After reading Alexandra David-Néel’s book My Journey to Lhasa at the age of 16, I became obsessed with the stories of history's female explorers that she had never been taught about at school. The book recounts the final six months of Alexandra's epic 14 year journey through Asia, her quest to reach the forbidden city of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. Against all odds, dressed as a poor pilgrim, she reached Lhasa in 1924.
12 years after reading this book, and still wondering just how Alexandra managed to achieve what she did, dealing with the cold, the wet, illness and of course the constant pressure and difficulty that came with being a female traveller in the early 1900s, I decided to act on a wild idea that had always been at the back of my mind. Setting off to India, with the hope to give a new life to Alexandra's story, I decided to follow in Alexandra's footsteps, taking with me only the equipment and clothing Alexandra had at the time.
So with a yak wool coat, a wooden backpack made out of an old chair and an all-female team in tow, I set off in search of a special cave, the worlds third highest mountain and answers to questions I'd had for the last 12 years.
After returning from this life-changing first expedition, I realised that the stories and achievements of history's female explorers and adventurers like Alexandra were so inspiring that they needed a platform to be celebrated and never forgotten. All too often these women were never given the media attention or book publications that they deserved, and I believe that this is a direct link to women and girls missing from the outdoors today. I've made it my mission to bring these stories back to life, to inspire others the same way they have inspired her.