Charlie Bayne was born in 1965. In 1984, aged eighteen, he broke his neck and was instantly and permanently paralysed from the shoulders down. In 1990 he died.This book is made up of material he wrote in the last six years of his life. It draws on diaries, travel journals and letters, as well as including samples of poetry and fiction. Some of his diaries were "not designed to be read"; but his idea of one day writing an autobiography has justified their edited use in this account. His life is charted from the time of the accident, while on a journey up the Congo river in central Africa, through struggles to adjust to complete physical dependence, and on to the transcending of disability in friendship and travel.The intensity and pain of moments of introspection and frustration are offset by the ever-present urge to expand the horizons of his life and the consistent irreverence of his humour; so much so that it is often easy to forget that these are the words of a man unable to move his legs or arms. After the early chapters, references to his physical situation are rare; this is not an exploration of what it is like to be paralysed, but a celebration of life and potential that makes no allowance for disability.The letters and diary extracts take him from hospital to convalescence, and then on to four years of study and revelry (his own word) at Cambridge University. Vacations were spent in ever-more ambitious voyages of exploration, as his urge to "get some miles in" pushed him further afield. Graduation, followed by journeys to the USSR, Eastern Europe and the United States, led eventually to a post in the UK Civil Service, where he met with considerable success before his sudden death.All royalties from the sale of this book are paid to the Charlie Bayne Travel Trust, a charity supporting students with disabilities. For more information about the Trust visit www.justgiving.com/charliebayne.