About the author

Back in 2002 I discovered the sport of rock climbing, I enjoyed it so much I even chose to get married on top of a rock named 'The Cioch'. The Cioch is a pinnacle of rock 871m high, found in the Cullin mountain range on the Isle of Skye. As far as I know we were the first and only people to have been married on it. It was also used in the film Highlander, although I believe, the crew were dropped off by a helicopter as opposed to climbing up.

After that I decided to really go for it and climb Mont Blanc, it was in June 2004 and ironically I had managed to raise £2004 in sponsorship money for our local Primary School. Five of us from 'The Cioch' wedding party set off in search of Europe's highest mountain.

As an acclimatisation exercise we chose to climb Aiguilles du Tour, 3544m high, situated in the northern part of the Mont Blanc Massif. The way up was hard work but with no particular concerns, however the way down proved a problem for me, as it turned out my knees were too weak.

This was very upsetting but it was not worth putting anybody's life at risk. So instead I decided to venture across 'Mer de Glace', a glacier found in the same region as Mont Blanc. However, this too, did not prove to be the experience I had hoped for and an unfortunate accident led to the end of the mountaineering expedition, 3 knee operations, 4 years of physiotherapy and a whole new direction in life.

My new direction in life began by studying to become a life coach, I had done this primarily to cope with my injury and finding myself with a stair lift at the age of 32. Instead of choosing to practise full time I chose to use what I had learned to plan what I was going to do with my life. My main goal was undoubtedly to become fit again, which required an hour a day of physiotherapy, then I needed to find a way of entertaining the hours a day I was rendered immobile due to pain and surgery. I had been told that I should try writing as I had a good writing style and to cut a long story short, I won a competition which led to me taking a writing course, which led to me writing my first children's novel 'Nicodemus and the Flight of Argus'

Fortunately all my physiotherapy paid off and I am now back on my feet again, swimming riding, skiing, running a small holding with my family and of course, writing my next book. So if you ever find yourself in the face of adversity remember - never give up, unite with the ones you love and you will conquer anything!

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