Of course this must not be just learned by rôte but sorted in one's internal memory file to mix and match and slotted in the narrative  according to the clients`' leanings. The guide also has a role of host - i.e. to facilitate introductions to specialists or characters in a town so getting to know locals - especially experts and characters is pivotal. 

Next the fun bit - the research! Obviously, being a resident with an interest in history and having studied for my qualification and taken tours around town over the preceding decades, I had a background knowledge. However, to give added value I needed to drill down deeper and find those stories that expanded understanding of the town and were entertaining.  I asked for tales of local characters on the community Facebook page, chatted to locals and wandered around the graveyards.  I also undertook desk research and found the excellent https://historypoints.org really useful. 

My background long long ago (30 years!) was in marketing but so much has changed.  When I worked in advertising Fleet Street still held the newspapers and we used Letraset for setting the ads and red star parcels to get proofs to clients via the railways! Wow like engraved printing blocks in museums.
However, the basic rules remain unchanged. Who are your clients? Where will they be most likely to hear about you? What is the most appealing quality of your product? What is your budget - time and money? Where are customers going to buy it?

 Who were my clients? It was obvious for walking tours not less than half a day, folk were not going to travel far so the market would be locals looking for things to do and holiday makers staying in local self-catering accommodation since hotels were not yet opening. Couples would enjoy the food tours with pointers about where to eat that evening and families would be looking for a mixture of learning about history but tempting the teenagers along with promises of ghost tales.

a My first expenditure on physical marketing was some business cards as I went around the food shops and local businesses telling them what I planned. I knew I wanted an A board or banner where the tours started and I also decided to print some posters for the caravan parks where families from the North West had holiday lodges. The Welsh Lady would be the attention grabber and selfies were not good enough - time to rope in that family. We were still only allowed to meet one household outdoors and social distancing had to be maintained so my daughter and son-in-law agreed to be a model client and photographer at the low price of fish and chips on the quay! I used www.canva.com for producing the artwork for the A board and posters and the next stage is cycling to the caravan parks for distribution.

During the time of Covid health of myself and my clients could only be assured by implementing several measures. Some  are fairly easy such as cleanliness and sanitising. As the tours I am running are in the open air with room for social distancing, I opted not to use a mask unless clients requested. Not only would it ruin the traditional costume effect but would impede lip reading and communication of my expressions.
However, the most important measure maintaining social distancing- brings extra challenges. I teach tour guides and I am always stressing the fact that in the days of apps and recordings we have to use the advantage of being real people - show our personality, read our audience's mood, use eye contact and body language. This gets more difficult the further away our clients are - as does another important role of a guide keeping clients both safe, away from traffic etc. and comfortable out of sun, rain wind whilst also doing our best to not disturb businesses and other members of the public.

My first decision was to decide between apps on phones or self-sufficient machines.  There are quite a few apps that work between the guide's phone and the clients. Some use blue tooth, some data and some wi-fi - locally if available or via the guide carrying a portable router.  There are disadvantages and advantages in all of them. Overseas clients would find data expensive and in parts of Wales you cannot even get 3G. The apps are evolving quickly with add-on such as "find me" if clients get lost or the ability to download images such as "what this ruin looked like"  However the main disadvantage I could see was the time and complications for clients who would have to download an app. My tours are short generally less than two hours and I didn't want a large portion of that time to be wasted setting up the technology.  Also,   my primary reason for using them being constant social distancing and the variety of ages and operating systems on clients' phones meant that I wouldn't be able to just say "give me your phone and I'll sort it" So I decided to purchase "play and go" hardware.  
The main disadvantage of this - for me - was cost and thereafter maintaintance. I then had a techie friend look at specifications and bit the bullet, swallowing the cost of several hundred pounds and ordering a set from China.They took two months to arrive.Testing will be awkward as again, i am only allowed to meet one other household. How will it go? I'll let you know!

Once the idea of Conwy Tours had formed I decided to make tailoring an authentic costume my lockdown craft project. I excitedly began researching the internet and was relieved to see from historic postcards etc. that there was quite a range of acceptable Welsh lady costumes though there were several essential items. The tall black hat obviously (which I would not even attempt to make!) and a bedgown. Very confusing since a bedgown was worn anywhere but in bed! It is a cross between a jacket and a dress. I would also need a fitchu (muslin neck scarf) and a mob cap
On turning to my old friend the internet I found a fantastic pattern for a late 18th century redicote which is a type of bedgown at www.blacksnailpatterns.com.
I was very impressed with the instructions 

I was in lockdown so one problem was fitting a dress to myself so I decided to invest in a dressmaker's dummy which I named Annie. She was incredibly useful.  I also bit the bullet expenditure wise by ordered some expensive lightweight mohair suiting.  I thought if it was worth doing it was worth doing properly and also I wanted the costume to be comfortable to wear in the Summer. Part of the cost was recouped by getting the checked cotton for the petticoat an the muslin for the fitchu (the scarf that preserves one's modesty and warmth) and cap very cheap.

The pattern contained some strange items which were essential to the authentic look of the costume. The first was a padded split bum - yes exactly what it said to get that late Georgian bustle effect. The second was a set of pockets - like Lucy Lockett lost. These tie under the petticoat and are accessed by splits in it.

I also had to experiment with making a mob cap to go under the tall hat. I tried with a couple of different diameter circles sewing them together and then two rows of stitching to insert elastic - don't know what they used in the 18th century - probably smocking but I had already cheated by using an electric machine. You can only take authenticity so far!

The lined redicote was quite complicated to sew and I think every piece got sewn on upside down or back to front and had to be unpicked and resewn at one time or another.  I was so glad I made a toile or rough from old tablecloths first.  I then discovered the pattern was designed to be worn over stays and was cut with at least an inch off the waist. That was not going to make for comfortable workwear so I made Annie my size and recut the bodice. I had to insert boning - again not authentic - no whales were hurt during the making of this garment! I also had to do a lot of maths to ensure the back gathers were accurate and regularly spaced around the tailed back.

The petticoat was relatively straightforward apart from the maths to get the pleating so that it fitted the waistband - In fact it is a little big so I added some hooks to adjust. The hemline threw me at first then I realised of course it had to go over that big bustle and still be straight at the bottom. Phew - my work uniform was ready - all except the tall hat which I bought from a wedding outfitters. A pair of black boots - or slippers for hot weather completes the show.

 I have been a tour guide for 20 years and for the last few years had been happily touring England and Wales enjoying showing  American groups the delights of the British countryside and heritage.
I enjoy travelling and through the winter have been exploring the world. I was on an extended trip through Africa when I heard of the increasing problems Covid was causing in the travel industry .
Shortly after getting home, like everyone else, I found myself in lockdown with my inbox constantly pinging with job cancellations including several into the next year - 2021.  Once I'd sorted those long-intended home jobs and got some chickens for company, I began to wonder what I could do to with the hours - increasingly looking like months - stuck at home when I was used to roaming the country with enthusiastic holiday makers solving their problems as a tour manager and entertaining them with an interpretive commentary.
I have always believed in dividing my time to ensure I get a good mix of physical activity, brain exercise, socialising, creativity and having a goal to work towards.  I was listening to a business blog and heard a comment about wise companies spending in a recession and saving in a boom.