Insights from walking around England and Wales: #8 The real-life effects of virtual conversations are surprisingly important.

On a remote Welsh peninsula I learned how life can be shaped by the most random and seemingly disconnected events.

?To my delight, at the end of a December day’s walk on the remote Ll?n peninsula in Wales, in the winter’s late afternoon darkness, I found a pub on a remote beach. The bartender asked the name of my Airbnb host in the tiny village, and then said, cryptically, that things can change quickly. He suggested that I talk with my Airbnb host, “Jean”, saying that she supervised the pub’s kitchen. He added that she was really busy these days. Later that evening Jean regaled me with the tale.

?She said that on a typical summer weekend day, the pub might host thirty people for lunch – who had all trekked a quarter of a mile along the beach. Suddenly, one summer, the numbers trebled, and stayed high. Jean had to re-organize the kitchen. Apparently an online magazine had featured the pub as the third-best beach hostelry in the world! Now everyone wanted to visit. Laughing, Jean described the phone call the pub’s owner made to the magazine editor:

?“Hi, I’m calling to thank you for featuring us. You trebled our business.”

“Great. Why do people like your pub so much?”

“Well, what did your scouts say after they visited us?” asked the publican.

“Scouts? We didn’t send anyone to your pub. It’s too far away, to be honest. Too difficult to get to, all that walking along the beach. But the reviews were positive, so we put you in the ratings.”

Without any verification, a “third-best in the world” online rating had changed the pub’s fortunes completely.

I marveled at how reality on the ground had been changed by an almost random decision by an online magazine editor. I knew that there was an insight here for me, but wasn’t sure how to create a conversation about a walk. Maybe I should have contacted a walking magazine and suggested they ranked people walking around the UK coast.

?In 2018-19 I walked 4,300 miles around the coast of England and Wales. To raise awareness that cervical cancer can be eliminated in a generation. I share insights every Thursday. See my book From Grief to Love: Walking Around England and Wales for more about the inspiring people I met.

A longer version of this post can be found here.