Catch up on the latest news from our world of travel, maps and books.
Still need to find a gift for your Dad? Don’t panic – just pop into our London or Bristol stores today or tomorrow! Maggie Murphy has gathered some great gifts to inspire you….
From Left: Bronze Pocket Compass (£14.99); Ultimate Adventures: A Rough Guide to Adventure Travel (£16.99); Travelogue Journal (£14.99); Victorinox Swiss Army Card (£19.99) Continue reading Last minute Father's Day Ideas
We’re delighted to welcome Wild Frontiers, the recipient of the Best Ethical Travel Company accolade at the 2012 Guardian Observer Annual Travel Awards, to our flagship Covent Garden store’s themed area for the duration of October.
The independent travel company, which specialises in tailor-made holidays to countries including India, Burma and Ethiopia, will offer Stanfords’ visitors bespoke travel advice and host in-store talks from destination experts until 31st October.
To celebrate the partnership, we’ve joined forces to offer a brand-new Kindle Fire pre-loaded with five classic travel books to one lucky winner – entrants need only to visit our competition page to enter.
Commenting on the partnership, Chris Powell, Stanfords’ Managing Director, said: “We have already had many interesting travel companies exhibit in our themed area, from Exodus to Discover the World, and this month Wild Frontiers are exhibiting their knowledge of the silk route from China through to Uzbekistan.
“We are delighted that Wild Frontiers wish to participate in our themed idea and hope our travelling customers come to the interesting seminars to enjoy learning more about this fascinating part of the world.”
Wild Frontiers Travel Adviser Natalie Morris said: “Having worked closely with Stanfords for the last few years, we are really excited to be setting up a pop-up travel centre in the themed area. In the past we’ve given talks in the store about up-and-coming holiday destinations, which have been really successful – it’s the ideal venue to fuel the travel bug.
“For us, October is going to a great opportunity to meet potential travellers face-to-face and talk about a variety of destinations. We also have talks planned by travel writer Jonny Bealby and Alan Curr, which we hope will encourage people to dust off their passports.”
Wild Frontiers’ presence will complement our already-comprehensive collection of adventure travel guides and maps, with the Long Acre store accommodating almost 34,000 titles covering destinations in all four corners of the globe.
Wild Frontiers will focus on Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Mongolia, China, India and Pakistan travel itineraries during its month-long tenure, with customers able to benefit from our unrivalled collection of travel guides and maps to the central and east Asian destinations.
Alan Curr will be delivering a talk at Stanfords Covent Garden on his new book, Cricket on Everest, on Thursday 18th October. Jonny Bealby, Wild Frontiers’ founder and the author of three books, will talk about his love of the Indian subcontinent at a separate event on Thursday 25th October. Both talks start at 18:30 and are free to attend – see our events page for further information.
Fancy spending a month on a Costa Rican beach; six months of diving in the Philippines; two weeks camping out in a jungle; or a year getting to know life in a rural Indian village..? Volunteering can open up all sorts of amazing opportunities that you might not normally come across, and you get to stay somewhere fantastic for a longer period of time – making your holiday spending stretch further.
Volunteering is not just the domain of 18-year-old gappers – anyone up to the age of 75 can participate, and with placements lasting from two weeks to a year, or even more, you can go on a placement on your annual holiday or on a career break. Volunteer work brings all sorts of benefits, not only to the community or environment you’re working in, but to you, too. You could choose to work on a placement that utilises your skills or interests Continue reading How to Volunteer
Two students approached Stanfords for help with an intrepid journey overland from the UK to Mongolia – by ambulance. How could we refuse?
Charlie Hogg and Matthew Burgum, both 21, will drive unaided on the 10,000 miles from England to Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, where they will donate the ex-NHS ambulance, plus some much-needed medical supplies, to a hospital. Continue reading An ambulance to Mongolia
Squirrels had been harvesting the green hazelnuts along Woodlands Lane; the split shells went crunching under our boots as we set out from Berwick St John on a cloudy morning. Beyond the gabled old house of Woodlands there was a bit of a pull up the breast of the hill, and then the exhilaration of a good old step-out along one of the ancient ridgeways that ride the nape of these south Wiltshire downs. Jane, a South Downs girl born and bred, strode out with a big smile on her face, delighting in the poppies along the cornfield headlands, the nodding harebells and powder-blue buttons of scabious in the trackway verges, and the sense of being high up among the swooping hills of proper chalk-and-flint country.
Steep hill slopes whose sheep-nibbled turf had never been disturbed by any plough plunged away to flat and sinuous valley bottoms, where the pale coffee colour of the newly harrowed earth lay streaked with darker chocolate, sign of watercourses still active under the soil. It was like walking on a relief map, a fabulous one. Full of exultation, we came down through Norrington Farm to reach Alvediston’s little Church of St Mary, where a group of recondite ramblers on a church crawl were discoursing in the churchyard.
Blink and you’ll miss Alvediston. The thatched Crown Inn stood locked up tight, in a state of suspended animation between owners. Walking on, we found sparrowhawks clattering from the ash trees in Elcombe Hollow, fat sheep cropping the vale under Pincombe Down, and wonderful views along the sweep of the north-facing hills.
The Ox Drove is another ancient trackway of the Wiltshire Downs, broad and tree-lined between wide grazing verges, a drove road and pedlar’s highway since time out of mind. We followed it along the crest of the downs as cloud thickened in the north, looking out to the mounded ramparts of Winkelbury hillfort. The golden coffin buried at the summit, the lucky thorn tree that grows there, the devil who grants wishes to those who march round the hill while cursing and swearing… All yarns the drovers swapped and the pedlars spun to drive away the demons of the old hard roads across the downs.
Route map
~Due to licensing restrictions in place on Ordnance Survey mapping the mapping extract must be removed prior to printing, or all printing must be limited to 10 paper copies or less and used for personal use only.~
Route profile
Use this GPX file: [FILE:140] for importing the route into digital mapping products, such as Memory Map and Anquet or drop it straight onto your GPS unit. Check the instructions for your particular model to see how this is done.
Start & finish
Talbot Inn, Berwick St John, Wiltshire SP7 0HA (OS ref ST 947223).
Getting there
Berwick St John is signed off A30, 3½ miles east of Shaftesbury.
Walk
8 miles, moderate grade, OS Explorer 118Leaving Talbot Inn, round right bend; up Church Street. Round left bend by Old Rectory; in 20 yd, right (946224) along Woodlands Lane. Just past Woodlands House (951232), track splits three ways. Ignore yellow arrow; take middle way, diagonally left uphill for 600yds. Through gate in fence (948237; blue arrow/BA); aim half left across down to gate in far left corner (BA). On through next wooden gate; follow path to turn right along stony trackway (948245). In 1 mile, right (961248) down green path to Norrington Farm. Ahead through farmyard; past last barn, left (967238) over stiles through four fields to road (976238 – St Mary’s Church opposite). Right to T-junction in Alvediston (976234 – Crown Inn opposite). Right; in 50yds, left (‘Elcombe Farm’). Follow road, then track up Elcombe Hollow for 1¼ miles to Bigley Barn (977216). Right along Ox Drove trackway for 1½ miles. 250yds before road, right (954208) along path for 1¼ miles below Winkelbury hillfort to road (953223); left to Berwick St John.
Lunch: Talbot Inn, Berwick St John (01747 828 222); Crown Inn, Alvediston (www.thecrown-inn-alvediston.co.uk).
More info: Salisbury Tourist Information Centre (01722 334 956; www.visitwiltshire.co.uk); www.ramblers.org.uk
See books by Christopher Somerville.
Online map and more walks: www.christophersomerville.co.uk. Author: Christopher Somerville
Stanfords have teamed up with Wilderness Lectures who bring travellers and explorers to venues in Bristol.
The Wilderness Lectures are a winter series of public lectures in Bristol, the theme of which is worldwide adventure. The lecturers are well-known explorers, mountaineers, travel writers, TV and adventure sports personalities or anyone who has an epic story to tell and can entertain the audience with a good story. The talks themselves usually including slides and/or film.
The tickets for this season of Wilderness Lectures are available on the Stanfords’ website and from our Bristol store. (up to 72 hours before each event) – see the programme guide below.
Wilderness Lectures Guide Winter 2011-12
Season tickets are no longer available. Continue reading Wilderness Lectures in Bristol 2011-2012
The Uruguayan ambassador hosted a prestigious event at Stanfords last week for the launch of the first English-language guidebook to Uruguay.
The guidebook’s author, Tim Burford, spoke to the crowd of exclusive guests about writing the first guidebook dedicated solely to this often overlooked country. The book is published by Bradt, a company renowned for covering parts of the world other travel publishers don’t reach. Mr Burford has written nine books for Bradt, specialising in backpacking and ecotourism in Latin America.
The evening continued with national delicacies and wine served to the sound of Uruguayan tangos, and the country’s ambassador, H.E. Sr. Julio Moreira-Morán, gave a speech. Continue reading First Uruguay guidebook launched at Stanfords
To celebrate Bristol Zoo’s 175th year, Stanfords is proud to be part of the Gorilla Trail this summer and the keeper of Crystal Eyes whose unique feature is his ability to ‘glow in the dark’.
Come and be photographed alongside this handsome beast and pick up our own customised Gorilla Trail Memento Map, or perhaps a miniature hand-painted ceramic gorilla as a reminder of this wonderful event.
This world class event will showcase decorated life-size gorillas all around the city of Bristol, till the 7th of September 2011.
This event is to help raise awareness and enlighten all, of the plight of apes in the wild and raise significant funds to support gorilla conservation project. For more information about Bristol Zoo’s Wow! Gorilla project, please visit www.wowgorilla.org.uk. Continue reading Gorillas in Bristol
A nurse from North Yorkshire has taken up the challenge of walking 2000 miles across Western Europe for charity, using maps supplied by Stanfords. Andy Dennis, a staff nurse on the Intensive Care Unit at Harrogate District Hospital, will be walking from A to B – from Amsterdam to Barcelona – to raise money for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). MSF – or Doctors Without Borders – is an international humanitarian medical aid organisation that provides care to those affected by conflict, epidemics and natural disasters in over 60 countries around the world. Andy has previously worked for the charity on projects with displaced people in Uganda and Sudan.
So far, intrepid Andy has raised over £13,000 through talent contests, concerts, radio interviews and burlesque nights. He aims to bring this amount up to £16,800 with donations and further fundraising events. This money will then be used directly to fund two crucially important MSF volunteer placements abroad. Passionate about the vital work that the organisation does, Andy says: “I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to work with MSF and I now wish to help provide this opportunity for others.” Continue reading Walking from Amsterdam to Barcelona
A dawn start on West Anstey Common, watching a magnificent red deer stag roaring rivals away from his harem of hinds. How to follow that? A pint and a sandwich at Tarr Farm Inn didn’t hurt at all, and we strode out across Tarr Steps among the gold and green oaks of the Barle Valley just as if the western sky were not heaping with ominously slaty clouds.
No-one really knows how long the ancient clapper bridge of Tarr Steps has spanned the nut-brown River Barle in its narrow combe. Saurian in shape, resistant to flood waters yet built to allow them free passage, this subtle old bridge might have been placed across the river by medieval monks, or it could have been carrying travellers dry-shod over the Barle for as long as 3,000 years. Its flagstone decking rang underfoot, and the swollen river rushed through the rough piers in curling trails of bubbles.
High above the valley an enthusiastic dog came to meet us at Parsonage Farm, drawing his black lip back from his teeth in an ingratiating grin.
At Hill Farm it was the hens that greeted us with fat volleys of clucks; at Cloggs Farm, a sweet smell of hay from the barn. From farm to farm we pursued the path, dipping to cross Dane’s Brook among rushes and thorn hedges, climbing to Lyshwell Farm and sight of a scattered herd of hinds on the canter. Some Exmoor farmers detest the red deer for the damage they do; others, such as Raymond and Sarah Davey of Lyshwell, rejoice in the sight and sound of them.
On Anstey Rhiney Moor the weather caught us a smack. There were smells of wet bracken and turf, sodden grass and sedges. The rain-slick path fell away to a flooded ford over Dane’s Brook. Take the detour to Slade Bridge and forgo the pleasure of splashing across? Not on your nelly. The brook came up to our knees, and sent impertinent scouting parties higher still. On the far bank we tipped a good pint of peat-stained water out of each boot, and squelched on up past Zeals Farm, up the lane and field slopes to Hawkridge on its crest.
A mile or so along the heights, then a final plunge down through dripping trees to walk up to Tarr Steps against the brown tides of the Barle; a beauty of a walk, all in all.
Route map
~Due to licensing restrictions in place on Ordnance Survey mapping the mapping extract must be removed prior to printing, or all printing must be limited to 10 paper copies or less and used for personal use only.~
Route profile
Start & finish
Tarr Farm Inn, Tarr Steps, Dulverton TA22 9PY (OS ref SS 869322).
Getting there
Bus: service 401, summer only
Road: M5 Jct 27, A361 to Tiverton; A396, B3222 to Dulverton; B3223 towards Exford; Tarr Steps signposted in 5 miles; minor road to car park (872323).
Walk
7.5 miles, moderate, OS Explorer OL9
From car park, down path to cross Tarr Steps (868321); bear right off road up Two Moors Way/2MW (‘Withypool Hill, Hawkridge’). In 50yds at private gateway, keep ahead uphill on stony lane which doglegs right. In field above, left along hedge, and on with hedges on your left. At end of 3rd field, through gate; follow yellow squares through farmyard of Parsonage Farm (857320). On down lane (2MW) to sharp left bend; right (854318) across stile, diagonally left up slope, aiming for 3rd telegraph pole to left. Follow hedge up to top corner of field; through gate; on to gate above. Don’t go through, but turn left with hedge on your right. Through left-hand of 2 gates close together; in 50yds, right through gate; left along hedge; through next gate. Skirt below Hill Farm (847320); through another gate, and on to road. Left to Withypool Cross (845315); right (‘Molland’), then left (‘Bridleway, Shircombe Drive’) to Cloggs Farm (840310). By barn, left through gate (‘Anstey Gate’); down to cross stream (841311); through gate, right along fence above stream for a few yards, then left up bank (‘Anstey Gate’ fingerpost at top). Descend to cross Dane’s Brook footbridge (840308); right up stony track, then field slopes, aiming for line of trees on skyline. Through gate (fingerpost), on past Lyshwell Farm (837306); farm drive to road at Anstey Gate (835298). Left across cattle grid; then diagonally left across Anstey Rhiney Moor (left-hand of 2 diverging tracks) for 1 mile, descending to cross ford (850300; NB – Deep, maybe up to knees! Detour via Slade Bridge signposted!). Up track to pass below Zeals Farm house (853300); through white gate; right between barns, out of farmyard gate. Bear half left off drive (bridleway fingerpost) on grassy field track to gate; continue to Slade Lane (855303). Left to next corner; right (bridleway fingerpost) across field to road. Right through Hawkridge. At crossroads in village, left (‘Withypool’) for 100yds; right to follow 2MW through fields for 0.75 mile. Right (856317) through Row Down Wood, down to road at Penny Bridge (860316); left to Tarr Steps.
Lunch: Tarr Farm Inn (01643 851507; www.tarrfarm.co.uk)
Accommodation: The Bark House, Oakfordbridge, Devon EX16 9HZ (01398 351236; www.thebarkhouse.co.uk)
More info: Exmoor National Park Visitor Centre, Dulverton (01398 323841; www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk; www.exmoor.com); www.ramblers.org.uk
~A version of this article first appeared in The Times, 21/11/2009.~
Author: Christopher Somerville