Molly Clifford from Maghera, County Londonderry, and her father Andrew participated in the BBC series Race Across The World. The pair travelled 7,500 miles across land and sea through eight countries without using flights, smartphones or credit cards.

They started in Palermo, Sicily, and reached the first checkpoint in Fiskardo on the Greek island of Kefalonia. From Sicily, they went to the Italian mainland town of Maratea, where they kayaked to explore coastal caves. They then took a train to Bari after locals exchanged pounds sterling for euros to cover their fare.

A ferry took them to Patras, from where they shared a taxi with another team to Fiskardo. The route continued through Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia.

Molly, a 23-year-old junior doctor, kept her two-month absence secret from friends in Maghera. Friends thought she had gone missing or fallen out with them until the show's participants were announced.

Andrew, a geography teacher, said the trip fulfilled a childhood backpacking dream. He applied with Molly initially as a joke.

The contestants operated on a daily budget equivalent to a one-way airfare, working jobs and seeking help from locals. Conditions ranged from 30C Mediterranean heat to -20C sub-arctic temperatures.