INTREPID grandmother Carolyn Walker has set off on the second leg of a round-the-world yacht race.

Mrs Walker, 57, of Monkton Farleigh, was picked to join the crew of Bristol Clipper, one of eight yachts taking part in the Times Clipper 2000 race.

Since being selected in February, Mrs Walker has undergone extensive training to prepare for the rigour of racing a 60-foot ocean-going yacht.

Mrs Walker said: "This will be the experience of a lifetime. I have been an avid follower of the previous Clipper races and I am thrilled to have been accepted as a crew member.

"I have sailed and raced since my childhood, but mainly on dinghies for the past few years."

A fan of the outdoors, Mrs Walker, drove across South Africa in an ambulance last year with her husband and daughter.

The second leg of the race left Cuba last Friday and the yachts will cover a distance of 6,100 miles in seven weeks.

From Cuba the yachts will race down to the Panama Canal.

The fleet will then make a two-day visit to Balbao, in Panama, before setting sail for Christmas in the Galapagos Islands, where Dr Charles Darwin formulated his theory of evolution.

They will celebrate the New Year while heading for Hawaii.