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For anyone in the London area, I'll be talking about the Canadian Arctic at the Royal Geographical Society on 11 November. The evening is a part of the Society's 'Discovering Places' series - together with photographer Martin Hartley, I'll be talking about my own Arctic experiences and answering questions from the audience on how to travel through the far north. Tickets and further details are available from the RGS.

A good opportunity for aspiring travel writers this month: the British Guild of Travel Writers has just launched a new travel-writing competition as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations. The competition is open to anyone over the age of 18 who has not yet been published in the field of travel; entrants should submit an 800-word article on the topic of 'A Very Special Place' by 31 December. First prize is a four-day travel-writing holiday in Istanbul with Travellers' Tales; second prize is a trip to Berlin, and third prize is ten Bradt guides. See the Guild's website for more information.

Also in November: my story on travelling on the Alaska Marine Highway from Homer to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands is published in Wanderlust magazine. It was a wonderful journey through remote and little-visited communities - it was hard to believe that this was still the United States. There are some photos on my photography website to give you a feel for the place.

I'll be announcing the latest winners of my slightly sporadic travel-writing competition very shortly. In the meantime, check out the last couple of winning stories - the prizes went to Fabian Acker for his very funny story about how to annoy Frenchmen on yachts, and Rob Nelson for his fascinating story on travelling in Mao's China. Both Fabian and Rob won the Bradt guide of their choice.

Winning prizes at this website is easy. For the travel-writing competition, just email me in 500 words or less about your most bizarre, most beautiful, or most battering travel experience. More details here. To win the newsletter draw, all you have to do is join the mailing list and then hope your name comes out of the hat. You can sign up by filling in the boxes at the top right of this page.

And of course, if you click on those little buttons to the left, you'll find lots, lots more.

 

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www.GreatOutdoors.com, February 2009. The three of us stood stripped to our underwear and contemplated the rushing glacial stream. The water came to hip height—if we wanted to stay dry we’d have to undress still further—but wordlessly we agreed to cling to this one last vestige of propriety. And then, backpack waist straps unclipped in case of calamity and using each other’s bodies for support, we inched our way through the numbing torrents...
 
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