Hello all,

From a sunny, summery London J  Amidst Royal weddings, Olympic preparations & numerous big issues in the worlds of politics & finance, Globetrotters and friends are still managing to enjoy travel…  We in this edition of the eNewsletter talk about Croatia, Mac’s World, Mike Shawcross OBE, Portobelloland and what’s been happening in the UK based branches of the Globetrotters Club.  An eclectic mix and you’d be very correct…read on & find out how so !

What else is happening across the wider travel world ?

• “Outside Lands” music festival in San Francisco, USA features a host of acts in a top location close to the Golden Gate Bridge…see http://www.sfoutsidelands.com
• Slow Food Cheese Festival in Bra, Italy for those passionate about eating good quality food – see http://www.deliciousitaly.com/guide/north-italy-regions/piemonte-guide/piemonte-food-and-wine/item/667-bra-cheese-festival.html
• UK newspaper “The Daily Telegraph” has a range of travel related competitions that readers might want to enter…see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travel-competitions/ for more details.  Good luck J
• London’s Mayor is again holding the Thames Festival this year, September 2011, and details of this “one of London’s best” can be found athttp://www.thamesfestival.org/
• Follow the progress of the “It’s on the meter team” and their round the world journey by London taxi at http://www.itsonthemeter.com/blog.htm
• Follows the progress of Sarah Outen’s “London2London” adventure at http://sarahouten.co.uk/london-to-london-via-the-world/

That’s all for now, enjoy the read and keep sending me more of your stories, adventures and articles J

The Ant

theant@globetrotters.co.uk

The first of our two talks was given by Jill Nash, of Luxury Backpackers, entitled THE AMALFI COAST, FROM PIAZZAS TO PIZZAS. Jill is now also a travel writer and married to an Italian and spends part of her year in the UK and the remainder in Italy, the Amalfi coast being her second home.  The talk took us along the coast from Pompeii, through Sorrento, Positano and Ravello to Amalfi and also Capri and Ischia, this area of the Italian coastline now being a Unesco Heritage area. Jill then dwelt on Italian lifestyle – the importance of family life, food, wine and culture, particularly the food and wine! All our appetites were wetted with the mention of melizani parmigiana, gnocchi, gelato, and San Marco (the local wine) and limoncello, the lemon liquor.

“Our reward” – refreshments of tea, coffee and biscuits!

Following our refreshment break, and in stark contrast, our second talk was given by Sarah Hoyle, was her “walk” along THE INCA TRAIL. Sarah, a nurse manager at the Countess of Chester Hospital, did her rigorous trek for charity to give aid to the Kisiizi Hospital in Uganda, with whom she has become associated. She undertook the trek along with her son and his friend, (who she coerced into the challenge) firstly visiting Lima and Cusco, then walking the trail over 4 days.  We saw the beauty of Cusco Cathedral, followed by the Irabamba river up to Aguas Calientas, walked through the Sacred Valley, and climbed up to Machu Pichu. Again we shared Sarah’s camping experiences and wonderful food prepared by the porters, but all from the comfort of our venue in Chester. A fantastic feat on Sarah’s part in raising money for the Kisiizi Hospital

This was an excellent meeting, with two totally contrasting speakers which we all thoroughly enjoyed. Our Chester group is now growing in numbers, and we are seeing a core of regular members who are very enthusiastic.

Our next meeting is on 17th September. – Make a diary note! Topics are –

• “THE ADVENTURES OF AN ORDINARY PERSON” – with John Sunter
• “THE NORTHERN LIGHTS EXPERIENCE” – by Nigel Bradbury, who has worked with the BBC Sky at Night team and also Jodrell Bank Observatory.

Report compiled by Eve MacPherson, now one of the Chester Globetrotters Team

Chester meetings are held at The Grosvenor Museum, 25 – 27 Grosvener Street, Chester, CH1 2DD.

Tickets £3 including refreshments.

For more information contact Angela, Hanna or Eve for further information of this & future events at Chester via email at chesterbranch@globetrotters.co.uk

Ontario meetings are held at 8.00pm on the third Friday of January, March, May (4^th Friday), September and November, at Old York Tower, 85 The Esplanade, in downtown Toronto.

Everyone welcome especially visiting travellers 🙂

For more information contact Svatka Hermanek at hermanek@yahoo.ca, Bruce Weber at bruceaweber@hotmail.com / on tel. 416 203-0911 or Paul Webb on tel. 416 694-8259.

LOZISCA AND BOBIVISCA. Our walk starts in Lozišća, which has the most beautiful belfry on the island. We walk to the picturesque fishing harbour Bobovišća luka where you can take a break for sightseeing and swimming (weather permitting)   Every Tuesday. Own transport or share a taxi meet on bridge in Lozisca 9am. Please call ahead to let us know you are coming and we can give directions…Distance 5 kilometres. Approx 2hrs 30mins.

FULL DAY HIKE FROM SHEPARD’S VILLAGE GAŽUL TO VIDOVA GORA AND DOWN TO BOL  Old Sheppard’s village Gažul on Vidova gora. We walk through a forest of black pines arriving at the highest peak on this Adriatic island, “Vidova gora” a beautiful view of Famous Zlatni Rat Beach. Time for sightseeing and photos then we walk down hill back to Bol.      

Every Thursday. Meet 9am at Gazul Village. Please call ahead and let us know you are coming and we will give directions. 8. Kilometres approx 4hrs.

No charge for buddies to show you the way. Be aware we are not professional guide’s just fellow walkers who want to share our passion for this beautiful Island. Please note we do not operate in JULY or AUGUST. Own transport, public bus or taxi. Transport can be arranged sharing the costs for four or more persons..

Minimum 2 persons required max 10. Bring a Picnic lunch and bottle of water.                 

Many other Beautiful and interesting walks on request for private groups.

“Doing the door” after the meeting has started is annoying in most respects:  we never start at 14:30…more like 14:45, when those who have made it on time are now less patient and all the last minute checks have been made with the oncoming speakers.

Those who are late, are therefore very late and miss the first 20 minutes setting of the presentation.  They are the disorganised (like me), the cyclists who think they can speed faster than time itself, the long distance public transport users with wows of the British public transport system (the “vandals” had stripped the signal cable again between the West Country and Reading yesterday),  the old and the infirm.

Having an elderly Mum I now understand their needs better, are just slow:  they need time to shuffle and not fall down the stairs.  Other late comers just lost their way: new visitors and infrequently attending members. So my patience was stretched when I opened the door to the 7th late attendee: a large elderly, bearded gent with stick and American accent.

“Welcome” I said.”Well thanks.  I am a member but don’t often get over to the UK to attend meetings, so thought I should make the effort”.

“Well thanks for making the effort” I replied and helped him down the stairs and into the room.

After the meeting, I invited him and our remaining speaker to the pub.  As both are infrequently in the UK, pints of Flowers went down well.   Once seated, we got chatting.

“So what brings you back to England then?”  An acceptable opening question you may think.  Would you expect a joke reply?

“To receive an OBE from Her Majesty”  What an answer!

Quick double take: no glint in the eye and one not of an age to joke.  But what a fabulous response to work in, next time some jerk asks me a similar question?

So, Mr Michael Shawcoss OBE (22 June 2011), Globetrotter Member from Hebdon Bridge W.Yorks, originally went to Turkey to do potholing there, then on to Canada and since 1989 has been living in Guatemala teaching and learning from the 22 indigenous tribal Indian peoples there.  But that’s not all.  In 1964 (pre-hippi trail) he hitch hiked back from India on £9 0/-.  It would have been £10, but he needed to renew his passport for £1.

Simon

To quote the UK government, via the 2011 New Year’s Honours’ List, Mike received his OBE “For services to aid projects helping disadvantaged communities in Guatemala”.  Mike returned to Guatemala on July 22 but managed to speak at the July’s Members’ slides meeting in London…

The Ant

The meeting was on Saturday 2 July and was themed “Around the world in eighty minutes.”.  It involved 11 presentations of 12 slides, by audience members, taking us on a fast paced journey around the globe:-

• Dan Bachmann : Troms (Norway)
• Agata Zborowska : Peru & Brasil
• David Shamash : Israel
• Doug Allen : Stone Cutting in India
• Jacqui Trotter : French summer
• Mike Shawcross : High road to Patsula
• Kevin Brackley : KGB Museum, Tallinn, Estonia
• Brian Lawrence : Morocco
• Roger Turner : Lebanon
• Philip Ferguson : New Zealand
• Dick Curtis : Hot foot from Crete

The London branch’s future meetings are detailed at London Meeting Programme.  

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, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.

There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September.

For more information, contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 7193 2586, or visit the web site: https://globetrotters.co.uk/local-meetings.html.