This is one of my favourite books and when I saw a copy in a discount bookshop I just had to buy it to send out on a ray.

The book is written by Catharine Hartley, the first British woman to walk to both the South and North poles. She was a 30-something Bridget Jones-type media exec in London with no direction, smoking too many cigarettes and having too many boozy nights out. Fed up with her life she decides, one New Year's Eve, to set out to walk to the South pole. With no experience, training, funding, equipment (she actually has to detour on the way to Heathrow en route to South America to buy Arctic-condition gloves) and no idea how to go about it, she sets out on her adventure.

The book is written honestly and openly. At points you just want to SCREAM at her stupidity and naivety - but it is a captivating book that really engages the reader.


From Amazon.com ...
"The story of an ordinary thirty-something city girl who became the first British woman to walk to the South Pole. 'We called ourselves Plebs to the Pole. It was the first time travellers with no previous polar experience had the chance to attempt such a journey. Before our expedition, Antarctica had been sacred territory - the preserve of scientists and real explorers. No one had any idea how amateurs would perform in such extreme conditions.' In January 2000 Catharine Hartley, a thirty-four-year-old Londoner with no previous polar experience, walked into the record books by becoming the first British woman to reach the South Pole on foot. Just over a year later, she topped her achievement by manhauling her sled to the much more physically challenging North Pole. TO THE POLES WITHOUT A BEARD is a wonderfully humorous tale which differs considerably from the usual (male) polar account, as Catharine is no polar-bear eating, athletic toughie who exalts in as much physical discomfort and misery as possible, but an ordinary, Chardonnay-loving girl from London who decides with remarkable willpower to achieve the impossible. Catharine's story is an inspiration to all those who have ever wanted to make their dreams a reality."

Bookray participants:
Currently has the book
Has had the book

The participants of the bookray are as follows (in shipping order):

* Kleptokitty – Farnborough, UK
* Zenita – Copenhagen, Denmark
* Blacksheeps99 - Vienna, Austria
* Daemonwolf – Leeds, UK
* Mytilusgirl – Plymouth, UK
* Ermintrude75 – Norwich, UK
* quizgirl - Chesterfield, UK
* robert-walker - Rotherham, UK
* charmedwitch23 - Sydney, Australia
* awaywiththefairies - Sydney, Australia
* Libragirl – Christchurch, NZ
* Mystic-nz – Wellington, NZ
* Jamesmum - CA, USA
* Labmomnm – NM, USA
* WarEagle - AL, USA
* mlbish - IL, USA
* Silentdormouse – MI, USA
* Nillabreen - MA, USA

Release planned for Wednesday, March 03, 2004 at ... by mail :) in Sent to a fellow BookCrosser, Bookring Controlled Releases.

Sent to Kleptokitty

Arrived yesterday with perfect timing as I was just about to choose what to start on next. I've made a good start on it this morning and am already astonished about what an extraordinarily honest account this is turning out to be.

An inspiring and incredibly honest account.

Will be back in the post on the next step of it's journey tomorrow.

Recived it this weekend. I'll be starting reading it in a few days.

I finnished this book 2 days ago. It was relly good. I've never read anything about polar expeditions before, so it was all new to me.
I discoverd an error in the book. Before they start the Northpole expedition, there is a list of other people that are trying to reach the pole. It includes a Bettina Aller from Belgium. The name sounded familiar so I looked it up on the net and it tourned out she is Denish. She is having her 3 try at the pole this year.

I posted the book to Blacksheeps99 yesterday.
I hope she will enjoy the book as much as I did.

Received today - Thanks a lot!!

Looking forward to read it :-)

Sorry for the delay, I'm on a holiday right now and don't have lot of time to find internet cafes.

The book is gripping right from the first page! I had to read it through in almsot one go.

Will be off to Demonwolf as soon as possble!

Thanks for sharing

Arrived in the post today, thanks talkland and glasgowgal.

This has been reviewed over on my book blog, all comments welcomed!

Released on Thursday, May 20, 2004 at via Royal Mail in send to a fellow bookcrosser, Bookring Controlled Releases.

On its way to Mytilusgirl.

Look what arrived in the post today! I shall take great delight in starting this book at lunchtime today, whilst sunbathing by the sea.

Thank you GlasgowGal and daemonwolf.

What a highly entertaining read of polar travails and triumphs.

On the face of it, it's astonishing that she ever made it to *either* pole, never mind both. Yet, when you look at her pre-pole 'adventures', they reflect a personality that's willing to have a go at practically *anything*, with determination and tenacity. And, I guess, with that attitude, you really *can* do anything! I certainly know that I have a lot to learn from Catherine Hartley.

Thank you so much GlasgowGal for the opportunity to read this perfectly wonderful account of one womans travels and growth.

For those interested in reading more on Antarctica, from a womans account, I heartily reccommend Terra Incognita by Sara Wheeler ( http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/1076667/book_Terra-Incognita:-Travels-in-Antarctica-(Join-this-Bookring!)-Sara-Wheeler ).

Oops.

I found this parceled book at the bottom of a bag this morning. I have no idea why I was *so* convinced I'd already put it in the post, sorry! Anyway, it's been introduced to that random allocation instituition, that we love to call the Royal Mail, today.

Arrived yesterday... postal times are improving I see, only a week between postmark and arrival this time *sigh*. Maybe it came via the North and South Poles, lol.

What a great book! I just couldn't wait to find out exactly how she got to the Poles - from the blurb you can see that she does it, but from the story you start to wonder if that's really true. Eleven out of ten for grit and determination, but about three for logical thought and organisation; there were several points where it really could have gone very, very wrong, at worst affecting others in the group as well as her. I would hesitate to recommend this book to some of my more "extreme" friends (the ones with ice axes and arctic sleeping bags) as I think they would probably tear it up in a rage during her preparation.

I was beginning to wonder if the North Pole story would ever appear, but since most of the interesting events were due to unprepared-ness (it's evident from the book that you can't prepare for some of the issues, no matter how much you research beforehand) and happened in the South Pole journey, the North Pole trek was much smoother and therefore merited less of the book. But it was a nice ending to see that the author could build on all she had learned in the first trip and have such a great time on the second.

Thanks to GlasgowGal for the opportunity to read this! On to its next reader as soon as poss...

Received in the post today. Thanks ermintrude for the surprise (glacier mints) you included in the parcel - very amusing.
Will journal again when I've read it.

Well, I really have to admire Catharine's determination. Against all the odds, with the minimum of preparation and little or no training, she achieved her goal. She seems a very unlikely candidate, being a smoker and a drinker. It soon becomes clear that she is a person who, having said she will do something, does it, no matter what obstacles are put in her way.
I know that I couldn't cope with the conditions she faced.
This is written very honestly and had me gripped from beginning to end.
Some books start well but then tend to dwindle off and I lose interest but this was a joy to read from the very start.
Thanks to GlasgowGal for offering it as a bookray.
Will send off to robert-walker next week when he returns from holiday.

Shipped today to robert-walker.

This book arrived yesterday just a few minutes after i arrived home from Turkey, as i now need a new book to read i will get to this one straight away.
Thanks to GlasgowGal for starting this ring and thanks also to quizgirl for not only passing the book on, but also for the sweets i found enclosed, one of which i am now happily sucking on.

This was an enjoyable read, it is amazing to think how this woman manages to walk to both poles. Before her first trip (South Pole) she was a complete novice, and completely unprepared, yet she showed strength and courage to complete her journey against all the odds.
Her trek to the North Pole was a little uninteresting to me, maybe not to her, i wanted to read of polar bears chasing them over the ice, but sadly this did not happen.
A good book tho and will be making its way southwards to charmedwitch23 in the near future.

Now on its way to Australia to charmedwitch23

Recieved safe and sound, thanks to those ahead of me. I have 1 bookring ahead of this one so may take a little while to get to.

Update 18/9/04 - am reading this book and loving it.

I loved this book, it was fascinating and exciting. I felt I really got to know Catharine, she has become an inspiration to me. When I was a teen, my goal was to climb Mt Everest, and Catharine has shown me that if I'm crazy enough, I might just do it or something else equally epic. Thankyou very much Glasgowgal for letting me read this great book, and thankyou to those ahead of me for passing it on.
I have leant this to my Mum cause she wouldnt let me pass it on without her reading it. Awaywithfairies assures me she has a backlog of books anyway.

Cheers
Charmedwitch23

Posted to Awaywithfairies.

Received today. Many thanks!

Finally finished this book after many distractions! I found it difficult to believe that someone apparently so naive, inept and disorganised in their everyday life could possibly have found it within themselves to walk to both Poles. That she managed to do it is a credit to her. I wonder what she will do next.

Will be posted to libragirl in New Zealand as soon as I can get to a post office.

Released on Monday, December 06, 2004 at about 12:00:00 AM BX time (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada) at Postal Release in Sydney, Australia Controlled Releases.

RELEASE NOTES:

Posted to Libragirl in New Zealand. Enjoy!

Received on Friday 10 December, thanks

Started this book on Friday evening on a flight to Wellington. Unfortunately I did not get it finished in time to leave with my sister (mystic-nz) however I was awake until the small hours of Sunday evening finishing it off - a great read - I must say that I admired Catharine's tenacity to accomplish reaching both Poles - even in the face of financial ruin (that alone would stop a lot of people from taking up the challenge)..... this book is now off to Wellington again for mystic-nz.

Here is a picture of me in Colorado on a recent ski-trip (not too cold there compared to the temperatures endured by Catharine, especially when completing the North Pole trek!!)

Received today - thanks

A great adventure story and a very easy read. It's great to have the author talking so frankly about her perceived faults without biased. I am now sending this off to the USA.

How exciting - I've never received mail from New Zealand before! This bookring is safe and sound here in California, and will be on its way to the next reader before too long.

SPOILER ALERT

02/14/05: Let me confess right away that I did not fall in love with the author - I spent most of the book wanting to reach out and snap some sense into her! I mean, honest to God, how can you put so much time and money into an expedition like that, yet not bother to do a single ounce of physical preparation? To be buying gloves on the way to the airport when one is headed off to Antarctica does seem to suggest a certain scatterbrained tendency, doesn't it? She then spends a great many pages complaining about the physical discomforts of the expedition, and although I respect her determination, I would have felt much more sypathetic towards her if she had actually made an honest effort to be prepared, as the rest of the team members did, instead of just heading out and hoping for the best. If I had been on that team, I might have been tempted to feed her to the penguins ;)

I was heartened to discover that she seemed to have learned from her errors on the Antarctic trip, and was much better prepared for the Arctic hike. But again, to get so drunk on the cross-Atlantic flight that one vomits while in the immigration line once suggests a certain lack of judgement and maturity. She was extremely lucky to have friends around to save her from her self-inflicted predicament - again.

In all, this book would have been very funny, if it had been fiction. And really, I did enjoy reading it - but some deep-seated sense of 'rightness' kept pushing itself into my mind, screaming, "What kind of bloody selfish fool is this woman?" I fear I'm taking myself much too seriously these days!

Off to LabMomNM today - enjoy!

Arrived in the mail - TBR

4 March '05 - Well, I think I mostly agree with jamesmum on this one; I wanted to slap Catharine every few pages! One of my main peeves was when she was so proud of herself for quitting cigarettes and booze on the South Pole trek....her statement was something along the lines of, "All of my resolutions were accomplished and I didn't know how else to challenge myself" - then she gets shitfaced quite often once she's back in the U.K., to the point that she wakes up on the floor of the ladies' room after an awards ceremony! The flight to Canada is priceless...

I do like that she tried to emphasize how much support she got from other team members on her treks, but now I'm concerned for her ability to cope with "real life" - I have a feeling that she'll turn up on some rash adventure again.

It was an engrossing read, in spite of how irritated I was at times!

15 March '05 - mailed to WarEagle78.

This one arrived safely in Alabama today, and I'm looking forward to reading it. Came with a neat picture too from labmomnm - thank you! I've never had a chance to explore SW culture but, like books on Antarctica, I do so enjoy glimpses.

Will journal again when read.

Books of exploration and adventure are a weakness of mine, and I enjoyed this look through a neophyte explorer's eyes. Tenacious, lunatic, irresponsible, naive, words that accurately describe Catharine abound. In the end I'm won by her tenacity, and touched by her seeming dislike of herself linked with total honesty in flinging her weakest points out for us to see.

Will send along when I hear from the next person on the list.

Off to mlbish in Pennsylvania later today.

Received! Wow! That was fast! There has been a huge variation in the speediness of media mail to my house in the past month or so... Crazy.

Ahh, I've been so looking forward to reading this one. Thanks very much, GlasgowGal. And thanks, WarEagle! (WaaaaaarEAGLE! Hey!) :-)

Thanks to the wonders of bookcrossing, I have discovered that I *love* the travel book genre. And this one did not disappoint! It was a pleasure to read about Catharine's adventures. She decided to man-haul to the South Pole as a way to escape from a life whose patterns she was not happy with. Man-hauling means pulling a sled carrying your own gear without the help of dogs or snowmobiles or anything like that. It's quite a challenge for someone who is not athletically inclined, and she was forced to find grit and determination she didn't know she had in her.

Another of Catharine's goals was to purge several personality flaws that she saw in herself and didn't like. At first, I couldn't understand how walking to the poles was going to help her change some seemingly irrelevant character habits. But, sure enough, she felt that they dissolved during her time walking across the ice. Having practically nothing to think about day after day while trudging along gave her plenty of time for introspection and she was able to change herself. I usually prefer more action and less introspection in books like this, but these bits were fine.

As Catharine is definitely not a writer, I can forgive some of the flaws in her narrative. (Although she did recruit the help of a ghost writer.) The story seemed a bit skippy sometimes and occasionally names or events popped up that were not really introduced or explained. The most glaring example was the appearance of her tree surgeon friend. Although he was not all that important to the story, she did imply that she had or wanted a relatively important relationship with him, but it was never really clear. Another example: She began calling the old-time polar explorers 'beards' part way through the book. That was really cute! But it just seemed to appear from nowhere. She probably should have made a slightly bigger thing of that, as it was important to the title. The book's choppiness level increased greatly near the end. But it didn't keep me from enjoying my reading!

I wish she had spent a little more time on her trip to the North Pole. Her descriptions of the ice formations and phenomenons were fascinating! I would have loved to learn more about them.

This was a fun, exciting read!

Off to the next...

Well, I have PM'ed silentdormouse twice, once on 8/8/05 and once on 8/17/05, and never heard back. I think it's probably safe to say that s/he is not around just now. I sent a PM to nillabreen instead.

RELEASE NOTES:

Happy trails, little book. Off to nillabreen. Hope you enjoy it!

Received in a bookray. Thanks! I'll start this next.