Travel Writing Competition 2011 Shortlist

The weather can descend fast in Wyoming, especially as it did on that day near the Big Horns, past Shell Canyon along Highway 14, a stretch mostly populated by soulful, lonely ponies and otherwise empty fields.

‘Sit there’, he commanded, pointing his rifle towards the sand- filled sacks pushed against the walls of the main room. The tiny three- roomed stone bungalow was damp and freezing, yet despite this...

‘Sit there’, he commanded, pointing his rifle towards the sand- filled sacks pushed against the walls of the main room. The tiny three- roomed stone bungalow was damp and freezing, yet despite this...

The weather can descend fast in Wyoming, especially as it did on that day near the Big Horns, past Shell Canyon along Highway 14, a stretch mostly populated by soulful, lonely ponies and otherwise empty fields.

We sit, just a friend and I at the edge of a deserted road, edging closer to the bushes lining the road, desperately trying to stay in the shade.

It’s a jawbone, the crunch beneath my hiking boot. A HUMAN JAWBONE! And there are still teeth attached. It is a grizzly reminder of why I’m here and to distract myself I focus on the colourful strings of prayer flags flapping around me.

Isle of Mull, October 1st, 2010, and I was on a quest for otters. Two days before, I had joined a wildlife watching tour, and at the very end of this tour we had spotted an otter...

Isle of Mull, October 1st, 2010, and I was on a quest for otters. Two days before, I had joined a wildlife watching tour, and at the very end of this tour we had spotted an otter...

It was with some confidence that I parted the blue noren obscuring the door of the Tokyo bathhouse, slipped off my shoes and strode up to the 'bath mistress', a formidable woman of middling age, with forearms like a sumo wrestler who was staffing the counter.

It was with some confidence that I parted the blue noren obscuring the door of the Tokyo bathhouse, slipped off my shoes and strode up to the 'bath mistress', a formidable woman of middling age, with forearms like a sumo wrestler who was staffing the counter.