Today I have been packing and re-packing my panniers and trying to work out how on earth to attach these new mud-guards to my bike!  In the shop they said it was easy, but there are just so many different screws….  The weather is looking interesting too.  Yesterday’s offering gave me hope that I would be lucky again and would only have to worry about getting a sun tan, as I cycle about on my book tour.  But the overnight frost on Saturday was a concern as well as today’s slow drizzle.  I am sure Devon is having finer weather and will be generous to me as I start my book tour there this weekend.

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Mark Boyle was up first and talked about his slow life journey, beginning with his attempts to live for a year without money.  He showed a really lovely film about his first few months of this challenge, in a caravan in the snow and cold and trying to hitch to northern Ireland to visit his family for Christmas.  He very kindly referred to me as a successful eco-traveller, and then modestly talked about his ‘failed’ attempts to walk to India without any money.

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I am really excited and have a few feelings of trepidation (but only much like the thought of eating this whole lizard when I was in Bangkok and delaying going to the red light district!!) as today we are going to press, to tell everyone that Babs2Brisbane is out.  This is what the CAT media office have had to say about my book so far.

Babs2Brisbane is Barbara Haddrill’s account of her incredible overland journey from Wales to Australia to be bridesmaid at her best friends’ wedding: a brave odyssey that should earn her the respect of travellers everywhere.
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