MOTHER-of-two Rosie Thomas is 50, but that hasn't stopped her heli-skiing in Canada, scuba-diving in the Cayman Islands, white-water rafting and climbing to 20,000ft on Everest, writes Helen Peacocke.

Now she can boast that she drove in the 90th anniversary commemoration of the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, a journey which took her through 12 countries, the Himalayas and across the desert.

She undertook this gruelling 10,000-mile journey in a 1968 Volvo Amazon, with Phil Bowen, a 30-year-old climber and photographer.

To fund the trip, Rosie undertook a commission from Little Brown to write the entire story, warts and all, which is exactly what she has done.

Sixty six cars finished the course in the main challenge, and the Volvo was one of them. Rosie's book Border Crossing (Little Brown, £16.99) tells of the problems with the gearbox and the ignition coil which was overheating and oozed brown goo on the very first day. She talks proudly of the triumphs too and how they qualified for a gold medal.

Her next adventure begins soon - she aims to climb Mount Kilimanjaro!

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.