As the new millennium dawned, Pam Goodall, from Horsham and then 58, invested in a bike, a map and a sturdy pair of cycling shorts as she planned to cycle around the world.

Her staid job as a secretary seemed a world away from the exciting pastimes she indulged in after work.

Throwing herself out of an aeroplane with only a parachute tied to her back, scuba diving in tropical waters or running the London marathon fuelled her passion for the outdoors.

Holidays in Morocco, Turkey and the Pyrenees with fellow cyclists gave Pam the confidence to eventually go it alone.

Fate, she said, conspired to send her on the journey through three continents and 20 countries.

A businesswoman for 12 years, Pam was forced to close the frozen food shop she had built up when a supermarket arrived nearby. The collapse of the property boom in the Eighties left her facing bankruptcy. She took a bank job which ended in redundancy but her instinct for adventure prevailed.

She said: "When I was on holiday I met people who had had a crisis in their life and sold up to do something down to earth.

"Ideas drop into your head and get stored away and, as the end of the year approached, I thought I'm going to do this'. I hadn't really planned anything and I hadn't got a clue. I am not a cycling anorak and I had never mended a puncture in my life. I don't even know what a sprocket is.

"I bought an atlas, traded my car in for a custom-made bike and that was about it. I had some savings and I opened a new bank account so I could get money out all over the world. Aside from paying for visas and plane tickets it was really very cheap."

On advice from other cyclists Pam followed the Danube river which took her through Austria, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria and Turkey. From there she took a whistle-stop tour of the Far East through Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Hong Kong and China returning home a year later via the USA.

Her only guaranteed form of accommodation was the small tent she carried on a pannier attached to her bike.

On day one Pam made her first mistake when, against the advice of friends, she decided not to book a bed and breakfast for the first night of her travels.

She said: "When I had cycled about 60 miles and got to Kent I was in urgent need of a mug of tea and a bath but it took me two hours before I found a B&B.

"When I found one the woman who owned it was so proud to be the first stop on my journey she wouldn't let me pay. That's pretty much what happened for the rest of the journey."

A less friendly reception greeted Pam and a travelling companion she had met along the way in Vietnam.

She said: "We got halfway through Vietnam and we decided to stop somewhere. When we checked in, our passports were taken and we explained we would have to get up early to set off the next morning. They weren't sure anyone would be up in time to give us our passports back so we decided not to stay and I took back the money I had just given the girl.

"Then all of a sudden the gates were padlocked. Everyone was surrounding us, touching and poking us and the police were called. I seemed to be the baddie and no one spoke any English. I thought we were going to be thrown in prison any minute. We couldn't understand what was happening.

"People kept pointing at the money so my friend told me to give it back to them. It turned out when I had grabbed it back I had taken more than I had given. I had pinched about 50p and when we worked it out everything changed."

The grandmother and mother-of-two had not given much thought to the dangers she might meet on the road, such as being chased by a tearaway rabid dog.

Pam, now aged 63, said: "He dug his teeth into the pannier and almost stopped the bike. I pedalled as hard as I could. It was the only time I was really scared. When I eventually got away I didn't stop cycling for a quite a while."

Her lowest point was a road crash near Delhi which all but destroyed her bike.

Pam said: "It was dawn and I had had an early start. I had my head down and I cycled head-on into a curve in the road. There was blood pouring down my face and I had to hitch hike. Two guys picked me up and took me to Ambala where the bike was fixed for less than the cost of a pint of beer and in under 24 hours."

The practicalities of maintaining a vegetarian lifestyle soon gave way to the reality of travelling.

Pam said: "The worst thing I ate was hens' feet. I did my best to try to eat it because the last thing you want to do is offend your host."

Pam's enduring memory of the trip is the kindness she encountered.

At the end of each day when she arrived at her destination, Pam would assess the houses and pick a target.

She said: "I knocked on the door and asked the owner if I could camp in their garden. Some invited me in and of course I never got into the garden because they fed me and gave me a bed.

"Each morning I would wake up and decide where I was going to go. I became a complete map-aholic.

"China was the jewel in the crown of my journey. It was just sensational and people's extraordinary kindness and friendliness reached sonic proportions."

After an exhausting year Pam returned to Horsham with a diary full of memories. She has entertained schoolchildren, students, businessmen and Women's Institute groups with her stories of an uncertain life on the road.

Her book, which chronicles her year on a bike, Riding It Out, is available to order online at www.amazon.co.uk or direct from publishers UpFront by phoning 01733 352933.