We had two excellent speakers in February! First was Alastair Lee who gave us a multi-dimensional view of his travels in China and his very close up views of climbing various horrifically vertical mountains in Northern Yunnan. He spoke of the friendships he and his girlfriend struck up with people who lived close by who were fascinated by some of his climbing equipment, the weather which looked like it was going to defeat them and entertained us with some great poses and a dancing finale! Alastair has published a fabulous climbing guide on New Zealand. Take a look at his web site: posingproductions.com

After the tea and coffee break, Ben Nimmo spoke of his cathartic pilgrimage complete with trombone from Canterbury to Santiago de Compostela, in Spain. He regaled us with hilarious tales of some of the larger than life characters he met en route, the amount of beer and wine he sampled, all out of a sense of duty and through a spirit of comradeship, of course, and in particular the story of how he became a god father to a little girl in France. Funny stories, great pictures, wonderful trip, Ben! Ben has written a highly moving and entertaining book called Pilgrim Snail documenting his pilgrimage. Pilgrim Snail is available now in bookshops and the following website fireandwater.co.uk and Ben's next book 'In Forkbeard's Wake' is out in January 2003.

Coming next, on Saturday 2nd March, we have Philip Koniotes talking about “The Antarctic Peninsular.” Philip has regularly travelled to the Arctic dog-sledding and has travelled extensively, including diving around the world and making five polar trips – the Antarctic has been his most recent journey. He loves the space and trying to capture it on film. After the break, Mark Elliott will be talking on “Saving Kilum Forest” set in NW Cameroon – about curious kingdoms and unique mountain forests. Mark is standing in for Juliet Coombe who is unable to attend the Globetrotter meeting due to a car accident in Australia. She is okay but not yet fit to fly

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. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back on Saturday 1^st September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotter Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk