No. 5: October 2004
CAPTIVATING COASTS AND WONDERFUL WOODS
On a press trip to Argyll in early October, FELICITY MARTIN walked to the Mull of Kintyre through mists (gale-driven showers actually) rolling in from the sea, learnt about Atlantic oakwood restoration in the Knapdale SSSI and received a ‘vital uplift’ from flower essences on the Isle of Gigha. Other highlights included photographing golden evening light illuminating Tarbert’s waterfront and the sun setting behind Jura.
Back home she is continuing a series of Autumn Colours articles for local and regional newspapers across Perthshire, Stirling and Argyll, with features and other pages she has written appearing on www.wonderfulwoods.co.uk/autumn and www.perthshirebigtreecountry.com/autumn.
Contact: mail@felicitymartin.co.uk; Telephone: 01764 684454.
BOATS, TAPAS AND REAL CANARIES
It's a good job the film, Open Water, hadn't been released at cinemas in the UK before SARAH DAWSON flew over to the volcanic island of Pico in the Azores to cover a swimming with dolphin holiday. Out on a boat (which was little more than a rubber dinghy with a solid floor), she snorkelled with wild spotted, risso and bottlenose dolphins in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. And managed to haul herself back on to the boat afterwards...
And last month she was rather spell-bound by the seductive city of Seville. In the place that claimed to invent them, she ate more plates of tapas than she can remember the names of, got inspired by the story of Carmen who worked in a cigar factory, and snaked her way around Calle Siepes, Seville's most fashionable shopping district, returning home with much heavier luggage than she remembers setting out with...
She's also been writing about winter getaways and getting to know the 'Real' Canary islands, far from the mad English bars and pubs, and a beautiful place with an unusual name, Tossa de Mar, in the Costa Brava. Next up she hopes to overcome her fear of heights and try some skiing...
Contact: sarahdawson@onetel.com
HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE
MARI NICHOLSON has quite a few trips lined up: In November she's heading for Northern Ireland, to Belfast, the Antrim Glens and the border town of Newry - on home ground again to suss out the changes. In Mid-December it's Dubai and Oman, and in Late-December, Thailand, moving between Bangkok, Hua-Hin, Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and the newest resort, Trang, where I shall be checking out the latest Five-Star hotel, the Amari at Trang. The New Year will see her in Hanoi, Vietnam.
She writes: "If anyone would like to commission me to do articles on any aspect of Thai life, Dubai's spectacular new skyline, Vietnam and tourism, or related subjects, I shall be happy to oblige. The chicken 'flu epidemic and the insurgents in southern Thailand are having an affect on Thai tourism and I shall be looking at this. I shall be in the position to offer a first-hand account of things. Articles can be completed 'on the hoof' as it were, as I shall have my trusty laptop with me.
I have recently returned from Taormina where I toured extensively on that side of the Island, plus Siena, that lovliest of Italy's cities, so often ignored in favour of neighbouring Florence."
Contact: mari@traveljournalist.co.uk
COSTA RICA COMMISSION
Recent trips for SOLANGE HANDO include Jordan, Biarritz and the French Basque Lands, Pau (Pyrenees), Brittany, Auvergne, Winchester and North Wales. Coming up Cyprus, India and Sri Lanka.
I have a commission (high circulation magazine) for Costa Rica, but I need a trip.
Contact: solange.travel@ukonline.co.uk
FLOATING VOTE
Clive Tully's home for nearly 40,000 nautical miles of bumpy seafaring - the 33ft powerboat Spirit of Cardiff - sank in mid-Atlantic at the beginning of August. Fortunately all crew were rescued, and Clive thanks his lucky stars he wasn't on board for that trip.
On the plus side, the Union Internationale Motonautique - the international governing body of powerboating - has at long last ratified Spirit of Cardiff's 30 port-to-port records set on the round the world trip in 2002. These, along with Spirit's previous records (which include around the British Isles, Gibraltar to Monaco, and the official powerboat transatlantic world record New York to Lizard Point) confirm Spirit of Cardiff's unique place in offshore powerboating history. They will be presented officially at the RYA's annual powerboat awards dinner in February 2005.
Features recounting the Spirit's - and Clive's - remarkable five years of offshore powerboat record setting are available along with digital photographs.
Contact: clive@clivetully.com; Telephone: 01508 570183; Website: www.clivetully.com.
HARMONIC DUO
MIKE GERRARD recently married his fellow WPu member DONNA DAILEY, and either of them can now write a piece on how to get married in six weeks, or answer the question of where travel writers go for their honeymoon. Mike is working on a new guide to Paris for Navigator Guides, based around the Paris Metro system, and also updating his Globetrotter Guide to Corfu for New Holland. Mike and Donna will be attending the Travel Media Showcase in Tucson, Arizona, in early November.
Contact: mail@mikegerrard.com.
SPARKS FLYING
JON SPARKS has recently returned from a hectic trip to Finland. This took in some relatively gentle cycling round the lovely Turku archipelago and some much rougher mountain biking around the ski resort of Ruka - including some black runs (without snow)! It actually did snow a few days later during a canoe trip down the Oulanka River. He also travelled north of the Arctic Circle for some close encounters with reindeer. Jon also managed some good hikes and, of course, lots of photography. It was his first major trip using a digital SLR and he's well-pleased with the results - though anyone who thinks 'going digital' takes all the work out of photography should try processing hundreds of RAW files!
Next stop is Nova Scotia, which should also be pretty gorgeous in the autumn - sorry, Fall. In between times Jon is finishing off a book on Scrambles and Easy Climbs in Snowdonia and then turning his attention to two photographic books, on his home town of Lancaster and on the county of Lancashire.
Contact: jsparks@dircon.co.uk; Telephone: 01524 381077.
A WHOLE LOAD OF YACHT
SUE BRYANT has been researching and writing a variety of features covering topics from millionaires and their megayachts to travellers and tropical diseases. A recent commission for an in-flight magazine involved attempting to learn holiday Greek and Portuguese, improve basic Spanish and brush up rusty French in a matter of weeks. The language revision came in handy, as Sue has just published the first issue of The Clipper, the on-board magazine for tall ship operator Star Clippers, in English, French and German.
Current projects include ongoing family travel features for Junior magazine; work on the Berlitz Guide to Caribbean Cruising; and writing a book published by Cadogan, The Sunday Times Guide to Buying Property in Cyprus.
Recent trips include St Petersburg and Tallinn, with Venice, Cyprus and hiking, riding and swimming with dolphins in the Caribbean coming up.
A request: Any PR representing up-market family travel clients, please send releases to sue@suebryant.com, as I have a news page to fill in Junior every month and am always looking for new items.
Contact: sue@suebryant.com.
NICK'S SCILLY TRIPS
NICK JENKINS has just returned safely after taking a group of keen photographers to the Isles of Scilly. Whilst there was a very interesting social side to the trip the group also came away with images they are very proud of. The peak of the week-end was being taken out to one of the ‘off islands’ (St Agnes) for a pub supper on the last night.
Nick will be running more such trips again next year. For details contact him at www.freespiritimages.com either for details of future trips or, indeed, for images of these beautiful islands.
Travel seems to have gripped our man. He is off for a weekend of photography in Prague next April. If anyone is seeking some cracking shots of this beautiful city, Nick is your man.
Contact: nick@freespiritimages.fsnet.co.uk.
THE HONEYMOON WILL BE A LITTLE LATE
Whatever the opposite is to travel Immodium, PETER HUGHES seems to be on it. From Sicily for the Tatler Travel Guide, to Siberia for the Daily Telegraph and France for House & Garden, he is currently in India for the Sunday Times and American Express magazines - all within ten weeks. That still left time for him to get married in July (the honeymoon is scheduled for February) and to fit in Bhutan and Bali before Christmas.
Contact: peter_hughes@liberty6.demon.co.uk.
ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL
BRIAN JACKMAN reports that he is "Just back from a two-week Zambian safari covering Kafue, South Luangwa and Lower Zambezi national parks. In South Luangwa I joined Robin Pope on one of his famous walking safaris. On the first night a leopard strolled through our camp while we were having supper. Another night we camped under a tree in which a 14-foot-long python lay curled in the upper branches. Luckily it was still there when I woke up next morning. In the Lower Zambezi it was the elephants that took centre stage. In September the big bulls - most of them seemingly quite used to the presence of visiting journalists - hang around camp hoovering up fallen seedpods from the winterthorn acacias which provide shade for Chiawa and Old Mondoro camps. While having dinner at Chiawa one night I sat only six feet away from one of these magnificent old tuskers - and four of those feet belonged to the elephant!"
Contact: brian@spickhatch.freeserve.co.uk.
GEARED UP
ALF ALDERSON is busy in his new capacity as gear reviewer at Outdoor Enthusiast (OE) magazine, which received a very positive response from the industry and public alike at its recent launch.
He's particularly on the look out for new and innovative outdoor kit, so give him a call if you have anything that fits into that category.
Contact: alf@alfalderson.co.uk.
WITH GOOD GRACIE
JIM GRACIE has been commissioned to write the chapter introductions and photo captions for a massive 12" x 18" coffee table book called 'Spectacular Scotland', to be published by Duncan Baird Publishers of London for the American market. As the advance is safely in his bank account he has now written the introductions and eagerly awaits the photos so that he can caption them and get his hands on the rest of the dosh.
The second edition of his book, The Hidden Places of Scotland, which should have been published at the beginning of the year, will now be published in November 2004. He has extensively rewritten and updated it.
Contact: j.gracie@blueyonder.co.uk.
GETTING HIS TEETH INTO A STORY
A fan of Buffy and Carry On Screaming, DAVID ATKINSON is recently back from a trip to Romania, where he delved into the terrifying concepts of Dracula kitsch, rural superstitions and spending a night at a bone fide Transylvanian count's castle. He made it back alive with stories for The Guardian and the Weekend FT, and - disappointingly - without a single bite mark on his neck.
Next up boating around Toulouse and sinking a few pints of the black stuff in Cork. Currently seeking ideas, projects, commissions for post WTM. As ever, read more from www.travelintelligence.net/wsd/writers/writ_1163.html.
Contact: atkinson.david@virgin.net.
FEELING SHEEPISH AND GIVING UP CHOCOLATE
JEANNINE WILLIAMSON is back from a wild and woolly trip in Iceland where she took part in the annual sheep round up. She joined farmers for the horseback roundup where thousands of sheep are moved down from summer pastures in the highlands and counted into pens (certainly no trouble in getting to sleep at night). The trip provided plenty of good copy so if anyone is interested in an article in the run up to next year's round up she'd be delighted to discuss commissions.
Closer to home she has been writing city break features on Jersey, Basel, Leeds and Dublin.
Last month Jeannine was appointed as one of the regular feature writers for a new magazine launched by the Champneys group and she even managed to give up chocolate for a few days after being despatched to Springs Health Resorts for the first of her reports.
Contact: Jeannine@motcombemedia.demon.co.uk.
GREEK GOD AND CHIC RESORTS
The story of GILLIAN THORNTON's family holiday to Corfu took an interesting turn when her daughter cut her chin open and was stitched up by a doctor closely resembling a Greek god in trainers. This summer has also seen Gillian - minus accident-prone family - enjoying the lavender fields of southern Drome; the chic resorts of Biarritz and the Basque Coast; and the historic city of Pau. She also spent a long weekend trying golf and tennis at luxurious Vale do Lobo on the Algarve.
Forthcoming destinations include the Canal du Garonne, the Dordogne, and a touch of romance in Belgium. Closer to home she'll be visiting the Cotswolds and Shakespeare country.
Contact: gillian.thorntons@btinternet.com, or telephone 01582 468771.
STAGGERING ABOUT
PAUL MANSFIELD is just back from Prague, researching a story about whether the 'Golden City' has been ruined by an influx of stag parties from the UK. 'No' is the short answer, but the same can't be said for Mansfield's liver after an evening as a guest of noted British tour operator 'Prague Piss-Up'. Since then he's been for a look at Mykonos's new boutique hotel, the Theoxenia, and is currently in northern California attempting to track down an area called the Point Reyes National Seashore which lies at the end of a very long road called 'Sir Francis Drake Boulevard'. Are they taking the, er, piss-up?
Contact: PAULMANS1@aol.com.
DISPATCH FROM CANADA
New member LAURA BYRNE PAQUET, who lives in Ottawa, Canada, is thrilled to join Writers and Photographers Unlimited!
She has travelled through much of central and western Canada in the last few months. As well as leaping off a British Columbia mountain for a story about paragliding, she has also investigated the Slow Food movement on Vancouver Island, trolled the trendiest shops in Vancouver and Calgary, spent a few days at the Stratford Festival (a 51-year-old Shakespearean festival in Stratford, Ontario), checked out cooking schools and spas in several Ontario locations, and written about "romantic Toronto" for a U.S. bridal magazine.
In addition, she's just back from 18 days in Switzerland and France, which included a four-day inn-to-inn hike near Murren in the Swiss Alps, a day of whitewater rafting on the upper Rhine, and five days in a Paris rental apartment.
After a brief trip home to do laundry and remind her friends she's still alive, she's off to the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia for a winemaking/fine dining story. Food will be the focus again in November, when she'll be in Scottsdale, Arizona for a week to check out the latest in Southwestern cuisine with some award-winning chefs and food producers.
Contact: laura@cornerstoneword.com.
MAKING AN EXHIBITION OF HER WORK
'Mysterious Origins' is an Exhibition of paintings drawings and photographs by PATRICIA AITHIE starting on the 1st October - 21st October at The Old Hall Gallery, Cowbridge, South Wales.
Patricia Aithie has been travelling for over twenty years, mostly in the Middle and Far East, where she has exhibited extensively. She has written and photographed many books and has paintings and photographs in many private and public collections including the BBC, National Library of Wales, The Royal Family of Abu Dhabi, Bank Duta Indonesia and American and Argentinian Embassies. She presently runs a photo library and agency - ffotograff - with her husband Charles based in Cardiff.
Contact: ffotograff@easynet.co.uk; Telephone: 02920 236879; Website: www.ffotograff.com.
TROUBLESOME TRAVELS
In recent years, TONY HOWARD and partner DI TAYLOR have not only spent time in a military jail in Egypt when their over-enthusiastic sponsor for an adventure tourism development project took them into a closed military area, but they have also been put under house-arrest in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers, merely for visiting a Palestinian family in Hebron. Consequently, the prospect of being detained by Maoist insurgents in Nepal has not been enough to deter them from accepting a sponsored project to this beautiful yet beleaguered country this winter. They also have the publication of Tony’s new guide to Classic Walks & Climbs in Romsdal, Norway, to look forward to on their return home.
Contact: tony@nomadstravel.co.uk; Telephone/Fax: 01457 873231; Website: www.nomadstravel.co.uk">.
HEADING FOR SOUTH AFRICA
ROBIN McKELVIE has just finished the Bradt Guide to Ljubljana and is now working on the Bradt Guide to Slovenia. After World Travel Market he is heading to South Africa for a month researching articles for UK and US magazines and newspapers on the Blue Train, Rovos Rail, Luxury Safari Lodges and Cape Town Hotels. In 2004 he has written for The Guardian, Sunday Herald, the List, Away from Home Magazine, Trailfinders, Scotland Magazine, Wanderlust, Global Adventure, Cruise Traveller and International High Flyer and he is currently looking for ideas for these markets for 2005.
Contact: robinmckelvie@hotmail.com.
ON HIS BIKE
For JOHN CURTIN it's been a busy few months with two trips to Ireland; walking in North Wales on the return journey; a fast paced week in New York with the benefit of an upgrade there and back and trips to Italy and Spain. Next up is a week's cycling between the Umbrian towns, Assisi, Spoleto and Perugia in early October. And the first confirmed trip for 2005 is two weeks cycling in Spain completing the Camino de Sanitago between Burgos and Santiago de Compostela leaving time to explore off route.
Contact: curtinjg@yahoo.co.uk; Telephone: 020 7738 1461; Mobile: 07919 446473.
CUBAN CLASSICS REPRISE
CHRISTOPHER P. BAKER reports a successful book launch party for his coffee-table book, Cuba Classics: A Celebration of Vintage American Automobiles, hosted by Habana Bar & Restaurant, in San Francisco, on September 15, with more than 60 members of the media in attendance. Chris has recently interviewed with several radio stations. His interview with "Latin Eyes" appeared on KRON-TV (Channel 4), San Francisco, on September 25 and will air on additional TV stations across the USA in coming weeks; see www.latineyes.tv for upcoming schedule. Chris will also be giving slide-lectures about his book at Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA, on December 12; and at Get Lost Books, San Francisco, CA, on February 03. Chris has also been hired by Holland America cruise lines to lecture about classic American cars in Cuba aboard the M/V Maasdam in January and May 2005.
Christopher P. Baker's latest (fifth) edition of his best-selling Moon Handbooks: Costa Rica has just been released by Avalon Travel Publishing. Chris will be giving slide presentations at Get Lost Books, San Francisco, CA, on November 11; and at Easy Going Bookstore, Berkely, CA, on November 18. Chris will be talking about Costa Rica and his new book on "Latin Eyes," to air nationally across the USA in October.
Chris will be traveling in Puerto Rico, October 7-25 on photographic assignment. He welcomes magazine assignments and stock requests for photography.
Contact: cpbaker@earthlink.net.
BACK TO THE JUNGLE
As the leaves turn brown so STEVE THOMAS turns tale and heads for the sun. Following on from a busy summer of biking around Europe and Canada Steve is heading for further flung hunting grounds once more. As we write he's currently somewhere between the Cote d'Azure, Corsica and Tuscany with his trusty iron horse in tow.
Following swiftly on from here he'll be back "home" in Malaysia and Borneo for more action packed jungle adventures before rounding the season off with his second month long visit of the year to Cuba. So if anyone needs any words or pictures from these or other destinations please contact Steve or keep tabs on his moves at www.imageadventure.co.uk.
Contact: steve@imageadventure.co.uk.
LIVING FRANCE
TERRY MARSH has spent four of the last five weeks in France. First up was a visit to the stones at Carnac in Brittany, where he was escorted by twenty beautiful young ladies from Hobart in Tasmania. Then he headed south to Arriège and Languedoc-Roussillon to join in on a Ramblers Holiday trekking around the Castles of the Cathars. Before heading briefly home, he then went to Hérault to work on a regional feature about wine and food and the fabulous countryside of this Mediterranean département. No sooner home than it was about face, and drive down to La Rochelle to work on a feature about Charente Maritime…and that meant oysters, mussels, pineaux des Charentes, not to mention cognac, an interview with a prince and visits to chateaux.
Within hours of getting home, he's putting together this news bulletin because come Thursday he's away again to fly to Vancouver for a few days trekking, cycling and kayaking before taking The Canadian for a three-day train journey to Toronto.
Contact: terrymarsh@wpu.org.uk; Website: www.countrymatters.net.
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