From Islands to Highlands: A travel memoir (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781918422139)

Aged seventeen, the author packs her case and sets out for life as 'au pair' to a family on a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. This small step is the start of a lifetime of travel to interesting and often remote places. The author takes us to less-visited parts of Europe and Canada; we join her living in the South Pacific; step into the Australian outback; trek through the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush; explore the mountains and deserts of East Africa; and, finally into Central Asia and discover the remnants of the Silk Road. On route, we encounter the mundane, the beautiful, the unexpected, the absurd and the frightful. Her travels span several decades from the sixties, as she works her way around the world. Opportunities for travel continually present themselves, and, armed with endless curiosity and with a reckless disregard for consequences, she strikes out for the unknown or mysterious. A fascination for mountains and ancient history helps her to launch wild expeditions or explore forgotten ruins. Descriptive writing takes the reader among resplendent domes, remote monasteries, great rivers, misty mountains, tribal dancers, ruined forts and strange encounters. Her voice and humour emerge through these pages, making this a very authentic and vivid memoir.