Phoebe Smith (1)

I picked this up at my local library. This is a non-fiction book about solo wild camping in the UK but what makes this slightly different from the norm is that it is written by a woman. Phoebe isn't a chancer, she is a writer for some of the big 'outdoor pursuits' magazines in the UK. She decides to set herself a challenge of sleeping wild at the highest peaks in England, Scotland, and Wales, and also the furthest points north, south, east, and west.

This is a really well written book which really made me yearn for the mountains again. I particularly liked the fact that Phoebe talks about the doubts she had about herself when doing the challenge, doubts we all have, and how she felt about her failures and successes.… (más)

Following on from her first camping book Phoebe Smith is determined to push herself even more. Setting herself three sets of challenges, Wild Nights, Three Peaks Sleeps and Extreme Sleeps, she ventures into the highest, lowest, furthest north, south east and west points in the UK.

On these trips she has to cope with freezing conditions, whiteouts, gales force winds on the highest points, wading through rivers and evading CCTV whilst urban camping. Written in her chatty style, it isn’t a bad book overall and a good counterpart to her first book.… (más)

There is nothing like a pub challenge to start a book off. Especially when view in the cold light of a hangover. And this is how this book starts, Smith has a discussion with an Australian where they are playing the one upmanship game, about which country has the better monuments and natural features. She holds her own until he says Urulu, then the barrier refff, and she knows she is beaten. On subsequent vista, she goes to Urulu, and instead of going the full tourist route decides to sleep out under the stars.

This adventure sparks a challenge to herself, to sleep in some of the wildest places in the UK. She starts off in the Brecons, parking up and walking to high ground to camp, alone, overnight. She is successful, and undaunted by this decides to travel to all sorts of locations; the lake district, Cornwall, Essex, Dartmoor and the final camp at Cape Wrath in Scotland. Not all of it is camping, as she sleeps in caves, and bothys in some of the remote locations Most of the trips are alone, but she takes a friend on one of them.

Generally I liked the book. She has a good spirit and sense of adventure, and writes what she sees and feels. THere are some moments when she describes the mishaps, which made me chuckle, but the writing didn't sparkle, hence three rather than four stars.… (más)