6th November 2004 London meeting

A bumper attendance for the November London Globetrotter’s meeting, with not a chair, table or bit of floor space left. The audience included Globies from overseas including Brie Kelly from Colorado. The crowds had come to hear Globies President Janet Street-Porter’s talk on the Larapinta Trail that starts from Alice Springs and the Bay of Fires walk in Tasmania. Special mention due to Paul Robert’s who burned the midnight oil to scan Janet’s photos so that we could see them digitally. Janet did this 8 day -walk with a group and they were supported by a vehicle carrying their camping, cooking and other equipment, which left them free to enjoy the scenery and swat flies. We saw Janet in a full nylon head net to stop these annoying critters and later she explained a new use for toilet roll to stop the flies entering every orifice! It was all worth it for the great Aussie scenery, the reds and pinks of the rocks and greenery you wouldn’t normally think exists. The Bay of Fires walk in Tasmania is mainly on sand and again we saw some great pictures of her walk. Janet added on some pictures of a walk she recently did near Christchurch in New Zealand, where she stayed in some quirky buildings, one of which enjoyed an outdoor bathtub, where the water was heated by lighting a fire under the tub! The forty minutes went way too fast as we listened to Janet’s commentary.

After the break it was over to Christian Tyler who gave us another interesting talk this time on the Taklamakan Desert and Xinjiang Province in China. His five-week trip began in Dunhuang, famous for its cave paintings. Christian’s group travelled in the ubiquitous Toyota Landcruiser and trekked by camel, supported by a Chinese army lorry. Christian’s journey took him to Miran and to abandoned cities in the desert. Some of these towns have been dug out of their sand tombs, we saw parts of wooden structures which had once been homes and shops. Christian explained that the cities had been abandoned as the underground rivers had either dried up or changed course. We saw other examples such as forests that were now just tree trunks. Christian’s talk gave us a rare insight to an area well off the beaten track.

Mark your diary for forthcoming meetings:

Sat. 4 December

Amar Grover – North Pakistan – Kailash Valleys of Chitral to Gilgit via Shandur Pass

Matthew Leeming -Afghanistan OR Iraqi Marsh Arabs

Sat. 8th January – Four Mini-talks and New Year Party

London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back in September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk Admission: Members £2.00 Non-members £4.00.