Patsy's desert challenge

For three weeks next year, Patsy Quick will be swapping bone china plates for the bone dry sands of Northern Africa.

For most people, perhaps, the gruelling 6,000-mile rally would be as far removed from antiques dealing as is possible.

However, 36-year-old Patsy, who runs the Toad Hall Antiques Centre on Heathfield High Street, is a seasoned competitor in endurance motorcycling. In 1998, she was the first ever British woman to finish a North Africa rally when she competed in the Optic 2000 Rallye Tunisie and in 2000 she earned a bronze medal in the World Six Day Enduro event. Last year she won the European Womens Enduro title and the Vets All Girl Motorcross Championship.

She said: 'Everyone speaks of the Dakar as the hardest and most demanding of all rallies so it is a daunting prospect. But I've been riding bikes for a bit so I feel quietly confident.

'I can only do my best and, as with everything mechanical, you are reliant slightly on luck. The Dakar has always been the longest of the rallies and it's the hardest in terms of navigation. In fact, I think most people in this country would remember it for when Mark Thatcher got lost 20 years ago!'

Three types of vehicle compete bikes, cars and lorries. Patsy said: 'The thing with being on a bike is the endless hours spent on your own. With the cars they have a navigator and in the lorries maybe three. But on a bike it's just you.'

So what do her customers in Heathfield think of her plans to conquer the sands of Northern Africa? Patsy said: 'They think I'm completely barking mad! But they've known me for some time so they're not too surprised. I often joke to them that part of my training is carrying their furniture upstairs!'