Four Days in El Salvador

The drive from Honduras to El Salvador goes via Guatemala due to road and border limitations. That made it a fairly big drive day to get from Copán Ruinas to Suchitoto next to Lake Suchitlan in the heart of El Salvador. With a reasonably smooth journey we made it to Suchitoto in time for lunch...

New Year in Guatemala and Honduras

It's been a while since I travelled somewhere new and exotic, which makes this month even more special in some ways. Over the next month I am travelling through Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The major reason for me choosing this G Adventures trip is twofold, I really wanted to travel through...

Here it is… Cairngorms Expedition

It's going to be difficult to describe the experience on the Cairngorms traverse but to sum it up in a word... Brutal. I didn't make it to the end of the traverse, having decided to head to the road at Braemar in light of a couple of severe weather warnings and having the waterproofing of...

Day 1 – Day hike from Tomnavoulin to Tomintoul

Yesterday was a lovely chill day in Inverness where I ate loads of nice food and spent some time with Katie and Sarah. I've not seen Katie since 2016 when we met on a trip in Uzbekistan and it is so good to see her again!! I used the time in Inverness pretty wisely I...

ESA Astronaut update

As I sit in Inverness, taking a break from my final preparations for the expedition, which I embark upon tonight, I thought I had better post the latest update on my astronaut journey. Sadly I didn't make it through to Round 3 in Cologne. I recently received the rejection email along with all of the...

Training update – late January

I'm really getting into this now. Late January is off to a flying start! On the 16th I headed to Brecon Beacons solo to hike the horseshoe with an expedition backpack. I didn't leave super early, so it was a fairly "relaxed" day. Hit the trail at noon and once again headed up the gazillion...

Training update – early January

January is off to a flying start. My swim buddy Lance is raising money for St Mungo's charity by swimming the distance of the channel crossing (22 miles) in January. Despite needing to get extra time out hiking I want to swim with him to keep him company. To meet his target it means swimming...

Training update – late December

Now things really get going!! I'm launching into phase 2 of my training and it's all about steps, hills and weight. I hit the stair master for a 10 minute blitz wearing a backpack to ease myself into it. Even without knowing about the backpack, the machine reckons I burned more than 100 calories -...

Training update – Early December

I don't know about you, but watching other people "climb their own mountains" is one of the biggest sources of inspiration and motivation for me. Usually I am referring to "striving toward their own goals" but this time I really mean mountains. I watched 14 Peaks on Netflix and it was just mind-blowing. My brain...

Training update – Late November

I started "late November" with pretty epic DOMS after checking whether I was fit enough to climb and then swim, in that order. Turns out that I can, but that doesn't mean I should! And then Couch to 5k (C25K) - Run 5.3 is a warm up then 20 minutes running.. a massive step up....

Two months and counting – kit check time

Firstly, a huge shout out to Lauren and the team at Alpkit Bristol - I am so grateful for their help today - what a great place and great team! I thought was going to have to drive to the Lake District to visit an Alpkit store so I was chuffed to find they recently...

Training update – Early November

Smooth sailing and slowly building up my fitness and endurance. I had a few days off work and completed Week 4 on the Couch to 5k (C25K) mainly during daylight hours. Walking to warm down after my final Week 4 run on C25K I also hit the climbing gym for the first time in a...

Training Update – Late October

I had an absolutely lovely day out on horseback with my friend Regan at a gorgeous stable called Cotswolds Riding at Jill Carenza Equestrian near the village of Stanton at the northern end of the Cotswolds. The scenery was spectacular, and we hacked through some lovely moorland and up to some gorgeous views across rolling...

Helen Sharman at Aerospace Bristol

When I heard that Aerospace Bristol would be holding a Family Space Day on Monday 25th October, with Helen Sharman, the UK's first astronaut, giving a talk under the wings of concorde, I immediately booked a ticket. It was clearly a day aimed at kids and was at the beginning of half term, so any...

Training update – Early October

First stop for my preparations for the icy Cairngorms expedition was to see my physiotherapist, Gemma, who had helped me with some ankle rehab in 2020. I hadn't mentioned, but I sprained my ankle pretty badly on a run one day without much warning, my ankle just felt tight for a minute and then.. "ping"....

Fundraising for a good cause – The Ocean Cleanup

I've decided to use my training and trek across the Cairngorms to raise money for The Ocean Cleanup. The non-profit has demonstrated that it has a REALLY compelling solution to remove an enormous chunk of the plastic pollution in the ocean, and I'm really passionate about supporting them. Please consider donating to this great cause...

…And the next challenge

So. Home safe in England, but still buzzing from my first trip out of the UK in 2 years, I started to get itchy feet. I reached out to one of the most adventurous people I know, Katie Comer, tour guide for Dragoman overland adventures all over the world, who led my journey through Uzbekistan...

ESA Astronaut selection day

My Hamburg astronaut selection day arrived. I bumped into some of the candidates in the hotel lobby and we introduced ourselves and then walked the 10 minutes to the test centre, not knowing what to expect. We arrived at the facility which is used by the German Air Force, which also hosts this initial round...

Journey to ESA astronaut selection centre

The journey to Hamburg went off without a hitch, though it was genuinely so strange to be in an airport again after so long. I had bought myself some kids mental maths workbooks to run through and so I spent some time in the airport and on the plane doing some simple maths problems. Upon...

Preparing for ESA astronaut selection day

In late August I received an invitation to a European Space Agency Astronaut selection day in Hamburg! I was so excited to be able to take part in the next round! Due to covid restrictions, the duration for this selection stage has been hugely elongated and I was offered one of 5 test days within...