Bet you thought I had disappeared off the face of the planet! But in actual fact I have just been too occupied with the last months of pregnancy and the arrival of my baby son, Matthew.

I finished work on November 15 and my baby was due on December 5. As we all know, babies haven’t read the instruction manual and rarely come out when expected and this one was no different.

Sunday December 5 came and went. And Sunday December 12.

At 3am on Thursday December 16, my waters broke. But nothing else happened. I was asked to come into hospital for monitoring, but all was well and I was sent home. Ditto Friday December 17.

On Saturday December 18 I made my way in through the snow to be induced, having had no natural contractions that I could really feel. Baby had obviously decided he had far too nice a hotel room and he wasn’t coming out…so began a rather long and painful labour, where I pushed and pushed, but still couldn’t get him out, so we had to resort to an emergency c-section.

Baby Matthew was born at 7.41am on Sunday, December 19, weighing 8lbs 14ozs. We both had to stay in hospital for a few days, but we were released on Christmas Eve, so we were home in time for Christmas – just!

He is quite a well behaved baby and I am getting some sleep. Everyone loves him, including the fundraising staff at the hospice, where I went today to do the official presentation – we have raised an amazing £5,548.62, so thank you everyone for your efforts.

There will still be some money trickling in this year because I do still have some talks planned and the books are still available for sale, but the bulk of the money raised by this incredible project has now been presented to this very worthy charity.

I sold six books in one day at the IW Steam Show at Havenstreet in August and  I had a moderately successful fundraising time at Wolverton Manor Garden Fair in September – although it was a bit damp on the Sunday.

Since then, I have given two talks in early October – one to Newchurch WI and the other to the Bembridge Afternoon Townswomen’s Guild. Both groups were lovely.

I have slightly lost track of just how much has been raised, though by my calculations it is about £5,500. It is my intention to do a big cheque presentation (after I have given birth) at the end of the year.

After that, I have already got two talks booked for the spring and I do still have about 40 of my books for sale (out of a print run of 350), so some money will still be trickling into the hospice after my big cheque presentation. There are still books available from the hospice shops and from the IW County Press Shop too.

Apart from that, I am now almost 35 weeks pregnant and about the size of a house! I am looking forward to stopping work in approximately two weeks time – although I am still wondering quite how difficult it will be to continue to cover my mortgage payments on maternity pay alone! A challenge, I am sure, but no doubt worth it!

When I come home, I usually find it hard to keep my brain working after 8pm too!

Despite this, I am still managing to do my horses most mornings before work, ride at weekends (albeit mostly at walk) and do a little bit of fundraising. I did manage to do two days at Chale Show at the beginning of August (many thanks to Whitwell Garage,  whose marquee I commandeered again) and yesterday I also managed to sell six books at the CP marquee on the last day of the IW Steam Show – although I forgot the suncream and I am now sporting a rather red face!

Last week I tried to go out three evenings in a row, which SO didn’t work – by 6.30pm on the third evening I realised I couldn’t stand up any more! Bed calling, I think. On Sunday I managed to spend an afternoon jump-judging at Dunsbury Cross-Country, but I was largely sitting down in a car at the top of the hill, marking people as they went by.  Fortunately I only had one faller, plus a handful of refusals and two retirements – one rider who’s horse was getting a bit strong, so she sensibly decided to pull up before starting the downhill part of the course and the other who’s horse was so unfit that she really shouldn’t  have been considering even going XC!

A certain baby has been extremely lively during the past three days – I understand he can hear everything now and he has had to put up with thundering hooves, noisy steam vehicles, motorbikes and a generally chaotic office life during the last three days, so I am not surprised he has been moving around a lot. He is kicking me as we speak and I am at home now, with no interruptions…

As I have decided to have a full year’s maternity leave, I have been surfing the net tonight looking at low-outlay franchise businesses that might prove suitable to raise a few more pennies during my unemployed months. There is so much out there, that my head is now reeling…

I gave two highly successful talks in June – to Ventnor and District Historic Society and to the IW Fuchsia Society. I was also at the IW Motor Show (Sunday only) in July.

I am busy preparing for Chale Show this weekend (August 7-8) – find me in the Whitwell Garage tent, where I will have my book, A Trans-Siberian Odyssey, for sale, plus some secondhand books and I will be running a fun tombola – all for the Earl Mountbatten Hospice.

On the baby front, I am now almost 23 weeks and have had my scan this morning, which showed a lively, well-grown baby – who is kicking quite merrily most nights when I am trying to get to sleep. It is a curious sensation having this little creature inside you, but it has made my pregnancy very real to me now. We did also discover the sex of baby this morning – and we are very pleased!

The reason is a happy one – I’m three-and-a-half months pregnant! It must have all happened while Hugh and I were in Turkey, which means we could be like Posh and Becks and call the child after where it was conceived.

Hmmm – Antalya – perhaps not!!!

Apart from that, I am still giving talks and have recently starred at meetings of the Ventnor Historic Society and the IW Fuchsia Society. I am still selling books and still going to some summer events – most recently the Yarmouth Old Gaffers Festival. I hope to make it to the IW Motor Show in July as usual, where I will have a display and the books in the IW County Press marquee. The current fundraising total stands at £5,132.50.

This pregnancy lark is strange – I have unfortunately suffered rather a lot of sickness, which is still going on at 14 weeks, but I am hoping it will start  to fade soon. I have never been one to have a love affair with food, but I find myself strategically planning when, where and what to eat to avoid being sickie, which is rather amusing, given I used to only eat when I remembered!

Apart from that, I am still travelling short-haul – notably a few days here and there in Croatia – everyone is cock-a-hoop with the news and the 12-week scan showed one very lively baby but the downside is that I am already far too heavy to ride Twiglet, the star showjumping pony!

Some visitors to the Island asked me what the hospice was and when I explained it is the Island’s major centre for terminally ill patients suffering from cancer and other life-shortening illnesses, but it relied heavily on fundraising to keep the doors open. Bless them , they put all their change in my collecting tin.

After a lovely day at the steam-up with Hugh, I went and did the horses and Mum and I went for a walk on the beach at Compton Bay and saw all the recent cliff falls. It has been a very cold and wet winter and it has wreaked havoc on the cliffs – so much so that there is now some doubt that the scenic Military Road will be safe enough to keep open for much longer.

Tonight I have also been out on  a quick training walk around Carisbrooke, because I have finally signed up to do the Round-The-Island walk on May 8. For those not familiar with this, it is a 72-mile trek around the coastal path, which must be completed in 24 hours. The trick is to maintain at least three to three-and-a-half miles an hour as your average speed and that is going some! It will be one tough challenge and I need to get my legs rock hard before then!

Cappadocia (aka the land of beautiful horses) really does reach back into ancient history, with extraordinary rock formations, cave houses and whole underground cities – some of which have yet to be properly explored, or even located! Also noticeable were the caravan palaces, the traditional watering and resting stops on the beginning of the silk road – the one at Aksaray was so atmospheric that I could almost sense the camels of hundreds of years ago shifting their feet in the darkness.

We were lucky enough to be allowed to look inside Mevlana’s mosque in Konya and also to see whirling dervishes perform – something which left me completely mesmerised.

Above all, we had a superb guide called Osman Ozbuldu, who was both interesting and amusing and even sang folk songs for us when the long coach journeys got too much (we drove nearly 2,000km in a week).

It seems strange to be talking about Turkey again, as Hugh and I were going to Turkey when I launched the writing challenge in March 2008. Then we landed in Antalya on the south coast, saw nearby Alanya (where the photo at the top of this page was taken)and Perge and then headed up the west coast to see Ephesus, Hierapolis and Pammukale. This time we landed in Antalya and then went into the southern interior, through the stunning Taurus Mountains.

Turkey is a massive country and this is but a fragment. Next time, who knows , maybe Istanbul and Gallipoli? Interestingly, our guide from the 2008 trip, Seyit, has just been in touch via Facebook, which just goes to show it is a small world!

On another note, I am going to the annual Compton Farm Steam-Up tomorrow (Bank Holiday Monday) with my book to raise more money for the hospice, so hopefully I will see some of you there!

I would never have expected to talk to so many nice people  who have been amazed and inspired by the trip, nor would I have ever thought I might have a book in print, or be giving talks, but all of these things have happened and better still, I have raised lots of money for a good cause.

On Thursday, for example, I spent a happy afternoon talking to members of the Chillerton Mothers’  Union and as well as chatting to me for ages afterwards, five members bought books and one even emailed me at work the following day to say how much she was enjoying reading it.

How nice can you get?

In the short term, I am going to the fairytale landscape of Cappadocia in Turkey in the near future, but I do still have my wanderlust and always look for the unusual or unique (no sitting around by the pool all day for me!).

I would still love to do Chile/Patagonia, but would definitely have to go for more than three weeks – which would mean giving up my job at the County Press, because they won’t let me have more than three consecutive weeks off.

I did the Isle of Wight Musical Competition Festival again earlier this month and once again came away with the trophy for the best article – this time for my travel article ‘Mad About Madeira’. Can more people give these classes a try next year please – they are open to everyone over 18 and you don’t have to read out your article, one-act play or short story (though you may be asked to read your entry if you take part in the poetry class!)

I also recently went on a fascinating workshop in London with Peter Carty, a very well known travel writer who has written for all the major newspapers and also worked with Conde Nast Traveller, Time Out etc. Not only did I have a ball, but I was astounded by the number of people in attendance – it just proves how popular having a go at travel writing is. Scarily, I was probably one of the least well travelled people there, having only been to France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, Croatia, Bosnia, Tunisia, Morocco (Tangier only), Russia, Mongolia, China, Scotland and Wales.

I have got a talk for the Chillerton Mothers’ Union later this week and I am currently planning which summer shows I can have a stand at this year, so keep your eyes peeled. I will be filling in the Events list on this blog in the near future.

Last Thursday night I gave my powerpoint presentation and talk to the ladies of the C.A.M.E.O. group (that’s Come And Meet Every One) in Brighstone. About 40 ladies turned up and a very entertaining time was had by all. I was particularly heartened by the fact that they found the trip fascinating, even though the autumn of 2008 was a long time ago now.

Whenever I deliver the talk (which is probably once or twice a month), I really do re-live the trip – even now it strikes me as a fantastic adventure and Nikki and I certainly did get into a few scrapes!

The book is still selling well and I believe I have sold more than half the print-run already (not bad as it was only launched on May 1st). If you haven’t got your copy yet, you can purchase one at the County Press Shop in Newport, in the hospice shops or by catching up with me at one of the many summer events I will be at this year. For anyone not on the Island, see the page entitled ‘The Book’ on this blog for more details about ordering off of the website.

Elsewhere, the online petition to save the PS Ryde (aka Ryde Queen) is still going well – please put your name on it asap if you haven’t already! You will find it on http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/PSRyde