Magical Mongolia!

If you visit one foreign country within the next 12 months, make it Mongolia – you will be blown away, I promise you.
We caught an early train out of Beijing the other morning and we were soon whizzing past the mountains and parts of the Great Wall and onwards through northern China.
The train is a [...]

Goodbye to the Olympic City!

I have only been here four days and I feel as though I have been assaulted by colour and culture.
All the ancient buildings I have visited here (The Ming Tombs, The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace, The Lama Temple, Confucius’s Temple, the temples in Beihei Park) have been extremely ornate and painted in startling hues of [...]

Brilliant Beijing!

Following a slight security problem with a case whose owner had not turned up, we left Heathrow an hour late on Sunday and arrived about an hour later than expected in Hong Kong after a 12-hour flight.
Unfortunately, this meant a huge rush through the airport at Hong Kong, which – although well organised – meant [...]

Hello from Heathrow

Hello from Heathrow! I have had a frantic 24 hours.  I’ve had an absolute phone crisis, so I have had to  go contract and now have a new phone – though  I thought  the number had been transferred over and apparently  it hasn’t   – I’ve got a new one, so  when I have a chance [...]

One day to go!

This time tomorrow I will be on my way to Heathrow to catch a flight and start my amazing challenge.
Today I have been frantically trying to get ready, but I have also taken some time out to go to the IW Ploughing Match, where the Island Pulse team caught up with me and did a [...]

Two days to go – and still not packed!

Yes, that’s right, I haven’t had a chance to pack yet!
I have today looked up the five-day weather forecasts for Beijing, Ulaanbaatar and Moscow and have been amazed by the sheer difference in reported temperatures – believe it or not the highest is 27 deg C and the lowest is minus 5 deg C, so [...]

Three days to go

Really in countdown mode now! I took another margarine pot of cash and cheques to the hospice earlier. I googled myself late last night and found I had made the IW County Press website and today I note I am also on Island Pulse, which is fabulous!
The editor at the County Press [...]

Late night email blues!

Gosh, I don’t think I have ever emailed so much in all my life! After a while, even I run out of words to say! I have had so many people make donations over the past few days – things are really racing on at such a speed.
Now I know how Ant and Jo must [...]

Ho Ho Ho revisited!

I think my colleagues may have finally grasped what I am trying to! I have been asked to re-write my 10cm story to make it into a page lead, so I now have the space to say a bit more about what I am doing.
Having said that, one of the newsroom team said he is [...]

A Week to Go!

Thank you everyone for supporting me at the International Charity Classic Car Show yesterday, I raised £71 and met Eric Richard (Sgt Bob Cryer in The Bill). I also met Carol Hand who has also been in The Bill and is really lovely.
Many thanks to Richard Priest at the Riverside Centre, who loaned me [...]