Here's the latest information about members of Writers and Photographers unLimited and their travels. Hopefully you'll find it interesting reading, but the real point is to keep you informed about WPu, whose members are all full-time professionals. If we/they can be of service to you, please feel free to contact them direct.

And do you know about our 'sister' organisation � Guidebookwriters.com? This setup is open only to guidebook writers, as distinct from feature writers.

See guidebookwriters.com and www.wpu.org.uk for one-stop, well, two-stop, shopping for professional writers and photographers.

Terry Marsh WPu Administrator

SO WHAT IS EVERYONE UP TO?

MAKING TRACKS FOR TIBET Having just returned from a month exploring China�s south-western provinces and Tibet, PETER ELLEGARD is planning a return trip to Tibet in August to experience the world�s highest railway, which will link Lhasa with Golmud in China�s Qinhai province and open up Tibet to rail travel from across China when it opens in July. He will also visit Beijing to see latest developments for the 2008 Olympics. On his recent trip, Peter travelled extensively around Tibet and Yunnan, Guangxi and Sichuan provinces, including visiting Xishuangbanna near the Laos border, the �Shangri-La� region of northwest Yunnan around Lijiang and Zhongdian, and the stunning scenic areas of Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan and Guilin and Yangshuo in Guangxi. During the trip, Peter looked at the growing golf phenomenon in China, visiting and playing courses including the world�s largest golf complex, Mission Hills in Shenzhen, and the world�s highest and longest course, Jade Dragon Golf Club in Lijiang.

Peter�s travels also took him to Orlando in early May to attend US travel industry show Pow Wow for the 19th time. Forthcoming visits will take in Massachusetts, Utah, the Costa del Sol as well as a return to Shanghai and southern China later this year.

Peter has just finished revising the AA Explorer Guide to China and is currently co-writing the new AA Key Guide to China. Photographs from his latest visit will be added to existing China galleries on his website (www.peterellegard.co.uk) soon while other galleries will be added in due course.

Contact Peter on: email: peter@ellegard.co.uk; tel: +44 (0)1702 304023; mobile: +44 (0)7710 270517. Address: 15 Constable Way, Shoeburyness, Essex SS3 9TA. Website: www.peterellegard.co.uk.

FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD For the past month FELICITY MARTIN has had a dream job � researching and writing a brochure about Perthshire food and drink. She�d welcome any enquiries for stories about local producers and what makes their products so special � from smoked salmon and venison, through lamb, wild boar and Highland beef, to the most delicious strawberries and raspberries, washed down with fruit wine and a wee dram. Reports are that Walks Orkney, her latest pocket guide for Hallewell Publications, is going down well on the islands. Felicity was even interviewed by BBC Radio Orkney and featured in The Orcadian (fame at last!).

Flushed with this success, Felicity accepted VisitScotland�s invitation to the Media Adventure Challenge at Kenmore on Loch Tay, where she teamed up with journalists from Sweden and Germany. Living in Perthshire, she is well positioned to answer requests for features or photos on adventure activities, including action shots from the recent Liquid Life Festival on the River Tummel (see above).

Contact: mail@felicitymartin.co.uk; Telephone: 01764 684454

OUR NEXT ADVENTURE WILL BE IN �? In his endless quest for a story, to satisfy the editor and an unquenchable thirst for adventure, new member COLIN HUTCHISON has occasionally found himself undertaking many a step, leap and plunge into both the unknown and familiar. Treks across Scotland and Patagonia, nail-biting hang-gliding flights above Rio de Janeiro, bone-jarring mountain-bike descents of Bolivian passes, mid-air leaps from perfectly safe planes and plunges into azure but chilly waters to join delightfully, inquisitive wild dolphins are but some of the assignments already fulfilled in a bid to inform newspaper features and travel guides. Now, with a safari in Tanzania beckoning (I draw the line at being asked to tickle the snout of a crocodile) and an opportunity to explore the sands of Zanzibar, is there a travel guide or magazine feature editor out there who seeks copy from the wildlife haven of Selous and / or the streets of Stone Town? Alternatively, perhaps you require the input of a writer au-fait with the adventure to be enjoyed in Scotland's great outdoors � or a ski-tested writer to highlight the hot destinations for winter-sports fun in 2007. Whatever your travel bag, feel free to give me a call. Contact: Mobile : 07966 631180; Email: colin.hutchison@gmail.com

CAN HUGH HANDLE JORDAN? HUGH TAYLOR is heading to Jordan in June to photographs and research his latest guide book the Globetrotter Guide to Jordan which he is writing with his wife, Moira McCrossan. In July they are off to Cancun and the Yucatan Peninsula to work on their next Globetrotter title the Best of Cancun and the Yucatan Peninsula. In between times Hugh has several features to write from last years Australian trip and the Scottish section of a new coffee table book on world travel for Dorling Kindersley.

Hugh is also currently revising several of Jarrold�s Pathfinder walking guides and will be doing some 150 walks from Northumbria and the Scottish Borders to Cairngorms, Fort William, Glencoe, Loch Lomond, the Trossachs and Glasgow, Clyde Valley, Ayrshire and Arran.

Contact: travelscribe@btinternet.com

FROM BETJEMAN TO BOND NICK CHANNER has been busy of late doing what he loves best - walking and trying out literary journeys. We all know the James Bond movies and that most of them are set in the world's more exotic locations. What isn't so well known is that two of Ian Fleming's novels, Moonraker and Goldfinger, feature Kent as a backdrop. Nick has been following the James Bond trail through the county and even stopped for a drink (martini, of course, shaken but not stirred) at the Duck at Pett Bottom near Canterbury. Fleming wrote 'You Only Live Twice' here in 1964. Then it was home to research another JB (this time John Betjeman), visiting churches and suburban stations in Berkshire and the Chilterns to mark the centenary of the Poet Laureate's birth in August. Nick has also completed a book of walks in the Chilterns and is busily preparing to revise several Jarrold titles this summer.

Contact: nickchanner@freeuk.com 01635 862034/07753 836639

TROPICALLY TYPICAL Following on from a five month spell in Southeast Asia, where he biked, climbed and kayaked around Thailand, Cambodia, Borneo and Malaysia, with a spell cycling through Australia thrown in STEVE THOMAS returned home for a short while to open his mail before heading to Cuba for a month.

Along the way he bagged a huge stock-pile of images and unusual material, and is currently dodging around the UK and continental Europe for the summer. If you'd like to see any images of are interested in some unusual travel features please contact steve@imageadventure.co.uk or check out www.imageadventure.co.uk

VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE Flyfishing in Ireland, golfing in France, festivities in Tenerife, chilling out in the tropics, cruising the Black Sea, and testing multi-course tasting menus in Asturias is how LINDA JACKSON is spicing up her life these days. Want to know more? ... then contact her on 01892 822783 or 07763 105 088 or linda_jackson@btopenworld.com. She's Travel Correspondent for DEVON LIFE and DEVON BRIDES magazines so always on the lookout for romantic honeymoon hotspots and travel destinations 'with a difference' to write about.

JOHN RADFORD - WHEREABOUTS AND WHERE YA BIN...? A good deal of my work is wine- and food-related, and from about mid-March to the end of June the wine-world goes mad with events, presumably on the assumption that everyone goes on holiday after the beginning of July. It all starts again around September in the run-up to Christmas, but that�s another story for another edition.

The first week of May I was in Galicia, Spain, retracing the footsteps of Graham Greene, who spent most of his last 20 summers in the unspoilt medieval city of Ribadavia, sampling the wines of Ribeira Sacra, Ribeiro and R�as Baixas and visiting various monasteries, including Santa Mar�a la Real in Oseira, still a working Cistercian order, where Greene went on retreat and where he got the inspiration for his novel Monsignor Quixote: a wonderful, palatial building with a magnificent church, and Greene�s personal library is housed here. Brother Lu�s was kind enough to show us round and I bought a splendid Madonna and Child icon in gold leaf in memory of my mother-in-law, who had died at the beginning of April: I�m not a religious person but she was, and it somehow seemed fitting.

The third week of May was Barcelona and Vilafranca del Pened�s to visit wineries, vineyards and, er, restaurants and bars as part of a fact-finding expedition for possible wine-tours later this year and next year, topped off with a day in Barcelona including a visit to the world�s greatest wine shop LAVINIA, where I was delighted to find the Spanish-language edition of my book The New Spain on sale. I signed every copy (so now they can�t send them back on sale-or-return!). [Incidentally, I�m sure that many colleagues will already know about this, but three years ago, sick of the helter-skelter of half a lifetime spent in airports queuing for the loo and paying retail-and-a-half for drinks, I joined Priority Pass (www.prioritypass.co.uk). They give you a card which lets you into the calm, air-conditioned (and free-drinks) world of the first-class lounge, with internet access in many and, well, even if it�s just a comfortable armchair and newspapers to wile away the hour�s wait for the gate to open, fantastic value even if (as I was) you�re flying Easyjet (btw did you know that Easyjet is shortly to introduce seat bookings, thereby avoiding the unseemly free-for-all dash for the gate which currently applies?).]

On the 31st May it�s Madrid for an awards ceremony (don�t want to brag but... No, on second thoughts I won�t) but I can recommend the Hotel Plaza Mayor (www.h-plazamayor.com), a hundred yards from the city centre, small but comfortable and very modestly priced (�59 plus tax for a single with bath), as well as walking-distance from most of the old-town sights.

First week of June closer to home - the Bath Priory Hotel, where I�ve hosted a number of wine-lunches, but this is a piece about the chef and his opinion of restaurant and hotel critics, which should be something of an education (for me, anyway). They love us really, don�t they? (No. Ed.)

Second week of June it�s Bologna in Italy for a stay in a newly elected Relais-Ch�teaux hotel, interview with the chef, eat dinner, explore the sights, drink wine, negotiate a deal for a new magazine, drink wine, sleep...

Third and fourth weeks it�s Brazil with the Councours Mondiale de Bruxelles, tasting wine and cacha�a, visiting wineries and local tourist destinations, the rain forest and equatorial vineyards which produce two crops of grapes a year.

Then, at the end of June/beginning of July it�s Oporto and the Port country, delving into the history (and the cellars) of one of the oldest Port houses and doing the train journey from Oporto to Pinh�o (one of Michael Palin�s Great Railway Journeys of the World) for a forthcoming book. Speaking of which, publisher�s contract arrived today for my next book on Spanish food and wine - Cook Espa�a - Drink Espa�a. I shall need a magnifying glass to read the advance they�re offering. How can we make any money from writing? You know, I�ve got this brilliant idea for a children�s series about a hirsute hotel bellboy with a side-job cleaning the loos. I�m thinking of calling it Hairy Porter and the Toilet of Doom. What do you think?

Contact: john@johnradford.com 07-000-790-148

MORE KETCHUP THAN SALSA June 12th sees the release of More Ketchup than Salsa (Summersdale) by JOE CAWLEY, a humorous account of swapping a career in fish entrails on Bolton market for a life as a British bar owner in Tenerife.

Interviews, excerpts and press information readily available from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

Contact Joe Cawley at writer@joecawley.co.uk +34 922 857002 or +34 676 711285

FROM DRAGON BOATS TO DISNEY JEANNINE WILLIAMSON is heading to Hong Kong for the annual Dragon Boat Festival. She will also be checking out all the other diverse attractions from ancient pagodas and monasteries to the altogether more modern pursuits of horse racing and the world's newest Disneyland.

Contact jeannine@motcombemedia.demon.co.uk

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE Water continued to feature in GILLIAN THORNTON's travel itinerary as she followed the Dordogne river from source to mouth; explored the west coast of Ireland; and headed for the lakes of the French Alps and the Rhone Valley. A beach resort on the Algarve beckons plus a self-catering trip to the north Devon coast. Northern Corsica coming up later in the year. Also Helsinki and Tallinn on a twin-city trip. Need copy or pictures? Contact gillian.thorntons@btinternet.com or telephone 01582 468771 or 07831 275889.

NOT AS EXPECTED Just back from Fuerteventura which turned out to be totally unlike what MARI NICHOLSON imagined, so I'm going to try and market a different idea - kids in 5* hotels, as the 5* places I checked out have super kids' clubs for the little darlings. If anyone out there would like a piece along these lines, 'I'm your man' as they say in Ireland. Two 1200-word articles in Apollo Executive Review this month with lots of my photographs well laid out, runner-up in the SWWJ Lady Violet Astor Award for best published journalism and a commission to do some historic pubs in Northern Ireland where sampling will be very necessary (I thought I'd volunteer), makes life look good. No travel plans for the next month, time to consolidate and sort out files, but there's enough home-ground stuff to keep me busy here on the Isle of Wight.

Contact: maritravel@maritravel.entadsl.com

LOOK OUT, THERE ARE LLAMAS! And lots of them too (if you're travelling in Bolivia, that is). JACQUES MARAIS has just returned from covering the final stages of the Land Rover G4 Challenge in Bolivia, a country commonly known as 'The Tibet of South America'. Eighteen competitors from around the world took part in this truly global outdoor adventure, testing their driving-, navigation-, survival-, physical and communication skills to the absolute limit. Camping in -16 Degree Celsius temperatures, traversing the massive Salar de Uyuni salt lakes, navigating gruelling passes in the Andes ranges, mountainbiking on the Altiplano and kayaking great South American rivers all formed part of the experience. There was time to explore some of Bolivia's other attractions as well, including La Higuera (the town where Che Guevara was captured and executed) as well as Sucr�, the cultural capital of this country with its rich colonial heritage. Contact: Tel: +(27-21) 78 22 849 / Cell: +(27-83) 444 5369 / email: info@jacquesmarais.co.za / web: www.jacquesmarais.co.za

MOONRISE WITH CROCODILES ANTHONY TOOLE has just arrived back after five weeks travelling in the Antipodes. Between stopovers in Hong Kong and Bangkok, he squeezed in a week in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, (including the beach wedding of a relative), a week travelling around the Northern Territory by Winnebago ( Darwin, Kakadu, Litchfield, magnificent scenery, birds and animals by the million, simultaneous sunset and moonrise on Yellow Water), several days exploring parks and nature reserves in and around Melbourne and a final week in Sydney (including a concert at the Opera House). He has hundreds of photographs and enough material for a dozen articles beyond those already commissioned.

After a few days' recovery from jet-lag, he is off to the Lake District, climbing and walking with a crowd of schoolchildren, and finally hopes to relax with a dozen-or-so Scottish Munros in July/August.

Contact: anthonytoole@fsmail.net

HIT THE NORTH DAVID ATKINSON will be spending summer closer to home this year with assignments based in the UK and Europe. He has permanently relocated to Chester and is now seeking travel ideas for the Northwest/North of England.

Recent assignments include Oslo's cheap thrills for the Daily Telegraph (read more at www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main.jhtml?xml=/travel/2006/04/26/etoslo26.xml&sSheet=/travel/2006/04/26/ixtrvhome.html) and a bushcraft survival course in Scotland for Wanderlust Magazine (www.wanderlust.co.uk).

David also continues to specialise in Latin America with recent stories about Argentina in the FT (read it at http://news.ft.com/cms/s/6fbf027c-d69a-11da-b64c-0000779e2340.html) and on BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4830084.stm)

Over the summer, however, David will be focusing on Wales, Ireland and the Isle of Man as destinations and is now keen to hear from anyone with ideas/clients/story angles on these destinations.

Please see www.atkinsondavid.co.uk and email David at atkinson.david@virgin.net.

FRIGHT NIGHTS A recent assignment which involved staying in a selection of Britain's most luxurious hotels and deciding which of them should get a "Hotel pf the Year" award (rotten job, but someone has got to do it!) has inspired ROBIN MEAD to rewrite his best-selling ghost book "Weekend Haunts": a guide to the nation's hotels where not all the guests are tangible. Has anything strange (and printable!) happened to you in a hotel bedroom? Are you a PR with a spooky hotel client?

If so, e-mail Robin on or telephone 020 8346 3772.

GADGET CONSCIOUS VAL FIELD has become something of a swot - going to computer classes to brush up on her Powerpoint skills - but has still found time in the past month to tour the farthest corners of Britain, ranging from the Scottish Highlands to the Isles of Scilly, by car, boat and train. She has also been busy reviewing the latest travel books and travel accessories for her caravanning clients.

All gadgets, gizmos and guidebooks to Val at 9 Hollinghurst Road, St Leonards on Sea, East Sussex TN37 7JP, or e-mail her on

INDIAN OCEAN DOG DAYS In Mauritius KATERINA ROBERTS has gone barking mad spending hot days out with PAWS, an animal welfare charity, doing a piece for Dogs Today on the stray dog population and its impact on tourism. They're involved in a mass sterilisation project and watching mutts getting snipped at PAWS' mobile clinics has had its funny/sad (ouch) moments. However, it's been a great way of getting to know owners, animals, vets and volunteers and good to know that the project is showing encouraging signs of success in reducing the number of stray dogs.

Meanwhile commissioned trips to Reunion (French DOM-TOM)and Rodrigues (better known for Prince William's 2004 holiday hideaway) and more travels in and around Mauritius have produced fresh material for Insight Guides. It still amazes me after all these years of visiting the Indian Ocean how Mauritius, Reunion and Rodrigues (the trio of island which form the Mascarenes) are so very different yet so close to each other that it's like going to India, France and Africa in one hit. The updated Insight Guide is due out later this year.

Now dog-tired I'm looking forward to an imminent lay-down in London returning mid June. If any fellow travel writers/editors/PR people want to meet up I can be contacted on the UK mobile 07949 643298. Otherwise it's the usual address for words and pictures at roberts@intnet.mu or visit www.roberts-images.com.

CELEBS, SLAPPERS, CELLULOID, AND SCHLEPPING (WITH A FRIDGE) After interviewing the patron saint of English football in Sunningdale PAUL MURPHY is running his finger along the top of wardrobes in 5-star hotels in Mallorca, speaking to ladies of the night in Amsterdam and checking out the very best family locations in the Algarve for a major new guidebook series. Meanwhile he is also contributing to in-flight and on-board magazines, writing a UK film location guide for Visit Britain and is contemplating walking around the Isle of Wight with a fridge� with Tony Hawkes� blessing of course! Contact: paulw.murphy@tiscali.co.uk, www.paulwmurphy.co.uk; T: 01276 476950 AMERICA TO AFRICA Freelance journalist and photographer RON TOFT has just returned from southern Florida where he gathered words and digital images for a string of commissioned and speculative articles on chic Naples, the wildlife of the Everglades, the history and culture of the unconquered Seminole Indians and the many and varied attractions of the Florida Keys.

Coming up are trips to York, Bath, Keswick, Caithness/Sutherland, southern Zambia, southern France and South Africa.

Additional commissions warmly welcomed. Email ron.toft@btinternet.com or phone 01962 761206.

HOTFEET It�s been a busy year so far, starting in Mali where Tony Howard and DI TAYLOR went Dogon trekking before traveling up north past Timbuktu to the Touareg Desert Festival assisted by West Africa Tours. We then dashed off hotfoot to Jordan where our first week saw us writing up a new three-day trek amidst a blend of rolling hills and savage canyons from the Dana Nature Reserve to Petra, location of our host, Jordan Beauty Tours. The second week we were with Bedouin friends in Wadi Rum collecting info for a guidebook update, a project that continued through the next two weeks in North Jordan, caving, climbing and trekking in a land of flowers and pine forests, somehow finding time to speak on Adventure Travel on behalf of our sponsors, Jordan Tourism Development, at their National Tourism Strategy Seminar.

Contact: di@nomadstravel.co.uk; www.nomadstravel.co.uk

ON THE ROAD AGAIN Canadian freelancer writer and photographer MICHAEL DEFREITAS has just returned from Antarctic and Amazon adventure cruises. He had enough time to get some laundry done and pump out three stories for World of Cruising and National Geographic Traveler before packing for his one month assignment in Norway and the Arctic.

But at least he'll be home for July and August to work on his adventure cruise guide and catch up with paperwork before his diving assignment in Palau and Yap in September. Of course he swears his October hiking trip in Chile will be his last outing of the year...at least that's what he keeps telling his wife.

Contact; michaeld@iwritetravel.com

ON THE DRAGON'S BACK Wales is dominating JOHN GILLHAM's agenda. He has just been commissioned by the AA to write the AA Leisure Guide to Wales, something that will keep him busy during the summer. John is also undertaking the mammoth task of preparing walkers' guides to the Mountains of Wales. These will incorporate hundreds of colour photographs complemented by the author's panoramic line drawings of the mountains and ranges. Examples of these drawings can be seen each month in TGO magazine's 'Way to Go' series.

Contact: john@johngillham.com

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE In the Alps the Spring is at it's best during the fifth month of the year and the alpine meadows are awash with every conceivable kind of Spring flower.

In Switzerland and Austria the mountain people make the most of the longer warm days. Music plays a big part in the coming of Spring and everywhere the excellent village bands are making music in the open air. In Austria, a deeply religious country, the Catholic population celebrate the festival of Corpus Christi and it is always worth timing a holiday visit to coincide with this great festival. Beautiful traditional costumes, worn my young and old alike get an airing for this special day and hats bearing garlands of spring blossom are seen everywhere. The music on these occasions is nothing less than wonderful.

I watched my first Corpus Christi day celebration in a small village near Innsbruck and as the priest and his entourage processed around the village I was struck by the quality of the music for a small village band. It was only afterwards that I learned that some of the musicians in the band were members of the state orchestra and had returned to their own village for the celebrations.

These people are fun loving individuals and enjoy life to the full with beer festivals and musical events featuring strongly in the calendar. International Photobank photographers have often joined them on such occasions and our comprehensive collection of travel pictures from around the world includes some of these. This month we are featuring the alpine regions on the home page of our website and just a click will link you to these pictures. We are well known for our responsive service to our clients requests.

Contact: Peter Baker, International Photobank, Unit D1, Roman Hill Business Park, Broadmayne, Dorset DT2 8LY.

Telephone: 01305 854145; Fax: 01305 � 853065; Email peter@internationalphotobank.co.uk for all picture requests

KATAKLYSMOS BOUND CAROLE FRENCH (www.carolefrench.com) has just returned from a trip to the Dordogne and Paris, stopping off in Bougival near Rueil Malmaison where she once lived, along with Bulgaria and Dubai for magazine articles. She is returning to Cyprus again in June where she has a home for the Kataklysmos Festival of the Flood and to delve further into Nicosia�s history for a cityguide project, as well as reporting on some of the island�s hotels for a guide. Trips to Turin, Rome, Naples and Sicily, and Amsterdam, Rhodes and Palma are taking place over the summer, and she is visiting Cambridge and Newmarket in the UK. Later in the year Carole is making a return trip to Hong Kong and Australia. She is available for magazine, newspaper and guide book commissions.

Contact Carole on info@carolefrench.com or telephone 01255 871080 or 07957 862922.

BUSY BEE JENNY MCKELVIE�s Dorling Kindersley and the Dalmatian Coast, Globetrotter Croatia and Thomas Cook Travellers Latvia guides has just been published, as has her �Top 15 City Destinations in Europe� Mintel report.

Jenny has recently travelled to Cyprus, the Isle of Skye, the northwest Highlands of Scotland and Poland, as well as Venice and Budapest on the Orient Express. Her next trips will take her to Barcelona, the Costa Brava (L'Escala and Cadaques) and a six-day hike from Portpatrick to Sanquhar - half of the Southern Upland Way. Jenny is available for commissions.

Contact: jenny_mckelvie@yahoo.co.uk.

TOURING THE MERCANTOUR... MOUNTAIN SPORT PHOTOGRAPHY has been increasing it's coverage of the outdoor stock photography market for some time now. From abseiling to zip wires, we've got it on file, on digital and on it's way to you as soon as you need it. The latest location added to my list is the Mercantour National Park in the Alps Maritime.

With easyJet flying into Nice from Liverpool this is becoming a popular alternative destination for summer mountain activity holidays and winter skiing. This is where the French go to get away from it and switched-on Brits are discovering the area too. Mountain walking, Alpine climbing, rock and ice, Via Ferratta, horse riding and mountain biking are all readily available - for words and professional photography of the Mercantour National Park on the Cote d'Azure.

Contact Dave Willis at Mountain Sport Photography on email mountainsport@btinternet.com or visit the website at www.mountainsportphoto.com or telephone 01931 716174.

HIS CUP RUNNETH OVER As a rugby fan virtually since birth (well, there's not a lot else to do in St Helens), MIKE GERRARD has landed his dream assignment: working on the official travel guide to the 2007 Rugby World Cup for the International Rugby Board. Not only that, it's being held in France so he gets to go to Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Montpellier and Saint-Etienne, as well as Cardiff and Edinburgh which are also hosting matches. By pure fluke (honest), he will be in Toulouse when their Rio Loco festival is on, and in Bordeaux for the Bordeaux Wine Festival too. So that's June and July taken care of.

Contact: mail@mikegerrard.com

THE GREAT BRITISH SCENIC TOUR Travel and Landscape photographer ANDY STOTHERT (www.lakelandscapes.co.uk) will be off on his annual photographic tour of Western Britain by the time you receive this. To be specific he�ll be lugging his panoramic equipment (this is a camera by the way) around on Mull, or Ardnamurchan on the glorious west coast of Scotland. Other places on the hit list after that will be Wester Ross and Skye up there in the glorious north, followed by Snowdonia, The Brecon Beacons, West Yorkshire (really) Swaledale, Shropshire, Cornwall and of course the Lake District. If any one out there has any specific needs for images in any these areas just give me a ring on 07814 183961. I�ve also agreed to do some work in Dorset, but I�m still in self denial over that decision.

KOOL KAMCHATKA... ALF ALDERSON has recently returned from what he describes as 'the most incredible ski trip of my life' in Kamchatka - but then heli skiing on active volcanoes, glaciers and un-named mountains and finishing the day by skiing down to the beach for a dip in the Pacific Ocean is a little different from an average day in Val d'Isere. "We did the equivalent of skiing down Everest every day, sometimes more," he says, "and all of it on untracked powder". Unfortunately the group didn't see any of the regions famed grizzly bears (Kamchatka has the highest concentration of grizzlies in the world) since most were still asleep, but they did spot mountain goats, snow hares, Steller's eagles and seals (what skiing?!). "An absolutely astounding corner of the world," says our man. Now back home in Pembrokeshire and back to work, Alf has no more trips planned until August when he will be ehading to the Iberian Peninsula to wander around in the Picos de Europa and surf the Galician coast.

For more details of either trip contact Alf at alfie@alfalderson.co.uk or ++44 (0)1437 720374

FROM HOME TO HOME Our welsh photographer NICK JENKINS is embarking on a mammoth tour of Wales this summer, photographing all points from Anglesey to Cardiff. for a big client. A mix of landscapes, castles, people and places are on his 'hit list'. Photography courses/holidays also continue to grow successfully, with Nick's trips to the Isles of Scilly proving particularly popular. Having just returned from one he is now busy organising the next one for this September. Nick is also involved in a series running in Practical Photography to seek out the most popular landscapes. And, no, they aren't all in Wales (although some are!). He is hioping to feature his work in the West Country, specifically Dartmoor and the Isles of Scilly. Having just completed a photo shoot for a company who produce camping mats, pillows etc Nick is very keen to find clients who would like to advertise their outdoor products 'in situ'.

Contact: nick@freespiritimages.fsnet.co.uk

ROUND TRIPS ROBIN MCKELVIE has just been on a round of trips to Slovenia, Italy, Hungary and Poland, with upcoming trips to Spain and Porto. In his native Scotland he is also travelling up to Shetland and walking half the Southern Upland Way. His Globetrotter Croatia, Dorling Kindersley Dubrovnik and the Dalmatian Coast and Thomas Cook Travellers Latvia guides have all just been published. Robin has written over 70 articles for newspapers and magazines in the UK this year and is available for press trips and commissions.

Contact: robinmckelvie@hotmail.com; www.robinmckelvie.com

MADEIRA BOUND Thankfully being Madeira bound is a lot less painful than being egg bound, at least that's what TERRY MARSH is hoping as he heads out in June and July to work on a new guide to the island as part of the Globetrotter Islands Series.

Once finished, there may be a little breathing space for a few minutes before starting work on a walker's guide to the Forest of Bowland in Terry's home county of Lancashire.

Later in the year, a month in Scotland awaits, followed by a two-week trip to Australia to check out The Ghan and Kangaroo Island.

Contact: terrymarsh@wpu.org.uk.

THE WORLD�S LAST DIVIDED CITY PAUL MANSFIELD has been in Nicosia, crossing the �Green Line� between North and South Cyprus in common with many ordinary Cypriots, for whom the border is now effectively open, even while the two island governments continue to fight and bicker. He has also been in Cuba, which is still trying to balance the needs of capitalist tourists with the ideals of revolutionary socialism. Fidel Castro turns eighty in August, and who knows what will happen when he's gone? There's an 'end-game' feeling in the air...

For material and story ideas on these two highly topical destinations, please contact Paul on ++ 44 1273 505067, or at Paulmans1@aol.com

CRUISING AROUND THIS SUMMER - FROM SCOTLAND TO TUNISIA, FROM MALTA TO MADEIRA Arts and travel writer, VIVIEN DEVLIN, based in Edinburgh, is a bit of a specialist when it comes to Scotland - cities, Border country, Highlands, Islands, history, heritage and culture. With the 60th anniversary of the Edinburgh Festival this year, nearly around 900,000 international visitors are expected to arrive in August to experience the largest arts festival on the planet. Would you like a feature on Festival highlights, where to stay, eat, shop and what to see and do around the city and further afield.? Recent travel includes an inspiring trip to Helsinki and Tallinn, Estonia - where she discovered fabulous art, architecture and design. In early June, Vivien is heading off to the Pearl in the Atlantic, the island of Madeira visiting ten hotels in ten nights. That's no holiday! Madeira is changing - no longer just for retired senior citizens - it's is ideal for energetic young travellers who enjoy serious hill climbing on the Levada walks and those in search of luxury spa resorts. And in July, she is boarding a brand new ship, the Costa Concordia on the maiden voyage cruise around the Med., visiting a few more unusual ports of call including Tunis and Tripoli as well as La Valetta, Malta. She will be taken on a private tour of each destination to see the real heart and hidden gems of each city and island away from the madding summer crowds. Then back to Edinburgh to mingle with the madding Festival crowds and indulge in some serious culture.

Contact - Vivien Devlin, vivien.devlin@lineone.net. tel. 0131 343 2116.

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