January has passed. It's always a quiet month, what with the post-Christmas slump and the arrival of the dreaded tax bill, but there have been some bright spots. Last weekend I tried cold water swimming for the first time - and, because I'm slightly deranged, I loved it. There's more on that below. I also went to see the new Cirque du Soleil show, Varekai, at the Royal Albert Hall. It was breathtaking - if you get the chance, you must go. I've also been gearing up for publication of Mad Dogs and an Englishwoman, and starting work on a book for Bradt about incredible winter experiences. Read on...
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| And the winners are... |
I'm delighted to announce the first winner of my monthly travel-writing competition. This month Maggie Foster takes the prize of the Bradt Guide of her choice for her piece on a Sufi drumming night in Pakistan. I was amazed when Maggie told me that this was her first ever attempt at writing as she really captured the atmosphere of the event beautifully. You can read Maggie's piece, and the hilarious runner-up entry by Laura Van Dyke, on my Competition page. I'm now greatly looking forward to reading the pieces for February's competition, so please do send me your entries - you can just email them to polly@pollyevans.com. All of January's were a real pleasure to read and I can't wait to receive more.
Meanwhile, the winner of this month's newsletter draw is Stephen Wassell. Stephen has chosen as his prize a copy of It's Not About the Tapas, so I'll be sending that out to him later today.
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| Winter adventures with Bradt |
Ever since I returned from my dogsledding escapades in the Yukon in spring 2006, I've been longing to find an excuse to spend more time in the far north. And now I've landed the perfect project: I'm writing a book for Bradt Guides on incredible winter adventures beneath the northern lights. This won't be a guide book as such, but a series of about 50 or so newspaper-style articles, each about one particularly amazing winter activity. There will be dogsledding (of course), as well as snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, and wildlife viewing. There will be pieces on the northen lights, on Santa Claus, on sauna and smorgasbord. In the process of the research, I'll be visiting the north of Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia, Iceland, hopefully Siberia...and Scotland. In fact, I leave for Scotland tonight on the sleeper train from London.
I'm going to spend four days in the Cairngorms, skiing, hiking, searching for wildlife, checking out the local reindeer centre, and visiting the local sled dogs. The Scottish Highlands are currently being battered by blizzards - I've just phoned the car hire company who told me they're not even hiring out cars today because the weather is too dreadful - but fingers crossed things might improve by tomorrow. Ever the optimist, I'm hoping for blue skies and endless virgin powder snow...
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| Winter Swimming Championships |
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Yes, winter swimming involves swimming in outdoor, unheated pools in winter. Admittedly it sounds a tiny bit crazy, but I tried it for the first time last weekend, and I liked it a lot.
I have to say, cold-water swimming hasn't exactly been on my activities wish list. But next weekend the South London Swimming Club, of which I am a member, is hosting the Winter Swimming Championships at Tooting Bec Lido. The lido is the largest freshwater pool in England (it's a hundred yards long and 33 yards wide) and the club is one of the oldest in the UK having been based at the lido since 1906.
Next weekend will be the first time that these championships have been held outside Finland, and it's going to be a brilliant event with something like 600 swimmers from 21 different countries coming along to get very cold, and then warm again in the saunas and hot tubs that the club is bringing in for the event.
So why was I swimming last weekend? Well, they had a rehearsal, and because I've never swum in really cold water before I went along. I was terrified that I'd suffer from a horrible cold shock response and not be able to breathe, and I wanted to make an idiot of myself in front of just a few friendly club members rather than 600 hard-as-nails international cold-water aficionados. But actually, it was fine. I only had to swim 25 metres (of head-up breaststroke!) so almost as soon as I was in the water, it was time to get out again and to run into a hot shower. The sensation wasn't so much one of cold as of a mild burning, and when I got out the side of the pool felt curiously warm to the touch.
In all, it was fantastically invigorating. The club swims all year round (I've only been to the lido in the summer till now, and I join an indoor training session in the winter) but I think I'm a convert. I'm planning to plunge into freezing temperatures a lot more regularly from now on.
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| March 8th in Saffron Walden |
A heads-up for March: I'll be in Saffron Walden on the evening of the 8th as a part of Harts Events' Sense of Place festival. I'll be talking about my adventures with fellow travel writers Christabelle Dilks and Lydia Itoi, and giving a slide show of some of my photographs. There's more information at the Harts Events website.
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| Yukon Quest celebrates 25 years |
On 9 February, the Yukon Quest dogsledding race kicks off with its 25th anniversary event. The race is often called the toughest dogsledding race in the world. It runs for a thousand miles between Fairbanks in Alaska and Whitehorse in Canada's Yukon Territory. Whereas the more famous Iditarod has 25 checkpoints over the same distance, the Quest only has 10, which means that mushers are alone with their dogs for hundreds of miles. Read all about my own adventures following the Quest in Mad Dogs and an Englishwoman, and follow the excitement of this year's race at the Quest's new website.
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| This month at PollyEvans.com |
There's lots of new material at pollyevans.com for February. I've uploaded information and more than a hundred photographs from my adventures researching Mad Dogs and an Englishwoman. In keeping with the book's theme, my Quirky Guides this month are all about northern Canada: there are pieces on following the Yukon Quest, on driving the ice road from Inuvik to Tuk on the shores of the Beaufort Sea, and about the town of Inuvik itself. February's Books of the Month are all by women travellers across the ages. And, of course, throughout the month I'll be constantly updating my members' room blog and replying to posts there. Sign up for membership via my website to join in. Membership signup is separate from the newsletter signup - just click in the membership box on the left hand side of my home page.
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Wishing you a wonderful month of February,
Polly
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Mad Dogs and an Englishwoman
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On 11 February, my new book, Mad Dogs and an Englishwoman, is being published in the UK. It tells the story of my travels in Canada's Yukon Territory, where I learnt to drive sled dogs.
Before I arrived in the Yukon in January 2006, I was pretty nervous. The average temperature there in January is minus 26 but the thermometer dives regularly into the minus 40s. I've always been a bit of a wimp in the cold, so I was very anxious about just what kind of a fool I was about to make of myself.
After just a few weeks, however, I was mesmerized. I was staying at Muktuk Kennels, which is owned by Frank Turner, one of Canada's best-known mushers. At that time Frank had around 108 huskies, though nobody seemed to know the exact number for sure! (Now he has nearer 130, following the arrival of several litters of puppies.) I'd never spent time with working dogs before, and the intense, emotional bond that grows between musher and dogs was something I'd never expected to experience. The natural wilderness of the Yukon, with its snow, hoar frost and northern lights, helped, of course.
So the book tells the story of my months in the Yukon. I spent many happy hours scooping poop in the yard, but I also spent many days out on those wonderful wilderness trails. The highlight for me was a six-day camping trip along a section of the Yukon Quest trail. The weather was cold that week - temperatures were in the minus 40s - but during the daytime the skies were electric blue and travelling with dogs through virgin powder snow was exhausting but tremendously exhilarating.
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