Yesterday I woke early, as did my friend Nez who’d stayed at the castle last night. By 8.00am we were on our way to Paddington Station and from there we were soon speeding through the countryside towards Penryn.

I’m in Cornwall for a couple of days to run a workshop and give a talk as part of the Penryn Arts Festival.

I’m excited to be out of London and to have a chance to hang out with Nez, who’s supporting me, and with Belle, our friend who lives in Penryn.

But it’s not just the trip that’s making me feel jubilant. The other reason is I’ve got my proper wheelchair back. It broke about five weeks ago and since then I’ve been using a heavy, squeaky and uncomfortable courtesy chair that I nicknamed, ‘The Clunkmobile’.

Out of the blue on Tuesday afternoon, William from wheelchair services dropped off my much-missed chair, repaired and ready for use. In a few weeks I’ll be getting a slightly different frame for it that will hopefully make it slightly stronger. But until then I’m very happy to be back in my chair.

The trip to Cornwall would’ve been much tougher for both Nez and me if I’d still been using The Clunkmobile because Penryn’s on a very steep hill!

Right, I’m off to explore now. I’ll update you on our adventures tomorrow.