At times, March has been just a little bit too hectic. After five fantastic days in snowy Québec (they've had five metres this year) I had a couple of weeks at home. Most of that time, I was tied to my desk trying to wade through the weight of outstanding paraphernalia, but I did manage to slip my chains to go to a Wildnerness Medical Training course and a travel-writing festival. Then I took off once more for Canada - this time I went to Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, where the Channel 5 and History Channel programme Ice Road Truckers is set. And now I've just a few days in London before leaving again for Chukotka, in the far northeast of Russia. But more about that next time.
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| And the winner is... |
The winner of my website travel-writing competition this month is Stephen Wassell, for his piece on travellling overland through Asia in a double-decker bus called Albert. Click here to read Stephen's piece and check out his photographs of Albert in action. Stephen wins the Bradt guide of his choice. Be sure to enter the competition for April - the winner could be you.
The winner of the newletter draw, meanwhile, is Mark Maddox, so Mark will receive a signed copy of one my books very soon.
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| On a Hoof and a Prayer hits the shelves in the US |
 On April 29th, my book about learning to ride horses in Argentina, On a Hoof and a Prayer, will be published in the US. It's already getting a good reception, despite the fact that it's not actually been published yet. Kirkus Reviews said, 'Funny and easygoing, Evans reveals the little-known richness of Argentina' while Newsday wrote:
'Here she goes again, putting herself in uncomfortable situations with a risk of aches and pains - and embarrassment. The celebrated author of "It's Not About the Tapas" (her take on Spain) and "Fried Eggs With Chopsticks" (her China travels), Evans has an engaging style that draws comparisons to Paul Theroux and Bill Bryson. Certainly, she's open to adventure, whether motorcycling across New Zealand or dogsledding in the Yukon (the subject of her book due out next year). For this South American journey, she decided to fly to a 6,000-acre cattle farm in Cordoba, where she would learn to ride in a week. Then she would spend two months touring the country from Patagonia to Buenos Aires, riding horseback whenever she got the chance. Her girlfriends were wary. They warned her that the denim seams on her jeans would permanently scar her calves, that her hands would be rubbed raw, and worst of all: "Oh yes, and also, remember that after you've been riding you will really stink." But she has sense enough to take it all in stride.'
Go to my website for the full low-down, including a blurb, an extract, and recommendations on how to repeat my journey - or parts of it - for yourself. And click here for the photos.
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| Yellowknife and the Ice Road Truckers |
 I'm just back from Yellowknife in Canada's Northwest Territories, where I went snowmobiling on Great Slave Lake, saw some truly incredible northern lights which filled the whole sky with extraordinary swirling, buffeting movement (check out Aurora Village's website - they even have heated swivel chairs from which you can watch), and followed a tiny bit of a six-day snow-shoeing and skiing ultra marathon called the Rock and Ice Ultra (go on, enter next year, you know you want to). I also spent a day driving on the ice road that leads from Yellowknife to the diamond mines - this is the same road that features on the TV show Ice Road Truckers. I wasn't actually at the wheel - I left that to a man called Malcolm who owns the tour company called True North Safaris. I don't think it's a road I'll be driving myself any time soon - some of the portages (the land sections that link the lakes) were narrow and winding, and I wouldn't have wanted to be behind the wheel of any vehicle coming face to face with the gargantuan trucks that were hauling their loads. But the ice was beautiful - clear blue and striking turquoise - and the portages peppered with pure-white ptarmigan.
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| Wilderness Medical Training |
In preparation for my mammoth dogsledding adventure next year, I decided that I ought to learn a few basic survival techniques of the medical kind, so a few weeks ago I took myself off to a weekend course run by Wilderness Medical Training, and hosted by the Royal Geographical Society in London. The fractures and dislocations lecture started something like this, 'Orthopedic surgeons train for 12 years. We've got one hour. But don't worry, it's easy.' It was full-on stuff but, although my head felt like it was about to explode with an excess of information, by the end of the weekend I found I'd learnt a lot - not least that one can perform CPR to the tune of 'Nellie the Elephant' (the theme tune to The Archers works too). I didn't learn enough that anyone should feel confident going out into the woods with me just yet though...
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| The Bookfiend's Kingdom |
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I was interviewed this month for the second time by the Bookfiend's Kingdom, which is a book review and author interview website that raises awareness and funds for the care of adults with autism, in connection with the Disabilities Trust. It's run by two women, Vicky and Debbie. Vicky's daughter Naomi was diagnosed at the age of 28 with autism; although she had an ordinary childhood and did well in mainstream school, she had her first breakdown aged 21 and now needs full-time care, which she receives in the autism-specific residential home run by the Disabilities Trust. Curiously enough, after they started the Bookfiend's Kingdom, Debbie too was diagnosed with Asperger's - at the age of 56 - though her symptoms are not severe.
So now Vicky and Debbie tour the country, interviewing authors and posting podcasts and reviews on their site. Do drop by and have a read or a listen, or make a donation at www.justgiving.com/thebookfiendskingdom.
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| This month at PollyEvans.com |
If you've read this far you're clearly a glutton for punishment so I'll point you in the direction of PollyEvans.com, where there's a new Quirky Guide for April about the Auberge Saint-Antoine in Québec City. Of all the hotels I've ever stayed in, this is one that's really grabbed me - it sits across the old city walls, and an archaeological dig took place before the hotel was built. The designers then used the artifacts they found to anchor the building's decor to its extraordinary history.
April's Books of the Month all relate to Spain - I've been inspired by Giles Tremlett's book Ghosts of Spain, which I've been reading following a lecture he gave at the Royal Geographical Society. I've added to the mix two other books on the country that I've enjoyed: On Bullfighting by A. L. Kennedy and Gerald Brenan's South from Granada.
If you have any comments, thoughts or utterly brilliant suggestions, do drop me a line at polly@pollyevans.com
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Québec City's 400th birthday
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So here's the story: in 1608, the French navigator Samuel de Champlain bobbed up the St Lawrence river in his boat. He'd been looking for some years for a good spot to establish a French settlement from which Canada's wealth of furs could be traded. He found it at the place the Algonquins called Quebec - "the point where the river narrows." And so he set up house.
The first settlement was the Place-Royale (above). Four hundred years on, the old buildings are still there and, in recent years, they've been given a good buff and polish. The result is slightly chocolate boxy but indisputably pretty. The very touristy areas of the Place-Royale and the Quartier Petit Champlain are lined with tiny snow-laden pine trees, decked out with fairy lights, and shops selling art and craft works that, for the most part, manage to be charming rather than tacky.
The most striking thing about Québec City is that, almost 250 years after the French were ousted by the British (the so-called Conquest happened in 1759), it's still very, very French. When the British moved in, they allowed Québec to keep the French language and still to this day 85% of the province is French-speaking. In Québec City, English is spoken a lot less than in Montreal, and many people can't get by in English at all. On the other hand, plenty of people are bilingual which means that, every time I started a conversation in my rather rusty university French, I had no idea whether the person I was speaking to had no English at all, or whether in fact they spoke the language better than I did.
The food is very French too - lots of cosy bistros selling steak frites and croques monsieur and tartiflettes with carafes of table wine. And that's before you've started on the cakes.
It's colder than France but the people, generally, are warmer (they enthusiasticallly complimented my language skills even though it was clear that my French was horrible). And, as tends to be the way in cold places, some of the people are a little bit crazy. On the Sunday morning I was there, I threw open the curtains of my hotel room which overlooked the St Lawrence river to see several groups of people out canoeing among the ice floes.
If you want to try your hand at ice canoeing, the major race across the St Lawrence takes place during Québec City's annual winter carnival. Find somewhere cold and start practising now. Alternatively, you could visit during the summer and enjoy the 400th anniversary celebrations.
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I've another two pieces in Wanderlust this month (it's the April/May issue). The first is about 