No. 6: January 2005
CANARY TRAMP
JOE CAWLEY 'Our man in the Canary Islands' will be tramping the length and breadth of Gran Canaria in the new year, researching and writing a new Top 10 guidebook for Dorling Kindersley, and providing GC features for several in-flight and consumer magazines. He'll also be continuing his tour of Spain's property hotspots for an on-going series of guides for Spanish Homes magazine.
If you want a quick turnaround of words or pics on any angle of Spain or the Canary Islands - you know where to go.
Email: writer@joecawley.co.uk
Telephone: (+34) 676 711285
Website: www.joecawley.co.uk
ON YER SKIS
ALF ALDERSON is gearing up for the ski season with trips to Tignes in January (to also go ice diving), Chamonix after that to twist himself in knots on a yoga and ski course, then Finland in February, an RV trip around Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana in March (plus a stay in Salt Lake City if anyone wants copy on boozing in Mormonsville), followed by heliskiing down live volcanoes in the Kamchatka Peninsula in April.
"After that a rest would be nice," he says. It would, but he won't be getting one as he has to go back to Montana and Idaho to work on the second edition of the Rough Guide to the Rocky Mountains in May. C'est la vie, hey?
Email: alf@alfalderson.co.uk.
JACK'S RELEASE DATES DUE
The two coffee table books that JACK JACKSON has been working on will soon be released: 'Diving the World's Best Coral Reefs' is self-explanatory, while 'Complete Diving' is a diving manual that has already pre-sold 10,000 copies to other publishers as co-editions. Having had a short break to catch up on other things, Jack is about to start on two more titles.
Jack will be speaking on 'Photographing in Extreme Conditions' at the 'Daily Telegraph Adventure Travel and Sports Show 2005' at London Olympia in January.
Email: jack.jackson@dsl.pipex.com
Website: http://www.jackjackson.co.uk
DISTANT DRUMS
A busy and extremely varied 2005 is in prospect for freelance journalist/photographer RON TOFT. In January he will be off to the Emerald Isle to interview a craftsman who makes traditional uilleann pipes and bodhrans (hand-held drums), and to follow up other story leads in the Galway area. A trip to Cork is also planned. In early spring, Ron will be off to the sand, sun and souks of Oman to gather words and pics for illustrated features on subjects as diverse as dhow-building, khanjar (dagger)-making, the Bat Tombs (4000BC) and Frankincense Trail.
Also in the pipeline for 2005 are trips to the Maltese island of Gozo, Gabon and the Isle of Man. Editorial and photographic commissions are warmly welcomed.
Email: ron.toft@btinternet.com
MIKE GOES UNDERGROUND
MIKE GERRARD has spent the last few weeks in Paris and is currently in Venice, though only in his head, unfortunately. His book on Paris in the Bloom's Literary Locations series for American publisher Chelsea House was published last month, and he is now researching the Venice title in the same series. The books are literary and historical guides to the cities, focusing on the great writers who have lived in them and visited them. Mike has also recently finished writing an underground guide to Paris for Navigator Guides, though underground in the sense of using the metro rather than being subversive in any way. In a previous life Mike was also a travel journalist, but he seems to be writing nothing less than 30,000 words lately.
Email: mail@mikegerrard.com .
SHIP AHOY!
The editor suggests (doubtless in jest) that contributions to this bulletin might start with something like: "It was a dark and stormy night....". But even if it was, ROBIN MEAD (0208 346 3772) and VAL FIELD (01424 753181) don't care: they are cruising from Southampton all the way to Australia in January and February, then spending some time down under before flying home.
But, whilst escaping the British winter, the peripatetic pair continue to insist that sitting on a sun-drenched deck sipping a G&T constitutes work! Well....they might have a point. They are paying their way on the first half of "Black Watch's" world cruise by working as shipboard lecturers, as well as writing about the trip and the various ports of call for their clients in general and for 'cruising' supplements in particular. And, in Australia, they are making an extensive tour of Victoria by car researching and photographing articles about the wildlife of the state.
Not much point in phoning them over the next few weeks, then but they will be picking up emails. Try RobinRMead@aol.com or valfield@tiscali.co.uk.
NEED SOMETHING DONE?
Ask a busy person, this is your chance. SOLANGE HANDO will reveal all from hidden France and Mediterranean Islands to Jordan, Tunisia, Bhutan or Nepal (no Michael Palin, I'm afraid, but she has been to the Himalayas ten times).
Loves adventure, culture, city breaks and exotic holidays. All ages welcome. Delivers on time, quality guaranteed and just an Email away.
Email: solange.travel@btinternet.com
FURTHER AFIELD
'Wouldn't you ever like to go further afield?' an acquaintance asked GILLIAN THORNTON recently at a party when she heard that Gillian had just returned from her 12th and final trip to France for 2004. Of course she would and does but all those French travels paid off in December when, to her amazement, Gillian was judged runner-up in the ABTOF Best French Travel Article 2005 for a piece on Burgundy's Blackcurrant Trail, published in Living France magazine. As an added bonus, she was shortlisted with a second piece Corsica Uncorked which appeared in Holiday Villas.
'Definitely my proudest literary achievement since the Sixth Form Prize for English!' says Gillian, who currently has a daughter of her own in the Sixth Form.
But although she specialises in France, Gillian has also been rediscovering her own country throughout 2004 from the tip of Cornwall to the north Norfolk coast, the southern Cotswolds to Warwickshire.
UK trips planned for early 2005 include Cumbria, Suffolk and south Dorset, with the French itinerary currently including central France and a selection of cities. She did travel further afield too during 2004 Italy, the Algarve, Scandinavia and the Greek Islands and hopes to get to Finland and Sicily in the first half of 2005, so all trip opportunities are seriously considered and offered to editors.
'I'd be particularly interested in visiting popular sunshine destinations, activity breaks for over-50s, and interesting cities,' says Gillian. 'Plus commissions too of course!'
Email: gillian.thorntons@btinternet.com
Telephone: 01582 468771
HAPPY SNAPPER
After a rather hectic build up to Christmas NICK JENKINS is pleased to report that he has had the most successful year ever with his 2005 Brecon Beacons National Park Engagement Calendar. If Nick has a problem it is that so many people have announced that they are to be posted to friends and family far overseas. Does no-one in this country want them hanging on their kitchen walls?
Coming ever closer is the publication of a photo landscape book covering the area lived in and walked all over by the Victorian diarist, Francis Kilvert. Kilvert spent several years in and around Breconshire, Radnorshire and Herefordshire, which offer, fortuitously, some wonderful landscapes for our Welsh snapper to get to grips with (can WPu members end a sentence with a preposition?). Publication is targeted for April 2005.
The Theatr Brycheiniog has been the venue for Nick's exhibition, 'Beacons of Inspiration', a collection of new images from around one of our least publicised National Parks. The exhibition ends on January 7th so you might just make it.
Work photographing locations for CADW (Welsh Heritage) continues. The latest venue was the refurbished tea rooms at the fairytale Castell Coch, just outside Cardiff. And, yes, Nick reports that the Welsh cakes were delicious, thank you. Now, how do you get jam off a camera lens?
Work will also start next year on a photographic portfolio as a part of the drive to promote the Heart of Wales Railway Line. Will the hardships of this job never cease?
Nick will be tutoring landscape photography at three new locations for Light and Land Photographic Holidays in 2005. As well as Dartmoor, he will be leading photographers in Snowdonia and along the coastal paths of Pembrokeshire.
For further info and details of Nick's over exposed profession, you could do worse than visit http://www.freespiritimages.com you know it makes sense.
PICTURES OF DENIA
ROBERTA ETTER, American born photographer and resident of Denia, has presented her new book entitled, Denia. The work is a compilation of 240 black and white photographs portraying all aspects of the city.
In her opening address at the December 2 presentation, Denia mayor Paqui Viciano commented that, throughout these pages, photographer Roberta Etter shows us her personal vision of Denia, or we should rather say of Denia's soul, captured in these black and white images that reveal nuances, gestures, people and places that may look familiar to us all but that become, through Roberta's lens, unique and special.
Displaying a timeless beauty, these images of Denia take us on a journey of discovery of the city through everyday scenes that, albeit commonplace, still manage to astonish us when we see them through Roberta Etter's eyes.
The Denia portrayed in these images is the Denia loved by those of us who have been born here, and which fascinates those who discover it for the first time. Councilman of International Relations, Susi Mefford, affirmed in the presentation that the author has captured a part of Denia in this book that had first charmed Etter with the region. She has a love of the sea and of the people that make their life from it which is reflected in these pages. She has explained that through the medium of black and white we are compelled to look more deeply at the images and to see people and events that are timeless.
The book, Denia can be purchased at bookshops throughout Denia as well as Foto Susy and Tik Tak on the Marques de Campo, Kellys of La Xara and In Touch (Gata) for 22.
Email: robertaetter@hotmail.com .
GADDING ABOUT
ROBIN McKELVIE is set for a busy 2005 writing for his numerous UK and US magazine and newspaper outlets, as well as co-writing the Globetrotter Guide to Croatia. Trips planned so far this year include walking in Spain in January, Australia and Hong Kong in February, Croatia and Slovenia in March, Italy in April, Canal boat Edinburgh-Glasgow in May, Latvia and Belarus in June, Spain in July, Slovenia and Croatia again in September and a big trip around South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania in November and December. Any suggestions from PRs of luxury hotels and lodges to cover en route are welcome as are commissions from editors looking for either copy or high quality digital images. Robin has some openings for press trips to new or reinvented destinations, though as much prior notice as possible is appreciated.
Email: robinmckelvie@hotmail.com .
LIVING FOR TODAY
Hot on the heels of an aestival week lounging at the prow of a luxury barge as it ploughed, proud as a Camargue bull, through the historic Midi canal, travel writer/photographer HEIDI FULLER-LOVE headed for Spanish Guadix. Here, in this arid ex-Arab fiefdom our intrepid reporter spent a seven-day period exploring the bowels of various cave hotels, before lighting out for Marbella where she integrated the glitzy city's underworld for a while. "No-one can say my life is dull," she was later heard to comment.
Bored beyond belief by Christmas, she'll probably spend the festive season chewing the fat with Buddhists at Karma Guen. Plans for the brand new year include food trips to Tangier and the Atlas mountains, extensive exploration of the Spanish hinterland, several months driving French highways with a motor caravan and a prolonged stopover somewhere in south America. "Manyana might be an otras dias, but life is about living for today," she replied when asked what she'd like as an epitaph.
Email: Heidi.fuller-love@wanadoo.fr.
THE GRINGO TRAIL
DAVID ATKINSON is back on the gringo trail in 2005. After following in the footsteps of Che Guevara and highland flinging with the La Paz Scottish Country Dancing Society last year, he is heading back to Latin America in February with Bolivia as a base but plans to travel extensively in the region. While formulating ideas and commissions before departure, he would be happy to hear from anyone with leads, itineraries and plans for Latin America in 2005.
Email: atkinson.david@virgin.net
Website: www.travelintelligence.net/wsd/writers/writ_1163.html for background.
FAMILY FUN
What better way to kick off the new year than with a 25-hour non-stop flight to New Zealand with four-year old twins!?! WILLIAM GRAY will be travelling, en famille, to the land of nose-rubbing in February/March to research various articles for newspapers and magazines.
Other commissions in 2005 include a family trek in Morocco and solo visits to Gabon, the Peruvian Amazon and Chipping Camden (an epic journey into the heart of the Cotswolds).
He'll also be writing his regular new family travel column in Wanderlust magazine. Please get in touch if you are an operator with any new family-orientated trips/products for 2005 - there's space to mention a few in each issue.
Email: wsgray2@aol.com
CHECK THE SPIRIT LEVEL
MARI NICHOLSON's Vietnam guide for Northstar USA went off with a week to spare, which pleased the ed. Checking into her hotel in Dubai for a few days before going on to Thailand, Mari was handed an Email asking for a piece on a Thai Spa with a 7-day deadline. Got to Thailand, got the piece done and sent, Internet package couldn't handle the photos, had to enlist help from the office of the hotel, but got them off. Whew!
She was invited to a ceremony to inform the land spirits that a building was being erected but that their rights would be respected. The hotel is building a new Conference centre so the geomancer was in attendance for a day to oversee the burying of five types of wood, money, perfumed oils, seeds, rice, coloured ribbons etc. Lots of food left for the spirits of the land (vegetables and fruit for the good ones, cooked chicken and beer for the bad ones), prayers said, incense burned and then they partied. It was a 'Hard Hat' area and she got some great pix, so she's looking for a construction magazine or an architectural magazine that would be interested in the story, the whys and the wherefores and how paying respect to the spirits when erecting any building in Thailand is very important. If anyone knows of a magazine she could contact she'd appreciate it, as it's a great story.
Tomorrow going to the River Kwai to stay on some rafts moored near the border with Myanmar. No electricity, lots of mozzies and water buffalo rock the rafts as they swim up the river. The rafts are right in the area where so many died laying the line a two-hour trip into the jungle away from the Kwai Bridge. Next stop is Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son for some trekking.
Happy to undertake any commissions on this working holiday. Just contact her.
Email: maritravel@beeb.net .
FROM SOUTHWEST CUISINE TO NORTHERN WINE
Canadian LAURA BYRNE PAQUET has continued her food- and wine-related travels in the last few months. Shortly after returning from a week in Paris, she travelled to the Okanagan region of British Columbia for a fall wine festival and tours of numerous wineries (including one whose owner is convinced that aging his wine in a pyramid brings the mystical forces of the universe to bear on his vintages). She also visited Scottsdale, Arizona, where she spent a day cooking alongside professional chefs in the kitchen at the Four Seasons, sampled the fare at several award-winning restaurants and learned about the unique cuisine of the Hopi Indians and other Native American tribes in Arizona (the fried squash blossoms were amazing!).
As part of the Arizona trip, she also toured Frank Lloyd Wright's Arizona studio, Taliesin West, which still functions as a rather unusual architecture school. In accordance with the late founder's rules, students travel to the school only by car, rather than by public transportation Wright, a car nut, was convinced that travelling by automobile was the only way to truly absorb the surrounding landscape and thus be able to reflect it in one's designs.
Laura currently has invitations to explore the culinary traditions of Umbria and to check out events celebrating Rembrandt's upcoming 400th birthday in Amsterdam, so she'd be very interested in hearing from editors interested in stories on either of those topics.
Email: laura@cornerstoneword.com
GONE TO HIS HEAD?
It was a celebratory, if somewhat chaotic end-of-year for PAUL MANSFIELD. In November he won the new AA/BGTW Travel Writer of the Year Award, his fourth major award of 2004. A couple of days later he was in a mangrove swamp in the Gambia, and a week after that deep in the political quagmire of Washington DC. Interesting DC fact: over ninety percent of the locals voted for John Kerry so one can only guess at their feelings at having to throw another party for Dubya on January 20th.
Paul finished off the year with a winter break in Crete, drinking large amounts of raki to ward off the chill, before heading home for a traditionally indulgent Christmas. His first trip this year is to Goa in January for a detox, although hes pretending its a story about an Ayurvedic spa.
Email: Paulmans1@aol.com
Telephone: 01273 505067
SOUL AND BLUES
PETER and LENI GILLMAN have been travelling in Mississippi and Tennessee, writing for the Sunday Times Magazine and the leading British trade publication, Travel Trade Gazette. They were covering the emerging twin themes of southern tourism: civil rights history and southern music, especially the blues.
Highlights of the trip were the two Memphis museums: the National Civil Rights Museum, housed in the shell of the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968; and the Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum. Both steer the visitors through the displays with stunningly powerful and affecting narratives thoroughly recommended. The Gillmans' two pieces are slated for publication in January 2005.
BLACK AND BLUE
November saw FELICITY MARTIN walking in sub zero temperatures in the Cairngorms, which were looking superb with a dusting of snow, and mountain biking on the latest '7stanes Trail' in Dumfries and Galloway, where she threw herself down all the rocky drop-offs in the cause of research. (The bruises have at last faded.)
She also completed an Autumn Colours campaign to promote the woods and forests of Scotland's heartland: see www.wonderfulwoods.co.uk and www.perthshirebigtreecountry.com.
One major project for 2005 is to research and write a guidebook of Orkney walks. The commission stipulates that at least one route must be included for every island accessible by public transport (that means 14 island-hops). She would welcome contact from anyone interested in photos or stories from these far-flung isles.
Email: mail@felicitymartin.co.uk
Telephone: 01764 684454
ON A SECRET MISSION
As the dust settles on the Turkey STEVE THOMAS is back in the wilds of Wales preparing for a yet-to-be-disclosed early year secret mission to somewhere yet-to-be-decided on. Following a brief spell in Malaysia, Steve saw out 2004 with an extended and predictably interesting spell in Cuba, where he made a double circuit of the island by bike, drinking plenty of rum, snapping plenty of pics, and running into a few interesting characters along the way including multi Olympic boxing champ Teofilo Stevenson. If you'd like any words or pics from the trip, or any other of Steve's adventures please check out www.imageadventure.co.uk.
Email: steve@imageadventure.co.uk >.
ONE TRIP TO BE TAKEN MONTHLY
Fresh from an adventure cruise covering the Russian and Alaskan coasts of the Bering Sea, MICHAEL DEFREITAS had little time to edit his 96 rolls of film before heading out on a four-week assignment in the desert regions of Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico.
At least he had a quiet Christmas week editing the film and spending some time with family before he was off again on topside and underwater adventures in St Kitts (January), the Antarctic (February), the Amazon (March), Arizona and Mexico (April), Ecuador & Galapagos (May/June) and Italy (August).
Then he swears he's not going on any more trips in 2005 at least that's what he keeps telling his wife.
Email: michaeld@iwritetravel.com .
ONCE UPON A TIME.......
There was a famous Danish storyteller called Hans Christian Andersen whose tales of the Emperor's New Clothes, Thumbelina and the Princess and the Pea have enchanted generations of children around the world. JEANNINE WILLIAMSON revisited her childhood on a trip to Copenhagen to find out about Denmark's biggest nationwide cultural festival to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the author's birthday. A year of events gets underway on April 2, including the opportunity to follow Hans Christian Andersen's footsteps across the country and visit some of Denmark's fairytale castles. Jeannine would be delighted to tell you her own story about Copenhagen, the surrounding countryside and the bicentennial celebrations.
Email: Jeannine@motcombemedia.demon.co.uk .
WINE TASTING
JOHN RADFORD is negotiating for two new books, one on Cava and one on Spanish regional food and wine (with a colleague who is a specialist food writer). He's going to Madrid Fusiσn from the 17th-20th January, which features a dozen of the world's top chefs and a tasting of 'The top 100 Spanish wines'. He's also on the tasting panel for the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles at the end of March/beginning of April at the Thermae Palace Hotel in Oostende, Chairman of the Spanish tasting panel for the DECANTER WORLD WINE AWARDS in the last week of April, and planning a trip to the Granada area in late spring. Apart from that, it's quite quiet.
Email:
Website: www.johnradford.com
BY WAY OF NEPAL
Last October CHRIS TOWNSEND was in Nepal leading a trek to Makalu Base Camp. As well as passing through every type of terrain from subtropical to alpine the trip involved contact with the Maoist insurgents. Chris has photos showing the Maoist's red flag flying below Makalu as well as many spectacular pictures of the region, both 35mm film and digital.
In the next few months Chris will be out and about in the Scottish Highlands, hopefully in snow much of the time, researching material and taking photographs for his forthcoming Scottish Mountains Guide (Cicerone Press).
Email: chris@auchnarrow.demon.co.uk
Website: www.auchnarrow.demon.co.uk
EMPTY HIMALAYA TRAILS
TONY HOWARD and DI TAYLOR of n.o.m.a.d.s. are just back from a trek round Annapurna with Sherpa trekking company Cho-Oyu. Blue skies every day, almost no other visitors and no sign of Maoists except for blockade of Kathmandu. Nepal is suffering badly from lack of tourism due to the Maoists. This most magnificent of mountain countries deserves better. For further info, check out Cho-Oyu Trekking (nim.kar@cho.wlink.com.np).
Email: di@nomadstravel.co.uk .
WHAT'S WRONG WITH SCUNTHORPE?
JO VAUGHAN is currently taking a few weeks off from her normal caravanning and motorcaravanning work to explore Jordan (from Petra to Amman and the desert castles) and the Caribbean island of Martinique. It certainly beats the local campsite at Scunthorpe. Having just returned home from the former, she experienced Christmas in a predominately Muslim country, including a trio of Santas attempting to sing Christmas carols despite not speaking English. Martinique is all set for the end of January, where, as well as taking hundreds of pictures, driving around the island exploring and hopefully climbing up a volcano, she is hoping to fit in some sunbathing (yeh, right).
Of course, her more dare I say it mundane, work will recommence with abundance shortly upon her return, so any travel pieces to do with camping in Europe (France, Germany or the UK predominately) are welcomed. But whilst shes in the long-haul mood, commissions on either of these foreign destinations will be greeted with glee.
Email: JoannaVaughan@aol.com
Telephone: 01778 422274
BRIAN THE MORPH
BRIAN JACKMAN is commuting back to the Serengeti to catch the wildebeest calving season on the short grass plains in the south of the park. From December to May an estimated one million wildebeest gather here, along with gazelles and zebras in their hundreds of thousands, to be preyed upon by the ever-present lions, cheetahs and hyenas. It's a spectacle Brian has witnessed so many times that he is in danger of morphing into a lion himself! If you don't believe it, log on to his new website (www.brianjackman.com) - a Christmas present from Annabelle, his wife. The website is still in its early stages but should be fully up-and-running soon.
Email: brian@spickhatch.freeserve.co.uk .
JUST ANOTHER QUIET YEAR NOT!
TERRY MARSH is back on his perch after a busy 2004, thinking, as he did a year ago, that he was in for a quiet year. Alas, he will be heading once more for Australia from mid-March until early May, working on his travel narrative book which turns his Northern sense of humour onto the Aussie way of seeing things. No worries, except finding a publisher lack of which, however, won't cancel the trip.
Ayers Rock, pre-dawn, from Kata Tjuta viewing area
Once back, he'll be heading for France with trips to Jura and Hιrault on the cards, and maybe a fleeting visit to Aube-en-Champagne to replenish stocks.
Somewhere, in among that he's setting of to re-walk the British Coast to Coast to produce a new edition of his award-winning 1993 title, and expects to be plodding along the Offa's Dyke Path at some stage, too.
Email: terrymarsh@wpu.org.uk .
WRITERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS unlimited is an online marketing service for travel, tourism and outdoors professionals. Membership is open only to full-time professionals, and is by invitation. There is a Membership Enquiry Form on the website (www.wpu.org.uk).