Hello all,

Welcome to the final eNewsletter for 2009 As I’ve sat putting this edition together, it struck me that there’s quite a lot to tell you about – from headline news, to busy branch meetings and through to the regular features. It’s good to have a steady stream of news & events to talk about, even though it can sometimes be a mixed set that I have to pass on, namely that:-

Unfortunately Anne Mustoe, intrepid round the world cyclist and well received Globetrotters’ speaker, has died after a short illness whilst travelling through the Middle East. The Times newspaper wrote this quite detailed article about Anne’s life, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6935356.ece, but many of us remember her, more personally talking about finishing her career as a head teacher and setting out on a new life of travel. From her first journey & a very different learning, through to speaking as a seasoned & outgoing presenter, Anne came across to her audiences as someone who thoroughly enjoyed finding out about the world.

During February 2010 the following travel writing and photography celebration, http://www.travellerstalesfestival.com/, is being held at the Royal Geographical Society in London – various ticket prices will gain you access to a wider range of talks, workshops, films & debates but be aware there is limited availability.

Also a quick reminder that during February & March 2010 The Destinations Holiday & Travel Show is being held at London & BirminghamÂ…see http://www.destinationsshow.com/ for further details

Regular artist & club member Karen Neale is exhibiting her latest watercolours at Southwark cathedral in LondonÂ…see her web site for more details – http://www.karenneale.co.uk/ . A few of the London members visited Karen on her opening day and got to enjoy some very familiar pictures of London, along with some more unexpected views. If you can call into the cathedral refectory between now and the end of January 2010, as there’s plenty to stimulate your senses.

The German Globetrotters Club (dzg) has published a timetable of almost all globetrotter gatherings in 2010 on their website: www.globetrotter.org. Everybody can download it free of charge. Contact Christel Loock finanzen@globetrotter.org for more details, including advertising any meetings not already listed.

That’s all for now – thank you for all your contributions this year…I shall be quiet for a few weeks now, as I’m heading back to South America – this time with the aim of crossing from Mendoza in Argentina through to Lima in Peru. Hopefully I won’t experience the adventures Mac describes but I should have plenty to write about. Enjoy Christmas & the New Year, in whichever way you to choose to celebrate and happy travelling to you allÂ…

The Ant

theant@globetrotters.co.uk

November’s very entertaining speakers were:-

Mark Smith — “The Man in Seat61”. Mark worked in various roles within the rail industry for many years and started his own website www.seat61.com as a hobby – it has proved so successful that it has now become a full time job ! The website aims to help people who want to travel by train or ship and get all the information they need to do this from one source. Since it was set up in 2001 in has won many awards, including: Wanderlust Top Travel Website in 2007, 2008 and 2009 and First Choice Responsible Tourism Award in 2006. Mark has since written a book based on the development & stories of his very original website.

Joff Summerfield — Pennyfarthing World tour. On his 3rd attempt after two and half years on the road and over 2,000 miles, Joff completed his “world journey” in November 2008 on a Penny Farthing cycle ! Through his talk Joff shared his unusual journey, with Globetrotters, which took him through Europe, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, China, Tibet, India, USA and Canada. Many of the audience were particularly intrigued by how he mounts the back & copes over difficult terrain without brakes or gears.

See Joff’s website http://www.pennyfarthingworldtour.com for more details.

December’s speakers were quite different in their stories:-

Neil Rees – From Chesham, Bucks to Chesham, New Hampshire. Returning speaker Neil journeyed to his hometown’s namesake in USA, whilst on a trip to North America and in his entertaining style Neil enlightened us on the similarities & differences between the two Cheshams.

Rob Lilwall – Cycling the extremes. Travelling alone & by bicycle through the thick jungles of Papua New Guinea and the lonely passes of Afghanistan, Rob returned to Globetrotters to this time focus on these two of most exciting & dangerous parts of his 30,000 mile cycling home from Siberia expedition.

See Rob’s website www.cyclinghomefromsiberia.com for more details.

And now for something a little more personal J Here are some of the London Globies at The Sun Tavern after December’s meetingÂ…considering all manner of topics. Thank you to all of them for another enjoyable meeting and credit to Tony Annis for producing the photosÂ…

Details of the London branch’s forthcoming meetings, September 2009 through to July 2010, can be found at https://globetrotters.co.uk/meetings/lon10it.html

The London branch 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, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend. There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh in September. For more information, contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 7193 2586, or visit the web site: www.globetrotters.co.uk.

Saturday the 14^th November saw the first meeting of the Chester Globetrotters Club now held bi-monthly at the Grosvenor Museum on Saturday afternoons. After introducing the benefits of the society, Kevin Brackley, from Globetrotters London branch [and the club’s organising committee], related his exploits in Laos and his travel by local transport to visit some of the fascinating sights of the country.

Later this was followed by Kevin Jones, who travelled overland to the Middle East as part of a two man photographic team. His journey, which covered 25,000 kms throughout the Arab peninsula and took six months to complete, was the subject of the slide show as well as the book he has written entitled “Inshallah, Odyssey to the Middle East”.

See http://www.telemationpublishing.co.uk/books.htm for more details of Kevin’s journey.

Next meeting details…

The next meeting on Saturday 30^th January 2010 at the Grosvenor Museum, Chester will include:-

“National Parks of the USA & Canada.” An illustrated talk by Kevin Jones on his 3 months photographic tour

“Croatia, the Mediterranean as it used to be”. Vic Blundell will give a slide show about the sights that make this currently one of the most popular holiday destinations on the Adriatic Sea.

Contact Angela or Hanna for further information of this and future events at Chester via email at chesterbranch@globetrotters.co.uk

For information on Ontario meetings, please contact Svatka Hermanek: shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca or Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.

The Ontario branch meetings are held on the third Friday of January, March, May, September and November. Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.

After enjoying a number of different writers listing out their Top Ten Writer’s Read in recent editions of the Geographical magazine, http://www.geographical.co.uk, I thought I’d attempt my own list. Most are travel orientated and most have been reread more than a few times J I’m not sure whether there’s any other common themes – probably it’s a mix of enjoying their writing styles or having travelled to the locations talked about.

The Sinbad Voyage by Tim Severin, published by Hutchinson & Co. One of my first travel reads – a very boy’s own adventure but it fired my imagination about what travel could show me, crucially as at sixteen I had not even been out of England. Tim totally immerses himself & his team into different cultures & peoples, whilst realising a fantastic project from start to finish. His writing style depicts the joy of travelling itself – from planning, through the journey and onto a wider world that he has not seen before.

The Last Grain Race by Eric Newby, published by Picador. Newby, one of the first modern era travel writers, talks about his time spent on the four masted steel barque Moshulu’s last voyage in the Australian grain trade in the 1930s. Its sea journey feels hard, uncomfortable – as Eric stumbles his way around the globe as a novice deckhand. Whilst I found his technical sailing difficult to follow at times, I did undertake a couple of my own ship journeys…aboard the Malcolm Miller around the Canary Islands & aboard the Soren Larsen down to New Zealand. After those journey I understood more about his adventure and how other worldly being away from land for days can be and yet how much camaraderie can develop in such a confined space.

Monsignor Quixote by Graham Greene, published by The Bodley Head. Unusually a fiction that grabbed my attention and whilst not an out & out travel story, it does use travel to expand the lives of the two main characters as they cross Franco’s Spain. Eminently readable and quite intimate in the development of friendship that was freed from limitations by being on the road.

A Cook’s Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines by Anthony Bourdain, published by Bloomsbury Publishing. It is Bourdain’s account of his world travels — from the perspective of eating exotic local dishes and trying to experience life as a native in each country. The book was recommended to me by a friend and appealed to one of my reasons for travelling…the enjoyment of different tastes and foods, though many of Bourdain’s ingredients wouldn’t pass my lips !

Long Way Round by Ewan McGregor, Charley Boorman, published by Little Brown Book Group. Probably like most, I watched the TV program and then indulged in the book – their journey around the globe is a simple premise itself but I think the appeal lies in it being a motorbike journey by two friends, who despite their star studded lives, encounter similar travel ups & downs to many of us who set out on some trip. Particularly resonating is Ewan reminding himself more than once that he has to leave behind his London suspicions & scepticisms towards strangers & difference circumstances.

Annapurna, The first 8000 meter Peak by Maurice Herzog, published by Dutton. I bought this mountaineering epic at the Pilgrims Bookshop in Thamel, next door to the Kathmandu Guest house – I wanted to anticipate my forthcoming trek up to South Annapurna Base Camp. Little did I realise Herzog would cause so much controversy after he returned to France in the early 1950s…many critics and colleagues have since accused him of playing up his singular role at the expense of the other expedition members.

Jupiter’s Travels by Ted Simon, published by Penguin Books Ltd. After Long Way round I finally got round to reading this now classic…Its very intense & detailed in reflecting his experiences, particularly around his time in Africa and California – Ted manages to convey his daily life around his motorbike and their interactions through the world they pass through.

As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee, published by W. W. Norton & Company. Second time around I thoroughly enjoyed Lee’s account of travelling from his ‘Cider with Rosie’ rural upbringing on to a quite different & more complex world…his travels through England are unusual and talk of an England I’ve never known. Lee’s writing is very open and I found I recognised much in his sense of heading up to London & beyond..

A time of gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor, published by John Murray (Publishers). Another classic that I’d heard of but knew nothing about ! What fascinates me is not only his descriptions in travelling in the 1930s but the historical backdrop Patrick is passing through, as Europe heads to war. Fermor is another who leaves behind a way of life I’ll never experience and two more volumes await me as he completes his epic walk to Istanbul.

feedback & comments from eNewsletter readers, as told to The Ant

• Dear Sir,

  I read the article by Tony Annis and was impressed by its information and astute observations about cycle touring in New Zealand. Just one or two points. By far the best guide to cycling in New Zealand is a local, reasonably-priced, guide called Peddler’s Paradise, www.paradise-press.co.nz I also run a free non-affiliated website for cycle touring in NZ www.cycletour.co.nz

  Your own website is excellent.

  Cheers,

  David Stillaman, New Zealand

• Re article “Write in (3)…Peter Gostelow is off again !” from the August 2009 eNewsletter

  Author : Henry J. Reitz

  Email : shellmanhenry@sbcglobal.net

  Peter. . .As we say in California, ‘You made my booty squeese’. I like your spirit and enjoyed the photography. I am also a Globetrotter with 85 countries to my credit and four circles of the globe. There were many photos I recognized as places I have been to and especially liked the ones up the Indus valley and the beauty of the inhabitants. . .Credit to Alexander.

  Please enjoy Namibia, it is truly a last frontier and some of the nicest people you will ever meet…That is where I grew up and ran away from as a kid in 1958 to become a ‘Trotter’.

  Be safe, my spirit is with you

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