Reading about other women’s adventures, relationships with wild spaces and time outdoors has been an ongoing source of inspiration, giving me the confidence to get out there myself.
This is a selection of books, not all about the outdoors, which have stuck with me and which I hope others will enjoy. Please get in touch if you have a recommendation; I’ll add it to the list.
On mountains:
The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd. A “masterpiece in nature writing” in which Nan Shepherd describes her journeys into the Cairngorms.
Space Below my Feet by Gwen Moffat is a memoir about climbing, adventure and a true love of mountains.
Honouring High Places: The Mountain Life of Junko Tabei is “a collection of personal stories and reflections based on the memoirs of Junko Tabei, the first woman to climb Mount Everest.”
Savage Summit: The True Stories of the First Five Women Who Climbed K2, the World’s Most Feared Mountain by Jennifer Jordan. Does what it says on the tin!
On walking:
Wanderers: A History of Women Walking by Kerri Andrews introduces ten women from the past three hundred years who have found walking essential to their sense of themselves, as people and as writers.
Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit provides a history of walking and explores the connection between walking and thinking.
Adventures of all kinds:
The Carbon Cycle by Kate Rawles is the story of Kate’s 4553-mile bicycle trip from Texas to Alaska in 2006, exploring along the way what climate change means to Americans from all walks of life.
Cameroon with Egbert by Dervla Murphy tells the story of a journey through the remote areas of Cameroon undertaken by the author and her daughter in the 1980’s, accompanied by an endearing horse named Egbert.
Hearing Birds Fly by Louisa Waugh is the account of of Waugh’s time in a remote Mongolian village.
On nature:
Wintering: the Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May is “a poignant and comforting meditation on the fallow periods of life, times when we must retreat to care for and repair ourselves.”
What is your favourite read about nature, the outdoors, walking, running or adventuring? Please comment below.