Customer Reviews

Just a Little Run Around the World: 5 Years, 3 Packs of Wolves and 53 Pairs of Shoes. Rosie Swale Pope

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4 star:		(1)
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Since the early 1970s Rosie seems to have been on the go non-stop. First she hitchhiked from London all the way to Nepal and back. Then with her first husband and two small kids on a catamaran she circumnavigated the globe via Cape Horn. Next followed a solo sail across the Atlantic ocean in 70 days, and a horse ride from Antofagasta, Chile, to Cape Horn (over 4,000 km.) It is hard to count how many marathons she has run (Iceland, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sahara desert etc.) About three of these accomplishments she published very well written accounts (Rosie Darling, Children of Cape Horn, Back to Cape Horn).

In 2003 Rosie decides to run around the world in order to raise awareness about prostate cancer from which her second husband died. She was 57 years old, and in less than five years, 25 August 2008, she triumphantly arrived back to her hometown Tenby, Wales. In the process she covered 20,000 miles (32,000 km., amounting to about over twenty two millions steps), was followed for a week by three packs of wild wolves in Siberia, once was confronted by a naked gunman and once was run by a bus, worn out more than 53 pairs of running shoes, suffered a fractured hip (she hobbled back to her house on crutches) and had received over 40 marriage proposals (20 of which in Poland alone). The most challenging parts of her solo round-the-world run were through Siberia (in vast areas with only few passable roads, many rivers without bridges, freezing temperatures and snow blizzards) and northern Alaska (with daily freezing temperatures and constant snowdrifts). Her route took her also through Canada (the prairie provinces) and USA (from North Dakota through Maine).

Since at the time her book came out I was reading Karl Bushby's book (Giant Steps) who since 1999 has been walking around the world (starting from Punta Arenas, now he is apparently stranded some place in Siberia), I found interesting to compare the two accounts. They both met in Alaska moving in opposite directions. Rosie also met the Canadian adventurer Colin Angus who was the first human being to bicycle around the globe. It was he who in his book Distant Horizons brought my attention to Rosie's adventure.

Bushby's account is more of a diary giving exact dates and locations, names of peoples he met or stayed, with with a very good map of his itinerary. He seems also to be more straightforward, telling everything what happened when walking the Pacific coastline through Colombia, Ecuador, among others of the countries some with hardly any roads. Rosie on the other hand keeps her storyline focused on her goal, with very little information as to how hard must have been for her as a woman sleeping in a tent night after night with extreme climatic swings for all that time in places little populated. Unlike Bushby and Angus Rosie had no sponsors, her run she funded by the rent from her little cottage, her small pension and savings. For so much of her journey she had to rely on the little food supplies and personal belongings that she was able to squeeze into her rolling luggage box with bicycle-sized wheels, which she pulled along behind her through many an inhospitable terrain. Remarkably in order to cope with the various languages spoken in the countries she ran through, Rosie gained a smattering knowledge of six of them: Dutch, German, Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian and Russian. She even gave a television interview in Russian, although she was not sure how well the audiences understood her answers.

I don't find Rosie's latest book as detailed as what I learned about her run on the Web, or as she had previously reported about her undertakings in her three previous publications. It would have also been very helpful to have a map at least like the one provided on the Web; previously she has included a very good one in her 1971 Children of Cape Horn. Still, this is a remarkable document and record about an odyssey which perhaps will never be soon matched, at least in the rather short time that it took her to accomplish it. In January of this year she was deservedly awarded by the Queen with a MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire). Highly recommended.

I am not a big nonfiction reader but this book was very easy to read for me. I became interested in Rosie after she ran through my town here in CT and was too late to meet up with her after finding out what she was doing by going to her web site after seeing her running down the road. I would have loved to have met her after reading the book and am very sorry I did not while she was here. I would recomend this book to any one that wants to read about a real adventurer on a real adventure around the world. I could not imagine doing this myself but I can see how she did it after reading her story.... Thank you Rosie....

A fantastic book for anyone especially those with an adventurous spirit. How often does anyone of us get to read about spending weeks and months in Siberia and Alaska. My children have started to go on their own world adventures and this woman gives me the emotional strength to help me believe and know that they will come home safe. I will lend my book to special friends buy never part with it. I treasure this book. It is just so, so special.

`Just a Little Run Around the World' is Rosie Swale-Pope's account of her journey around the world on foot in aid of cancer awareness. It is wonderfully written and completely engaging and her descriptive language often transports you to the various points around the globe with her. One main point of this book that stood out is her positivity and ability to see the best in most situations. Despite broken ribs, frostbite, attempted robbery and whole host of other exploits, Rosie manages to put a positive spin on things and keep going. Another thing that stood out is the human kindness she received along her route. People went out of their way to assist her and help her achieve her goals and in a world that seems at times frightening and hostile it is great to read about the goodness that is out there as well. I have to agree with another reviewer that this needed to be better edited and proof read and I too would have loved a map of her route. I had to get my battered atlas down to plot the route as I read and considering most other travel books provide a map of some description, this was sorely missing in this book. That minor point aside, this is till a great book to read about one woman's determination and the amazing things she experiences on her staggering and impressive run around the world. If you enjoy adventure or travel books then this is well worth checking out.

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Interesting Read! Good inspiration to get Off the couch (after you're done reading the book, of course).

Thanks for the great book and super service, I will definitely buy from you again in the future - a very happy customer!

Having read almost 100 tales of adventure over the past ten years, this one ranks in my top five for several reasons. First, it is well-written, taking the reader along on every twist and turn of the story without indulging in unnecessary personal drama and whinging. Rosie is not one to feel sorry for herself or treat the people she encounters as alien or odd in the way that some "Westerner on a trek" stories often fall into. Second, the story is inspiring for any person who has been convinced that life is over at 25. We have lost sight of the abilities, talents, and perseverance that help make adventures come true at any age. Third, unlike many adventure tales, Rosie is aware of trying to complete her journey in a certain time frame but this does not become the sole source of interest as it does in some adventure writing. If I am ever half as persistent as this woman I will consider myself blessed. This is a phenomenal read!