Grand plans of an adventure with a goat on her part meant quite literally going to Africa, buying a car and getting a goat as a travel companion. Goats are entertaining and energetic. They dance and skip and tell stories with their eyes. They eat anything, always have a good time and, in her mind at least, would make for the most interesting and enlightening of travel companions. Unfortunately, not everyone agreed.

Practical questions on feeding and toileting and border crossings with a goat in tow were getting tough to answer. How attached one would get to such a creature, before firewalling it on the other side of the world, (or worse, having it eaten by predators en route) were problematic. There was an ethical dilemma.

Vain attempts at overcoming these dilemmas ensued. Everything from Nigerian Dwarf goats that would fit comfortably in a carrier, to myotonic fainting goats were considered -vaccinations would get it over borders and there could always be the philanthropic donation of a goat at the end of the trip (to a needy family as our very own 'Oxfam unwrapped'). All crossed minds, but were ultimately crossed off lists. The goat was a no goer.

But guy, girl and goat remains, as an idea and as an ethos.

There is much to like about goats. Where sheep hang about in flocks and follow others, goats are independent adventures. They're not antisocial- but they'll choose their own route to get where they're going. If they come to a wall, they look for impossible ways and angles to get over or around it. They want to know things for the sake of knowing, and they encourage those around them to be inquisitive too.

Guy, girl and goat is a story about independent adventure, perseverance, curiosity and travel. About seeing the world, about learning and about sharing.