I HAVE never considered myself to be the outdoor type but I've recently returned from a journey to the end of the Earth and I've even got a certificate to prove it. Aboard the expedition ship Via Australis, we travelled through Patagonia in Chile to reach Cape Horn.

The world's southernmost tip of land is little more than a large piece of grass-covered rock but this mystical headland, supposedly first spotted by Sir Francis Drake in 1578, strikes fear into the hearts of the most able of seamen even to this day.

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It marks the point where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet - and they're not exactly friendly neighbours. Fierce storms, treacherous currents and icebergs have turned the freezing waters into one of the biggest shipping graveyards on the planet.

Only Antarctica lies beyond the craggy rocks, where winds of up to 90mph and 50ft waves crash ashore 200 days of the year.

Thankfully, when we arrived the oceans were calm and we were able to land on the tiny island at the tip of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of South America.

As we made the short journey from the ship to the landing point in our Zodiac inflatable launch, we were joined by four unexpected visitors: a small family of elephant seals which popped their heads out of the water a few yards away. Another family was also arriving at the island. A Chilean naval officer, his wife, two small children and their pet dog who were beginning a year-long stint living at the remote but strategic naval station. Their new home was in a lighthouse with a tiny wooden chapel standing alongside.

Nearby is a sculpture featuring the silhouette of an albatross, a memorial to the estimated 10,000 mariners to have perished attempting to "round the Horn".
In contrast with their pioneering heroics my epic journey was made in five-star luxury. The odyssey began after a comfortable night at the elegant Hotel Cabo de Hornos in Punta Arenas, a four-hour flight from the Chilean capital Santiago.

The city is set on the windy edge of the Strait of Magellan, through which sailors used to pass before the discovery of Cape Horn.

During our four-night adventure covering 586 nautical miles, we dined on the likes of terrine of king crab and sipped Chilean chardonnay as we cruised past spectacular hanging glaciers and snow-capped mountains. We were prepared for our shore excursions with lectures on wildlife, glaciers, history and even wine. These informative sessions were conducted in both Spanish and English.

The Via Australis is small and designed to navigate through the rugged fjords of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. The ship holds a maximum of 136 passengers and there are 64 spacious cabins with large viewing windows, comfortable twin beds and private bathrooms. There's a small games room, library and gift shop.

The lounge and bar (free for the duration of the trip) have panoramic windows and comfy furniture to flop into after a hard day's adventuring.
Patagonia is not a precise area, it's a vast territory covering more than 500,000 square miles of Chile and Argentina. At the start of the 20th century, British explorer Major Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard led a Daily Express expedition to investigate reports of a giant hairy beast roaming the land that was thought to be the mylodon, a giant sloth considered then to be extinct.

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It proved elusive but his adventures were the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World. A young Charles Darwin journeyed through the fjords and channels of Patagonia during the second voyage of HMS Beagle which began at the end of 1831. It was on this five-year journey he began to formulate ideas that became his theory of evolution.

The survival of the fittest came to mind on our first shore trip to Ainsworth Bay, a coastal inlet fed by the meltwater of the Marinelli Glacier.
We were shown how life forms can survive in the harshest of climates, undeterred by the freezing winds and bullet-like rain.
In the afternoon we went to see a colony of Magellanic penguins living on Tuckers Islets.

These remarkable flightless birds, known as Jackass Penguins due to their donkey-like braying, seemed unfazed as our speedboats crashed through chunks of floating ice to pull up within feet of their beachside home.

The next day we took a short hike on a rocky trail to the awe-inspiring Pia Glacier which glistens in blue and white and plunges from mountains into the freezing waters in bizarre formations.

After Cape Horn we headed for Wulaia Bay where we made our final excursion. The bay was once home to native Yamana Indians and is now an important archeological site.

A short hike up a woodland trail took us to a spectacular view point from where we could look across the bay to the snow-capped mountains.
In 1859 the bay was the scene of a massacre of missionaries. The attackers were said to have included Jemmy Button, who had spent a year in Britain where he was "educated and civilised" after being picked up by Captain Robert FitzRoy on the first voyage of the Beagle.

With such tales to ponder it was back to the ship for the captain's farewell dinner: fillet steak washed down with a fine Argentinian malbec.
The next morning we'd be in Argentina where Ushuaia, the world's southernmost city, awaited before we headed home via Buenos Aires.

When I retired to my cabin my diploma was there, signed by the captain. It was awarded to me for "having reached the world's southernmost point".
It was quite an achievement to journey so far and to explore one of the last great expanses of wilderness. I could get used to this outdoor life.

THE KNOWLEDGE

Journey Latin America (0208 747 8315/www.journeylatinamerica.co.uk) offers a 12-day Chile and Argentina holiday featuring a four-night Cruceros Australis Cruise (www.australis.com) from £2,155pp (two sharing). Price includes two nights in Santiago (B&B), four-night cruise via Cape Horn to Ushuaia (full board) on the Stella or Via Australis, three nights in El Calafate (B&B) and three nights in Buenos Aires (B&B), transfers and excursions. Flights from London to Santiago and return from Buenos Aires can be arranged from £887. Patagonia tourism: 0117 369 0196/ www.swoop-patagonia.co.uk