Set the alarm clock for 9:17 am

How to use the online alarm clock

As you hand the route check to your walking companion, you can treat 9:17 am as the moment to start the circular walk along the public footpath. That gives the other person a clear cue to take over without another discussion. A steady start also leaves 43 minutes before 10:00 am, enough to settle into the route rather than rush its opening stretch.

For this walk, the useful check is whether the phone or laptop might fall asleep before 9:17 am. Set the alarm, choose a sound you will recognise outdoors, and start it while the screen is still active. If the browser page is closed or the device sleeps, no alarm will sound and the walk may begin without the agreed handover. Keeping the device powered and awake until the alert has played avoids relying on a reminder that can no longer run.

Once the next walker has responsibility, a brief spoken confirmation can be more reliable than listening for the alarm alone. By mid-morning, traffic, groundskeeping equipment and other people on a public footpath may make the surroundings louder than they were earlier. A higher but comfortable volume, with the device carried outside a zipped bag, makes the 9:17 am signal easier to notice without disturbing everyone nearby.