Media News Bulletin Autumn 2015

Media News Bulletin Autumn 2015
Photo: Ronald Turnbull
T
Media News Bulletin Autumn 2015
he Outdoor Writers Guild was
founded in 1980 by a small group
of writers, most of whom were
closely involved in writing about
outdoor equipment and clothing.
Within five years it had expanded hugely,
taking in writers who concentrated on the
experience rather than the gear, along with
a growing number of photographers.
In an attempt to reflect this diversity,
the Guild changed its name in 2006 to
Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild.
Even this fails to do justice to the breadth
of members’ skills and we also adopted the
informal strapline ‘Words and Pictures from
the Outdoors’.
Today’s membership includes writers,
journalists, photographers, illustrators,
broadcasters, film-makers, artists,
publishers and editors, but all with the
common bond of a passionate interest in
the outdoors.
I
f you’re a writer, photographer,
are involved in the outdoor trade
or of a relevant profession you
could join the Outdoor Writers &
Photographers Guild.
If you would like to apply for
membership please send a CV and
samples of your work by email to Tanya
Oliver, OWPG’s membership secretary.
Please don’t hesitate to contact Tanya
if you’d like further information about
joining OWPG.
[email protected]
Where OWPG members have been recently
www.owpg.org.uk
G
uardian Country Diarist
Susie White recently
spent a wildlife-watching
week on the Ros Crana,
the largest barge in
Scotland. She travelled the
length of the Caledonian Canal,
from Fort William to Inverness, on
the brightly painted barge, which
has six en-suite cabins. The barge
is a base for cycling, walking,
canoeing and sailing (it carries a
red-sailed ketch on the roof). She
saw ospreys, red deer, wild goats,
and dolphins when the barge
sailed the Moray Firth. Caledonian
Discovery run two barges, Ros
Crana and Fingal, from March to
October. Susie wrote about the trip
for the Guardian, as well as for My
Weekly, and welcomes approaches
from other magazines.
Susie White
On the Caledonian Canal
Contact Susie {
website: www.susie-white.co.uk
twitter: @cottagegardener
Do the rocks go out of date?
Ronald Turnbull
Q
uite clearly, in
these days when
everything has to
be no more than a
couple of minutes old,
the Carboniferous Limestone
is past it by 330,000,000
years... Ronald Turnbull’s been
finding himself in demand
for intelligible geology,
perhaps even with a joke or
two; most recently from the
National Trust (in ‘Book of the
Coast’, July 2015) and the
Environmental Arts Festival
Scotland (Nith Valley Ramble,
Contact Ronald {
telephone: 01848 331733
email: [email protected]
website: www.ronaldturnbull.co.uk/geopage
August 2015). And, descending
to our trivial human timescale,
all his images of Yorkshire’s
weird white rocks were buried
in the long-ago aeons of the
35mm transparency format. So
he’s just taken a tramp across
the clints and dykes, a clamber
into a cave, and a careful notfalling-into a pothole. And
he’s got the Scars to prove it
(specifically, Attermire Scar
and the spectacular hollow of
Gordale Scar) – as well as quite
a good image of some crinoid
fragments.
Crinoid limestone, Langcliffe Moor
y
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Travel light - enjoy more!
B
,
ack in the early ‘90s
Clive Tully produced
to
two editions of The A
t
Z Guide for Lightweigh
in
Travellers, published
boss of
partnership with the
hing company
renowned travel clot
t. Over
Rohan, Paul Howcrof
d Clive has
twenty years later, an
eightless
followed up with a w
on Kindle!
third edition on Amaz
ere well
The print editions w
cross-section
received by a broad
oors buffs,
of travellers and outd
ted for its
and the book was no
, presented
tips on travelling light
aedia style.
in a quirky encyclop
nded new
The revised and expa
crossedition uses dynamic
ins the daft
referencing, and reta
d character
cartoons which adde
to the original books.
www.bit.ly/lightweigh
t_traveller
Contact Clive {
telephone: 01603 787482
email: [email protected]
website: www.clivetully.com
T
he third of Adrian
Hendroff’s trilogy
of new Irish walking
guidebooks is out now.
This guidebook covers
Beara and Sheep’s Head, two
peninsulas wedged between
the bays of Kenmare, Bantry
and Dunmanus in southwest
Ireland. Whereas the landscape
of Beara is rugged and complex,
the Sheep’s Head Peninsula is
a long, narrow moorland crest.
All the best walking routes in
the area are described including
trips to Dursey and Bere Island,
scrambles and rambles in the
Caha Mountains, easy forest trails
of Glengarriff Woods and some of
the finest coastal circuits on the
Sheep’s Head Peninsula.
For online reading, Adrian’s
done a Walking Destination
article on southwest Ireland for
UKHillwalking.com. He has also
uploaded a set of Irish hillwalking
videos on YouTube and some new
limited edition Irish mountain and
coastal landscape images on
www.adrianhendroff.com/limited-edition-prints
Enquiries on commissions,
features and stock images on
Ireland are always welcomed.
Adrian Hendroff
Explore Ireland’s Beara and Sheep’s Head Peninsulas
telephone: +353 (0)87 3615068
email: [email protected]
website: adrianhendroff.com
facebook: adrianhendroff.exploreirelandsmountains
twitter: @exp_ireland_mtn
Contact Adrian {
The Pocket from Cummeenbaun on the Beara Peninsula; and Adrian’s latest guidebook (insert).
St. Oswalds, the parish church of Askrigg / Photo: David Taylor
Are you looking for a professional
and experienced outdoor writer or
photographer?
Visit the OWPG’s website today!
www.owpg.org.uk
Peter Naldrett
Church Walks
P
eter Naldrett has
spent a lot of time in
the Yorkshire Dales
researching a ‘Church
Walks’ book he is writing
with Gogglebox TV vicar Rev.
Kate Bottley. He is also preparing
to write features on regional
Christmas carols and the best
places to visit in Norfolk. His book,
Railway Walks in the Lake District,
has been published by Sigma
Press and is now on sale.
The OWPG also has a Facebook
page. Catch up on the latest news
at www.bit.ly/OWPGfacebook
Contact Peter {
email: [email protected]
website: www.peter-naldrett.co.uk
twitter: @peternaldrett
Capitellu - one of the higher parts of the GR20 through the mountains of Corsica
Paddy Dillon Uphill Updates
P
addy Dillon’s
popular guidebook
to Corsica’s GR20 is
due for yet another
reprint. A disaster left
seven dead at the start of the
trekking season, and part of
the route has been closed all
summer. Paddy is checking
an alternative route round
the impasse so that next
season’s trekkers won’t be
inconvenienced.
Paddy’s National Trails
guidebook has been reprinted
Contact Paddy {
as a new edition. His popular
South West Coast Path will soon
be published as a new edition.
Other projects in hand include
guidebooks covering the
Cleveland Way and Yorkshire
Wolds Way, as well as the
islands of Arran, Malta and
Guernsey. Paddy’s guidebook to
the entire Wales Coast Path was
published early this year and is
almost sold out!
telephone: 01229 586902
email: [email protected]
website: www.paddydillon.co.uk
M
ike Appleton has
been commissioned
to write a book on
the twenty-five best
walkers’ pubs in the
Yorkshire Dales following the
success of 50 Gems of the
Yorkshire Dales and Yorkshire’s
Three Peaks: The Inside Story
of the Dales. It will feature
pubs that cater specifically for
walkers and have historical and
cultural importance. A detailed
walk/suggested route will also
be displayed.
Contact Mike {
Mike Appleton
telephone: 07957 623970
email: [email protected]
website: www.mascarandymedia.com
twitter: @mascarandy
It’s a dirty job...
Pen-y-ghent in the distance as Mike takes a walk from Austwick and The Game Cock Inn
Our Sponsors
The Outdoor Writers & Photographers Guild is proud to be associated with:
Aquapac 100% waterproof cases, bags
and pouches.
www.aquapac.net
Cicerone is a specialist publisher of
walking, trekking, mountaineering and
cycling guidebooks.
www.cicerone.co.uk
Crimson publish non-fiction books
dedicated to improving the way we live
and work.
www.crimsonpublishing.co.uk
Tony Howard
Cordee, has a unique and worldrenowned catalogue of books and
maps used by the recreation and book
trade throughout the UK and the world.
www.cordee.co.uk
Páramo directional clothing systems
deliver optimum comfort outdoors day
after day, mile after mile…
Guaranteed for life.
www.paramo.co.uk
Virgin Trains, get where you want to be
for less
www.virgintrains.co.uk
Should your company or organisation
wish to sponsor or be associated with
the Outdoor Writers & Photographers
Guild please email the OWPG’s
Secretary, John Gillham using
[email protected] or telephone
01254 773097
Troll Wall 50th
T
ony Howard and Di Taylor travelled through Scandinavia
this summer in their VW camper, following an invitation
to the Norwegian Mountain Festival in Romsdal for
the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the first ascents
of Europe’s tallest vertical north face, the Troll Wall. See
Tony’s book www.nomadstravel.co.uk/publication/troll-wall.
Unusually, there were simultaneous first ascents by two teams,
Norwegian and English, Tony being the leader of the latter, so it
was also a long overdue and happy reunion of old friends. Tony
and Di were also walking and climbing, not only in Romsdal’s
mountains but elsewhere in Norway and Sweden.
Troll Wall, Tony Howard in the overhanging Exit Cracks two thousand feet up on the first ascent, 1965.
Contact Tony {
website: www.nomadstravel.co.uk
www.owpg.org.uk
Rob Yorke Letters, blogs and articles
R
ob has been busy
dwelling on our selective
views of nature. His
trip to Transylvania
(Romania) made him
narrow his eyes on how we aspire
to live and how we actually live.
He has written a Nature Notebook
for The Times, an opinion on
hen harriers and red grouse for
Scottish Sporting Gazette and had
his 100th Letter published in The
Contact Rob {
telephone: 07900 891564
website: www.robyorke.co.uk
twitter: @blackgull
Times on how we have neglected
forestry in the UK. This resulted
in a page’s spread in Farmers
Weekly on encouraging farmers
and alike to engage in writing
letters to help demonstrate the
complexities of our countryside
today. His new website hosts
occasional blogs provoking us to
think in unfashionable ways on the
environment - from rewilding to
farming, field sports and wildlife.
Monte Lussari, near Tarvisio and the border with Slovenia, on the Alpe Adria Trail, northern Italy © Rudolf Abraham
A
ward-winning writer
and photographer
Rudolf Abraham
recently returned from
the Tarvisio region in
northern Italy, along the border
with Slovenia, where he has been
working on a new guidebook to the
750km Alpe Adria Trail for Bradt.
Other recent trips have included
hiking, cycling and kayaking in
the Cairngorms with his five-year
old daughter, hiking in the Brda
region in Slovenia, visiting Pilsen
in the Czech Republic, and another
extended trip to the Croatian coast.
Contact Rudolf {
As well as working on the
Alpe Adria guide, he has recently
updated the Bradt and National
Geographic guides to Croatia, and
written features for OE, Mountain
Pro, France, Hidden Europe, BBC
Countryfile, BBC Travel and inflight
magazines.
Upcoming trips include Austria
(to hike more of the Alpe Adria
Trail), France, Poland, Croatia,
Bosnia and skiing in the Dolomites.
Commissions welcome...!
telephone: +44 (0)7789 936507
email: [email protected]
website: www.rudolfabraham.co.uk
Rudolf Abraham
Long-distance Europe
Troll Wall (the actual Troll Wall is the vertical face in the shadow, just right of centre)
A
ward-winning writer
Vivienne Crow has a
confession to make: She’s
developed a soft spot for
Beatrix Potter. Not Beatrix
Potter the writer and illustrator of
children’s book, but Beatrix Potter
the farmer and conservationist.
Having spent the last few months
writing a book for the National Trust
about this amazing woman, Vivienne
feels as if she’s one of the family:
Contact Vivienne {
a slightly eccentric, but fascinating
elderly aunt perhaps. Any editors
considering running a feature to
mark the 150th anniversary of Aunt
Beatrix’s birth in July 2016 should
get in touch with Vivienne. She has
dozens of ideas – from how the
writer drew her inspiration from the
Lake District landscape through to
her role as saviour of the Herdwick
sheep breed and her enormous
bequest to the nation.
telephone: 07779 772153
email: [email protected]
website: www.viviennecrow.co.uk
Vivienne Crow
Aunt Beatrix’s big birthday
Family holidays on the shores of Derwentwater provided the inspiration for several of Beatrix Potter’s books
David Taylor
Through a filter darkly
Contact David {
telephone: 01434 607637
email: [email protected]
website: www.davidtaylorphotography.co.uk
twitter: @dtphotography
P
hotographer, David Taylor,
has had an exposurerelated summer. He has
been writing Mastering
Exposure for Ammonite
Press, which is due for publication
in spring 2016. David has also
had a set of NiSi filters on loan for
evaluation (www.nisifilter.co.uk).
The filters include a 10-stop neutral
sensity, polariser and variety of ND
graduates. Given the often cloudy
summer, these filters have been
put to good use to help balance
and adjust the exposures of David’s
landscape photography.
Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, Northumberland / 30-second exposure using a 10-stop ND filter
The Neck, Bruny Island, Tasmania.
Anthony Toole
Still finding plenty to say about Australia
I
n between writing
features about the Northeast for his regular
magazine outlets,
Anthony Toole has been
busy documenting his JanuaryFebruary trip to Australia. So far
he has published four articles,
with another four accepted for
publication. He plans to continue
with further features covering
some of the wild and beautiful
places in Tasmania, such as Bruny
Island, the Forestier Peninsula and
the region around Bicheno and
the Freycinet Peninsula. Possible
projects for later include Mount
Gambier, Coorong National Park,
the Great Ocean Road and the
beaches of Sydney.
Contact Anthony {
email: [email protected]
website: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/anthonytoole
C
Karst in Stone
Chiz Dakin
Contact Chiz {
email: [email protected]
website: www.peakimages.co.uk
twitter: @peakimages
facebook: ChizDakin
hiz Dakin has just
returned from an area
of the Alps which is
the textbook example of
limestone country. Literally,
as that is where the name karst
derives from. Imagine Goredale
Scar about ten to fifteen times
larger and you’ll get some idea. But
its tagline of ‘Europe in miniature’
is well earned as coast, plain and
high(ish) mountains are all within
a short drive of each other. In
fact the country is barely bigger
than Yorkshire and Lancashire put
together, although it feels much
larger than this when you’re there!
After a night in the small but
lively capital Ljubljana, Chiz then
spent five days crossing the Julian
Alps from Kranjska Gora in the
north to Lake Bohinj in the south,
staying in mountain huts. With a
day in the small adventure village
of Ribčev Laz on the picture
postcard Lake Bohinj as a well
earned rest. The ‘walk’ Chiz took
across the Julian Alps in Slovenia
was a challenging but rewarding
experience. In the north, the trails
are more akin to easy (and not so
easy) scrambling and via ferata,
crossing deeply ravined valleys,
whereas south of Triglav the trails
become more gentle and are more
suited to ‘pure’ walkers (ie those
who don’t scramble).
Star Trails over the SE ridge of a moonlit Mala Moistrovka (2333m high), near Vršič, Slovenia
Getting to the Top!
Max Landsberg
O
WPG author Max
Landsberg helps
people get to the top of
mountains, and also to
the top of their professions.
His books on leadership and
coaching have sold more than
250,000 copies during the last
twenty years, and Profile Books are
publishing his latest contribution
Mastering Coaching on October 1st.
The book summarises the most
important practical findings in
areas such as neuroscience, sports
psychology, positive psychology,
mindfulness, mastery and goalsetting. Although primarily of
interest to leaders, managers and
coaches, it will also appeal to
anyone with an interest in what
makes us tick.
Mastering Coaching will be
available from Amazon, Profile
Books and other bookstores after
October 1st.
Download two free chapters:
www.maxlandsberg.com/mk-exc.pdf
For more information contact:
[email protected]
Contact Max {
telephone: 07711 715 110
website: www.maxlandsberg.com
Sue Viccars
Devon’s Two Moors
Way to be relaunched
S
ue Viccars is carrying
the torch for the
southwest’s longdistance walkers! Her
new book The Two Moors
Way: Devon’s Coast to Coast was
published by Cicerone Press
in June. The Two Moors Way
crosses Exmoor, Mid Devon and
Dartmoor, and in 2005 was
linked to the Erme–Plym Trail
to reach Devon’s south coast at
Wembury (a cross-county route
of 116+ miles).
Exmoor and Dartmoor
National Parks, and Devon
County Council, are carrying out
a full path audit with a view to a
relaunch next summer to mark
the 2MW’s fortieth anniversary.
The Two Moors Way Association
(www.twomoorsway.org) is
being revitalised, there’s a new
website in the offing, an updated
accommodation list, stamps
reissued, a new leaflet prepared…
Everything the keen walker needs
to enable them to enjoy this
fabulous route.
Contact Sue {
telephone: 01647 441174
email: [email protected]
website: www.dartmoormagazine.co.uk