The Dave & Judy Show...

Happy New Year Everyone. After the mad rush and media coverage at the start of 2007 I let the GrALE Quest take a back seat for a few months while we concentrated on the arrival of our second child, who has just arrived!

Not sure what 2008 will hold yet but I have an exciting new project in the pipeline and full details are set to be launched in the next few weeks.

In the meantime I have been doing the rounds talking about blogging and the GrALE Quest, tomorrow, 11th January 2008, I will back on the beeb. BBC Radio Lincolnshire that is! I will be on the Dave & Judy show in the morning at around 11.30am to have a quick chat them about blogging.

Dave & Judy have been writing a blog for the past week to see what it's all about, you can read it here and hear all about it on their show tomorrow between 10.00am-1.00pm.

News Just In...

I will be appearing on BBC Radio Five Live tonight on the Stephen Nolan show, assuming those damn prostitutes don't show up again in the news!

I should be on sometime between 11.00pm & 12.30pm so it will be late one! Listen in online if you can here.
And don't forget to tune into Radio 4 tomorrow to hear 'My Philosophy Of Life'... Details below.

Winning Awards & Radio 4...

The small BBC Radio 4 piece has been confirmed for tomorrow. It will appear on the Saturday Live programme between 9.00am-10.00am tomorrow morning. You can listen online here.

Other top news today, the GrALE Quest has won an award...of sorts! It has won the prestigious Scotsman Lucky White Heather Awards! You can read about it here.

Windy Days...

My god what a windy day, glad I wasn't driving the Camper today as I would of been blown over!

Pretty quiet few days on the GrALE Quest news front, a few stories popping up here and there.

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BBC Radio 4...

I recorded a slot at BBC Radio 4 today, hopefully to go out on this weeks 'Saturday Live' morning programme, it was good, I think! Although who knows what it will sound like when it goes out on air! If it even makes the grade! It was basically a piece for their 'My Philosophy Of Life' section of the show, so I'm pretty much talking about (surprise, surprise) 'My Philosophy' of life. Its obviously highly interesting, very deep and meaningful, but you will have to tune in on Saturday to hear what that is.

Clearly a face best suited for Radio!

Finally for today, I'm taking the camper to a few garages tomorrow to have it looked at and have the bits that need doing priced up. It seems to need some TLC on the clutch assembly. If you happen to be one of those nice garages I'm visiting over the next few days and you want to strike a deal on some FREE advertising and some FREE publicity don't be shy to offer your services at a discounted rate! I'm sure there is some deal we can come to!

Five News, The Nations Best...

New week, new experiences, new stories to tell. Well the same old story actually but in a slightly different way!

A great day so far today, this morning I appeared 'live' on BBC Radio Manchetser chatting with Eamonn O'Neal and Dianne Oxberry which was great fun, without a doubt the best show I've been on so far this week! Although as many of you know I was due to appear on another national radio station last night at 11.15pm but sadly, due to a couple of prostitutes*, I have been pushed back to sometime later in the week. Hopefully, if they still want me on the show. I was looking forward to that one, so fingers crossed, as always I will keep you posted.

Other massive GrALE Quest news today...I have just had an incredibly funny TV slot on the 11.30am National Five News and you can watch it here ! With a bit of luck it will be shown again on the 5.30pm news on Five.

I filmed this last weekend, it is, without a doubt the funniest thing I have done since starting the GrALE Quest. 33 takes to get 56 seconds of film! I have an spectacularly funny 'outakes' reel' that I'm trying to find the time to edit together and put on the site for you to laugh at!

*worth pointing out that I wasn't with prostitutes, that was another news story that I was dropped for!! Just wanted to clear that up!!

Wayodd!

It's been a busy few days, loads of story's of the GrALE Quest popping up all over the web. I'm now officially 'wayodd' news! As well as popping up in Vietnam and Sri Lanka!

Finally for this week I've been meaning to get a quick mention on the blog for the Million Dollar Animated Web Page. A great idea that Andrew Henderson of Trading Nothing is trying to get off the ground this year. If you get chance, check out his site, especially if you are looking for somewhere to advertise in the new year. This may just be the place for you, bound to get some heavy internet traffic over the coming months.

Gday Mate...

Well Gday indeed, I have just appeared live, via telephone, on Western Australian Radio Station 6PR chatting to Millsy & Kent. 6PR is based in Perth and is the Australian equivalent to Radio 1, so excellent world wide recognition for The GrALE Quest. I have absolutely no idea how they heard about the Quest but they contacted me yesterday and asked me to do a piece live on their show.

I'm amazed how the news of the GrALE Quest has spread worldwide and completely surprised every time someone contacts me saying where they have seen the story. Apparently the story has popped up today in...

iol in South Africa, read the article here

netscape in the USA, read the article here

also in the USA All Headline News , read the article here

and News Channel 5 , read the article here

I just can't believe how far a field the news is spreading, I'm really keen to see or hear about all the articles that turn up so if you come across one, where ever you are, please let me know or even better, email me a copy to email lincolngrale@hotmail.co.uk

Out Of Africa...

It seems the GrALE Quest Story is traveling the world faster than I can myself in the camper! As well as interest from down under I have today appeared in Cape Times, Cape Town's English morning newspaper.
In an article by Glenn Bownes Cape Times go on to say...

Man gets more than his bottle's worth ... swops beer for camper van

by Glenn Bownes
LONDON: A man has converted a bottle of beer into a camper van - in just five deals.
Pete Genders wanted the motor home so he could take his wife Verity on a second honeymoon. He set up a website offering a £2.69 beer and vowed to trade up until he had the van. Five months later Pete, 28, got the keys to a W-reg VW camper worth £1 500. He admitted: "I never expected to do so well." In his first deal, Pete swapped the beer for a day as a local newspaper editor. He exchanged that to become a co-host of a radio show. He swapped that for tickets for indie rock band The Zutons. According to the Mirror, Pete, of Lincoln, said: "One Zutons fan even asked if I fancied a night with his girlfriend." He eventually went on to own a £500 Citroen which he finally exchanged for the camper van.

Other 'Big' GrALE Quest News today... I have been invited on to a National Radio Station to do a Live show this weekend, don't want to say too much just yet until it's all confirmed, but a little clue is that it's a 'Live' Radio Station and it is definatly in my top '5' of all radio stations! Anyway, this is not defiantly confrimed as a goer yet but if and when I do get the confirmation (hopefully within the next day or two) I will post all the details so you can all listen in.

I have also been told I have made the 'Quirkies' page of ananova.com the home of breaking news! It's pretty much the same article as all the rest but in some way a little 'Quirkier' if you can imagine that!

Live On The BBC...

Well for all of you that didn't see my 'Live' satellite interview on the BBC News tonight, here it is! I'm actually really pleased with how it came out, I don't come across as too much of a fool!

You might have to turn your volume up the hear it though as for some reason the sound has come out low on the youtube upload.


Also I wanted to add a quick thank you to Tim Stewart, of Tim Stewart Press. He's a freelance reporter and the all round fantastic chap who wrote the GrALE Quest article that has been popping up in all the tabloids today. I know a lot people look at the site who are doing similar crazy 'boy projects' so here is Tim's email address if you feel you have completed a 'boy project' and want to give him a shout. tpsontour@yahoo.co.uk

Finally for today, and what a day... I have just had an email from Western Australia's Radio 6PR's Breakfast Show asking if I would be available for an interview on their show tomorrow, excellent, world news! I shall be emailing them back now and say 'Yes, of course!'

If you want to get in touch with me, maybe you want to run a story on the GrALE Quest or interview me for your country (you never know!) you can get me on the GrALE Mail - email lincolngrale@hotmail.co.uk

Here Comes The Mirrorman...

Here comes the mirrorman, says he's a people fan! Here comes the mirrorman... Whatever did happen to The Human League?
Anyway, the day keeps getting stranger and stranger, it would appear that I seem to appear in more than one national newspaper today, excellent! Not only did I appear on Page 22 of today's edition of the Daily Express a great article, see here but I also managed to get my ugly mug on page 16 of the Mirror and on their website here !

I didn't know about the mirrorman article, my lovely mother brought me a copy this afternoon when she came to see her granddaughter, 7 month old, Harriet. She had come to sit with Harry for 10 mins while I did a 'Live' link up with BBC News Presenter Peter Levy for BBC Look North, tonight, 6.30pm. However Harriet was having her afternoon nap and she slept through the whole interview!
Not only did she bring the Mirror article, but it seems I have finally reached my goal, of page 3 in a national red top tabloid. A tasteful full frontal shot of me though! This appeared in Scotland's Finest Tabloid, The Daily Record, notice the obvious mistake in their article (no, not the picture of Britney Spears) the fact that they have outed me as a 'Gay', set to travel the world, not in my campervan, but in my Camp Van! That's right, Camp Van! My big pink disco balled Camp Van! Fantastic, without a doubt the article of the day award goes to 'My Big Camp Van!'

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot, the GrALE Quest got a great write up in Metro today as well, the newspaper of the London Underground. To read the Underground review of the Trade Quest go here

Express Delivery...

Surprise news today in the form of my first full page spread in a national newspaper! Page 22 of today's edition of the Daily Express is sporting a super chessy picture of me holding the now infamous bottle of Lincoln Grale.

Yesterdays red top tabloids also gave the Trade Quest a mention, albeit a very very small mention! It was given a small slot in a side column of the News Of The World . So that's it now, I am officially world news! Or a complete wa*ker one of the two, its still out with the jury!

And finally a picture that we went to great efforts to have taken (you wouldn't believe it even if I told you, its too long and too complicated) but we finally got it taken so it deserves to be shown somewhere...

Happy Campers, Pete & Verity Genders...

Guardian Swapfest...

My first major newspaper mention today, well in a fashion, amazingly comes from the well respected Guardian in the form of a link direct to this site at the top of their 'Links We Like' section on the guardian.co.uk news website, excellent, and giving the Quest one of the best descriptions so far... 'Swapfest'
To check out my 'Swapfest' mention visit the Guardian news blog page here

What A Week...

Well, what can I say? What a fantastic week so far. Excellent piece in the local rag. with a super cheesey pic...

and a good little ' Swap History' chart break down, nice one...

And all round spectacular article from Matthew Pike at the Lincolnshire Echo. , cheers Matthew. I will post the full article on the GrALE Quest Photo Dairy , hosted by the good chaps at Flickr.
But the big news... some real interest in the story from some major tabloids, don't want to say too much yet but will keep you posted over the next few days. And also, best bit, 2 possible TV spots next week!! Exciting stuff!!

5 Months, 5 Trades, One Bottle Of Beer & VW Campervan! Fantastic...

Yes that's right in just under five months and only 5 trades I have managed to complete the Lincoln GrALE Trade Quest by swapping my bottle of Limited Edition 'Lincoln GrALE' Beer for a 1980 Red VW Devon Campervan,

I've gone from this...

One bottle of beer

To this...

The chance to be the Editor of a Newspaper

To This...

Co-hosting a Radio Show

To This...

x4 Tickets to see The Zutons in concert

To This...

A old J Reg Citroen ZX
To my end Target of...

A VW Campervan!!

It's been fantastic, a great 5 months. I never actually thought I would even get to end of the quest let alone so quickly and in just 5 trades. I put it all down to having such a great start to the quest and having so much support from everyone who got involved and ran with the story.

I basically started off here by offering a bottle of beer to trade up for anything of a higher value to get the ball rolling and I got a fantastic response right away. Over the past 5 months I've had some really good offers for trades and some really odd and bizarre offers, some of which have included
x2 Kylie Tickets
x4 Embrace Tickets
x3 Black 21" TV's
£200 Cash
x2 FCUK Parkers
A Raleigh Chopper
A night with a chaps Girlfriend
A Ford Mondeo, No Tax, No MOT
A day in the top Lincoln Based Band 'Barfly'
10 000 Christmas Candy Canes

Without a doubt some crazy oddball people out there!

My 5th and final trade has only come in over the past week, a guy contacted me through the website and told me about the camper, I jumped at the chance and jumped in the J Reg Citroen before he changed his mind about trading her and made the long Journey across and up the country to windy Newcastle. And when I say windy, I mean gale force 60mph side winds all the way there and back! Not to much of a worry on the way there as the Citroen was a very small hatchback and handled it very well, however the journey home was another story altogether!

The Camper was much bigger and more of it to blow about the roads, needless to say the crossing of the Tees Viaduct was particularlyy hair raising, but I got back safe and sound and then started to look over the camper.

She's not perfect, she needs some tender loving care but she runs and she has a full Devon Interior. I've always wanted a camper and this was a fantastic, fun and crazy way of getting one.

For full details of each trade and the whole Trade Quest Story please check out the following links

The Quest
The Journey Begins
1st Trade
2nd Trade
3rd Trade
4th Trade
5th Trade

So what'ss next you ask? Well, first thing is to get the camper sorted. Tidy her up a bit and make sure she is running spot on. Then I think we will go on a few practice camping runs up to Robin Hoods Bay and Whitby, then if she fairs well we will take some time out this summer and have a few weeks traveling round Italy. Well, we live in hope!!!

I will continue to post on the blog letting you know what stage of campervan restoration we are at or where in the world we are currently resting, chilling in the camper with a nice cold bottle of Pinot Grigio on the go, although I guess we will mostly be resting in Lincoln so not sure how exciting that will be!!

A great day today with the live LincsFM slot and the interview with the Lincolnshire Echo, the kids just loved that and they are so excited about being in the paper tomorrow. I will post the article and give you a few more details on that tomorrow.

The Cats Out The Bag...

Well the cats out the bag, the 5th Trade has been revealed, the car has been traded and in it's place I am now the proud owner of my very own..... VW Campervan!

And here she is, a 1980 Red Volkswagen Devon Campervan, fantastic!

As you are all no doubt aware today was the day I revealed the details of the trade Live 'On Air' at LincsFM on the breakfast show with DJ John Marshall.

So I completed the Quest, unbelievably I actually managed to trade a bottle of beer for a VW Campervan!! I can hardly believe it, 5 months, 5 trades, from one bottle of beer to a fully MOT'ed VW Campervan.

I'm going to post in more detail tonight how the final trade came about and a full recap of the trade quest so far but it's all go today and I'm about to do an interview and some pics for The Lincolnshire Echo, where I'm sure they will have me looking very silly and jolly, no doubt jumping up and down and waving my arms in the air in front of the campervan, excellent!! Its all good.

So before I go do that I just wanted to say a quick thanks to Lincolnshire Echo. and to LincsFM for all their support over the past 5 months, its been so much fun, cheers.

GrALE Quest Code...

I have had a few emails over the past 24 hours asking for me to reveal the details of the latest trade, sadly I can't let the cat out of the bag yet as I have promised the exclusive to the John Marshall Breakfast Show on LincsFM this coming Tuesday (that's if all still goes to plan! If not you will hear it here Tuesday afternoon!)

However in true GrALE Quest style I have in fact posted all the details of the trade and full pictures hidden within this blog. If you can decipher all the clues you will find the location of the hidden 5th trade details and find the next item I have to offer in the GrALE Trade Quest. Good luck, sorry no help with this one, only this picture as your first clue!

You will need to locate 4 more clues in order to find the location of the 5th Trade Details!

Yeah, nice try but clearly it's not going to be that easy!!! Or is it?

Bye, Bye, Love...

Well, she's gone, that's it. Jade has been traded.

...

Yes, that's right, Jade the J REG Citroen has gone to her new home today. Sorry to keep you all waiting with the 'Big News' I promised last week but its worth the wait, I assure you.

I'm going to keep you waiting for a few more days before I reveal the item I have traded the car for, but its a beauty, a real beauty. Without a doubt my best trade yet.

I'm going to reveal the details of the 5th trade live on LincsFM this coming Tuesday, 2nd January 2007, at approximately 8.15am on the John Marshall Breakfast Show.

I know you will all be listening to LincsFM anyway, as there is clearly no better radio station currently worth listening to, but if for some strange reason someone has re-tuned your radio to a lesser station make sure you tune it back into 102.2 and listen in on 2nd January 2007.

...

Jade is now living her new live in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. I took her up there today and it was a hair raising journey I can tell you, after being stalked half way across the country by an elderly man in a beat up red Peugeot I found myself is a rather difficult situation where my only salvation was an empty bottle of Lucazade!! I will save the whole story for the '5th Trade' blog entry after the weekend.

...

Happy New Year to you all and thank you all for reading the blog throughout the past 5 months.

A farewell shot of Jade outside Lincoln Cathedral before we set off on the long journey up north! It looks nice and sunny in the picture but sadly it was pissing it down with rain and blowing gale force winds of upto 50mph on the way up there!!

Big, Big, News!

Fantastic festive news, you wouldn't believe it even if I told you! So I will wait until I have photographic proof and let you all in on the festive frolics tomorrow!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Gosh, its been over a month since I posted on the site and so much has gone on. I have been so busy with the shop, getting ready for the Christmas Market and Food & Drink Fair, but Im back on the case now and moving on towards my next trade.

I have been driving Jade the J REG every day for the past month, shes great, it will be a shame to see her go. I even managed to get a parking ticket which I didn't know anything about!!

Anyway, will be posting updates and pics in the next day or so. Meanwhile there is still time to make offers for the car, so anyone who needs a good car please let me know...

Lets Get Trading...

Right then, I am now ready to push on with my next trade. I have been a bit slack this last week with pushing the car for the next trade. This is because I have been using the car everyday to drive to work and run the kids about, it's fantastic, I'm almost tempted to stop trading here and keep the car!!
However, if I do that I will never get to my goal of a campervan so I must push on. I was going to do all the Jade showcase pictures today and get them on here for you to view her and submit all your offers but its pissing it down with rain so I will have to put it off until tomorrow! There's a few pics of her below if you want to check out her bodywork!
But she's still there, available to trade, so if you need a car and you have something to offer me to trade then please email me right away and lets get trading...

lincolngrale@hotmail.co.uk

Lincoln Today...

If you have not already checked it out www.lincolntoday.co.uk is a great website for anybody who wants to find out what's going on in and around Lincoln, its constantly being updated almost hourly so anything you need to know can be found there.
All the guys at www.lincolntoday.co.uk have been great and they are following the GrALE Quest and drumming up support for me by running stories with each trade. They have a great piece about the Jade Trade on their home page today so please check it out, and bookmark their site as its a great source of local info.

Happy Halloween...

Happy Halloween to my GrALE Quest readers. Look out for my Jade the J Reg photo showcase this weekend!!

Pimp My Citroen...

After watching a fantastic episode of 'Pimp My Ride UK' tonight I have had an idea... Now I wouldn't normally watch such a ridiculously stupid programme but the episode tonight featured non other than... A 1967 splitscreen camper, pimped to a beautiful gold and cream love machine, spectacular. Now that's the kind of camper I would love, I live in eternal hope!

Anyway, the idea, Pimp My Citroen! Maybe if I can convince some local garage to pimp up 'Jade The J Reg' I might stand a better chance with the trade up, so what do you think? Anyone out there fancy helping to Pimp her up?

Also worth a mention in today's post is www.Ldhealthwise.co.uk set up by a regular reader of the blog and great supporter of the GrALE Trade Quest since day one. And also my wonderful sister! But don't hold that against her, check out her site, she has just started her own personal wellness business and as personal wellness coach she is offering FREE wellness evaluations to anyone who looks at the GrALE Quest website and would be interested in having one. Can't be bad, FREE, we all love free stuff, the basic gist as far as I can understand is LOSE WEIGHT & FEEL GREAT. Link through to her site and have look.

Over The Bonnet Shot...

Another super cheesy picture from the press...

Not Quite The 9 o'clock News...

Well it's not quite the 9 o'clock news but The Lincolnshire Echo, have run a great story on the GrALE quest in today's Echo.

As I reported over the weekend I have just managed to complete the 4th Trade and it was such a fantastic trade Matthew Pike at the echo has run a 'Trades So Far' piece, with a super cheesy picture of me laid over the bonnet of Jade! Jade is the car for all of you coming into the story late. I will add a scan of the article onto the blog tonight but if you want to read the article in the meantime you can read it here>>> on the Echo website.

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Jade Update...

Just to update on the state of play with Jade, she has now been fully serviced and has a brand spanking new alternator and a brand spanking new battery. I have sorted out a new 12 month MOT and plan to give her a good clean and polish before taking some pictures to showcase her on the site. However if you want to offer a trade for Jade please email me lincolngrale@hotmail.co.uk or contact me here>>>. She could be the perfect car for you, fully serviced and with a 12 month MOT, spectacular. Get those offers coming in.

The 4th Trade...

The Jade Trade...

It's done, finally I have managed to complete the 4th Trade on this momentous GrALE Quest, and its a beauty!
That's right, I have now traded 'The Zuton Tickets' for Jade! Who's Jade? I hear you all ask. Well I will tell you...
Jade is a Red J Reg Citroen ZX, a racy little car lovingly owned and cared for over the past 3 years by Tasha. Tasha is a superstar and down right fantastic lady who contacted me about the trade last week to see if I would be interested in swapping the 'The Zuton Tickets' for her prize motor. I jumped at the chance and we set up the trade.

So, this afternoon I jumped in the van with my trusty cameraman and we headed down to meet Tasha & Jade. On cameraman duties this time was good old Tom, which was handy as it was his van we jumped in and without it I would of had a long walk to meet the girls.

We got down to Tasha's early evening and she had Jade all cleaned up and ready for me...

Tasha is the sporty little red number, Jade is the car!!! Here we are earlier today trading the car for the tickets, and I must say I'm looking pretty good myself in this picture, I think I will use Tom as my photographer more often. If he can make me look good, he can do anything.

So that was it the trade done, Tasha handed me the keys, I jumped in Jade, put my foot down and off we went, driving away into the sunset! Or at least that's how I chose to remember it...

In reality, Tasha handed me the keys, I put them in my pocket and sat on the curb as I tried to work out how to attach the tow rope to the front of Jade and to the back of Tom's van so we could tow her back up to the Bailgate.

Jade the J Reg Citroen, as lovely as she is, well looked after, clean & sporty was feeling a little flat, a little tired a little 'can't quite drive on her own yet'.

The Journey back was pretty hair raising to say the least!! As the battery was flat I couldn't put any lights on and there were no brake lights when I put my foot on the brakes, so I made a few people behind me shake their hands in an 'Why I outta' type way!! But we got back ok, a few scary moments going up Lindum hill but all in all a good safe trip, however....
When I was getting out of the car, I got the back of my Jeans caught on the door and they ripped all the way down my 'bottom area' showing my boxers to the whole of the bailgate!! And I'm sure I heard Jade laugh as I turned round!! I'm certain she moved and bit me on purpose as I had taken her away from her owner Tasha!!!
She's a great car and with a nice oil bath, a battery charge and a little tweak here and there she will be good as new. Tomorrow, after a clean and polish she will be ready to meet her public and go out in search of her new owner.

Around The World In 80 Trades...

As the quest goes on and the final goal of the VW Campervan gets ever closer I have found myself thinking towards my next quest. I know, I know, I'm a way off finishing this trade quest yet but I have 2 big trades in the pipeline for the next few weeks, my next trade being a Christmas related trade with the big man himself!! More details to follow over the next few days.
Well, here's my new idea, just wanted to get the idea out there and see what backing and help I could get when I start the new quest next year.
As you all know my original plan at the end of the GrALE Trade Quest was to jump in the Campervan and head off round Italy with my beautiful wife and children and spend a month drinking and eating ourselves around the Amalfi coast. However I have had an idea which I just can't get out of my head.....

'Around The World In 80 Trades'

The idea.... I still plan to visit Italy and have a month relaxing with the family but I will now have to trade my way there!! The basic principal of the new quest will be to trade for passage / travel accross the globe visiting as many countries as possible in 80 Trades or less. Couldn't be more simpler!! I can't pay for travel, I have to trade with someone to pay for me or help me along the way. I doubt it will be easy and heaven knows how long it would take but I think its a plan! What do you think! Its not the kind of thing I would want to do on my own so I'm working on a 'Trade Team' to join me in various stages or even the whole trip. Anyone feel they have something to offer to the trade Team then email me and let me know.

lincolngrale@hotmail.co.uk

Its still a working idea in progress at the minute but lets throw the idea around a bit and see what we come up with.

Of course I have to get the Campervan first in order to finish The Lincoln GrALE Trade Quest and have the starting vehicle for the World Trade Quest so I still need help to finish this quest.

Big news on that festive trade coming up in a few days...