May was fantastic as we were able to meet outside - albeit with limited numbers and I was able to begin my scheduled tours.  Prices have been raised to a more economic level. Last year, with the launch of the business I had deliberately kept them low knowing I would never make money but the aim was to test the tours and if you price too high at first and don't get bookings you always wonder if that was the reason. 

I have had leaflets printed with the guided tour on one side and the self-guided GPS-linked commentary tour on the reverse. The Tourist Information Centre in Conwy have been very helpful and are selling the self-guided tours as well as tickets for the guided tours.  The castle staff were also grateful for the leaflets as, when visitors find they should have pre-booked Conwy castle tickets  they ask what else they can do around town. As usual, local businesses have been very helpful as regards distributing leaflets. It is a critical part of my plan to make sure I direct clients towards our marvellous independent Conwy shops.

I continue to be nosey chatting to people around the town expanding my local knowledge.  For instance, yesterday I found a lovely man down on the quayside and learned all about the Celtic Longboats four-person  plus cox crew used for racing and also a fisherman who kindly told me what each type of pot was for from Whelks to prawns to lobsters.

April comes and we are given a timetable for unlocking and reopening and, by the end of the month, we will be able to leave Wales and I can visit my 90 year old mother and those living in England will be able to come here so I'll be able to see my son again.  However, in the meantime how to fill my time?

I continue to teach and arrange online assessments for my wonderful Blue Badge linguist guide colleagues on the course to enable them to guide in Wales seeing things through Welsh eyes.  I also try to stop my Green Badge students getting frustrated as the only thing between them and the qualification is the Coach Guiding module and assessment which cannot be done online or socially distanced.

 With my colleagues in Wales Best Guides we launch a social enterprise arm to generate some income both for the association and for guides and win a contract from Visit Wales to help produce factsheets for the travel trade. This is welcome, both for the income boost and for  a chance to update our knowledge on the tourism product in Wales as we root out new experiences and produce suggested tours and factual on-the-ground knowledge for use by overseas and home tour operators sending clients to Wales.

My main development for my own business is work on a downloadable GPS linked audio commentary tour. The vehicle for this is the very professional voicemap platform who gave me lots of help both in timing - as the commentary has to be the right length for a leisurely stroll around the town without the listener having to stand still for too long, give good location information for what the guide is talking about and of course be of a certain quality both of sound and for the content.  This tour is now launched and available ​https://voicemap.me/tour/conwy .
I am planning to add details to my posters and leaflets and enable the tours to be sold through the Tourist Information and at the hotels and accommodation when they are allowed to reopen.  
Also, we Welsh Guides are a really co-operative bunch so I sought to share my discoveries and the folk from Voicemap ran a session in our digital Upskilling course for Wales Tourist Guides.