What a day it was for Sarah Outen. After five years looping the planet by pedal and paddle, 25,000 miles later she arrived back at Tower Bridge, London. Her mantra was 'smile and breathe'.
She cycled across Europe, Asia and North America; rowed and kayaked across the North Pacific and most of the North Atlantic. She was halfway across the North Atlantic, battling the bad weather that would leave her in deadly danger from a hurricane, when I relayed to her via her Iridium phone that we had two publishers bidding for the book she would write about the adventure.
A few days ago, she was able to meet her new publisher, Nicholas Brealey, for the first time while on her final leg of the journey. And after a short rest, she'll be starting to write her book, DARE TO DO, which will be published in June 2016.
Her first book, A DIP IN THE OCEAN, about her record-breaking solo row across the Indian Ocean in her early twenties, was published by Summersdale just before she set off on her loop of the planet, and I had the opportunity to work with her on it.
The new book will be a challenge in itself because she has so much to tell. Over the last five years she has met with devastating catastrophe, motivated people to do amazing things and encountered unbelievable beauty in the natural world.
Sarah's an inspiration. As she writes, the story of her adventure and inner journey 'will also be a call to action, to redefine your own boundaries, to be courageous, and dare to do.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3301649/Four-years-25-000-miles-started-British-adventurer-Sarah-Outen-kayak-Tower-Bridge-complete-gruelling-round-world-challenge-today.html
http://home.bt.com/news/uk-news/uk-adventurer-sarah-outen-completes-round-the-world-odyssey-11364014442441
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/09/round-world-adventure-sarah-outen?CMP=share_btn_tw
BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06mtmsb
‘When I first met her, I knew that Sarah was a very special
person with fire in her belly… She is honest, open, courageous and inspiring…
and has a contagious love for life’ –
Dame Ellen MacArthur
‘Sarah has self reliance and belief in quantities that I
haven’t come across in anyone else... Until you experience the
loneliness and awe inspiring scale and ferocity of the oceans, it’s hard to
fathom the resilience that Sarah Outen has.’ – Mark Beaumont
‘There is only one Sarah Outen... She is off-the-wall, bombards
everything with positive energy, and lives her life with a strong moral compass
and a huge heart.’ – Ed Stafford
‘Infectiously
positive, brave across the board, a trailblazer, mood-setter and role model,
she is the top female adventurer of the 21st century - nobody else comes close.’
– Dave Cornthwaite
‘Sarah – you are obviously certifiably bonkers. Thank god.’
– Dawn French
‘Definitely mad. Definitely marvellous.’ – Sir Ranulph Fiennes
‘Like Wild – only
Wilder.’ – BT Sport
