On Thursday night I took the girls to a shopping centre in Guildford to prepare for our day out on Friday – we bought a large bag of food and a selection of CDs for the car. We left the house early on Friday to get to Newmarket in time for the second lot at Peter Chapple-Hyam’s – on the …

My flight to Africa leaves Heathrow at 6:35 a.m., so I have a car booked for 3 a.m. I get dressed in my full hiking gear beforehand (including boots) in order to travel on the plane – this is recommended as it’s not unusual to lose luggage in African airports and although you can get shirts and trousers on the …

A big day for me tomorrow as I head off to Africa to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. I’ve been training for it for a long time now – working out every morning in the hills and every afternoon in the gym – but it hasn’t been until today that I’ve really felt the butterflies. I should be confident about making it …