Tess started travelling at the age of fifty. She began fundraising for Tibetan schools, livelihood and environment. Also in the time-honoured Tibetan way, sending off messages from the far high points of the Earth for peace.

She journeyed to Ecuador - the point furthest from the centre of the Earth (facing death from altitude sickness); The Magnetic North Pole (with Inuit children); The Geographical South Pole (Dubbed by the BBC as 'first Granny to race to the South Pole'); The point nearest the sun at the turn of the Millennium (for 17 seconds on Chile/Bolivian border); The world's tallest mountain - Hawai'i (which was a run - "I'm not a runner!"); The world's highest freestanding mountain - Kilimanjaro (pulling a tyre up); And to mountains in the Himalayas, including Mount Kailas (believed by many to be the world's most sacred mountain).

It was to Mount Kailas that she returned and takes us on her journey following the Karnali River up through NW Nepal, over a far outpost border  ("would we even be allowed in?") into Tibet. And so to do the kora, travelling Tibetan mode - undertaking prostrations ("you need a young body to do this!")

For more about Tess and her adventures visit her website.