A Journey of One's Own by Thalia Zepatos is a travel handbook that has incredibly useful advice, interspersed with true travel tales from a diverse range of women travelling in a diverse range of ways and places. I loved it

I love these kinda books!

• Wild by Cheryl Strayed. It was huge in 2012 ish and I think she got a bit of flack for her writing style, but honestly no book has propelled me more to sort my shit out. She hiked the PCT solo (Mexico to Canada, although IIRC she stopped in Oregon) as a recovering heroin addict, aged 26, shortly after the death of her mother. Her mother passed away in her mid 40s, and honestly there has never been writing about a mother daughter bond or grief that I have related to more. She writes of her mother so well I felt like I knew her personally. Her mum was also a pretty interesting sounding and inspiring woman, raising three children in a house she mainly built herself after escaping an abusive marriage. It is very nature focussed though and she mentions things about dealing with dodgy men en route, her period, her physical injuries, encounters with wild and dangerous animals.

• Tracks by Robyn Davidson. Davidson hiked with a couple of camels across 1700 miles of the Australian Outback, just her, her camels and a pistol. This book really pulls no punches and I truly felt inspired by her writing and her unabashed view of her animals and her own capabilities. It was published in 1980 so there are some outdated racial references to indigenous Australians, fair warning.

• Fearless: A Story of Love, Loss and the Midnight Sun by Catrina Davies. Catrina had a close friend pass away and embarked on a solo journey from Norway to Portugal by van, in an attempt to deal with her grief of her friend who died too young and did not get to do the adventures he wanted. She busks with her cello to earn money to get to the next destination.

• Handmade by Siri Helle. Siri is alone in the Norwegian woodlands and builds a cabin from scratch, ruminating on her abilities as a woman, the preconceptions about her abilities and her family history in the lumber businesses.

• Hidden Nature: A Voyage of Discovery by Alys Fowler. Alys is a nature writer in the UK, and she and her kayak set out exploring the Birmingham canals alone, which she uses as a method of self soothing during her realisation of her sexuality and her separation from her husband, who is very unwell. There are many beautiful passages as she encounters the world solo through a different lens.

Now these ones are on my list, so I haven't read them yet but am excited to get to them:

• All the Roads Are Open: The Afghan Journey by Annemarie Schwarzenbach. From google 'In June 1939, Annemarie Schwarzenbach and fellow writer Ella Maillart set out from Geneva in a Ford, heading for Afghanistan. The first women to travel Afghanistan's Northern Road, they fled the storm brewing in Europe to seek a place untouched by what they considered to be Western neuroses. The Afghan journey documented in All the Roads Are Open is one of the most important episodes of Schwarzenbach's turbulent life.' Annemarie Schwarzenbach was descended from aristocracy and led an absolutely fascinating life as an open lesbian who wore masculine clothes and loved women and travel. She unfortunately died very young after a cycling accident, which makes her short life even more extraordinary.

• Similarly Death in Persia by Annemarie Schwarzenbach details the same trip through a slightly different lens, albeit more political so maybe not what you're looking for right now. 'Available in English for the first time and beautifully translated by Lucy Renner Jones, Death in Persia is a collage of the political and the private, documenting Schwarzenbach’s intimate feelings and public ideas during four trips to Persia between 1933 and 1939. From her reflections on individual responsibility in the lead-up to World War II to her reactions to accusations from her friends of having deserted Europe and the antifascist cause for Tehran, Schwarzenbach recorded a great deal about daily life in Persia, and, most personally, her ill-fated love affair with Jalé, the daughter of the Turkish ambassador.'

• Alone in Wonderland by Christie Reed. 'Debut author, Christine Reed, takes you on an 11-day solo backpacking trip around Mt. Rainier on the stunning 93-mile Wonderland Trail. She comes face to face with the challenges of long-distance trekking, the backpacking community, and the wildlife of the Pacific Northwest. Throughout the journey she asks questions about female independence in life and the outdoors. She challenges pre-conceived notions about fear and safety. She is raw and honest about grief and trauma and tells a truly inspiring story about overcoming.'

There is a cool Goodreads list here, which may be helpful of 'Fantastic Women's Adventure Memoirs'.

It is not female focussed unfortunately, although there was a Japanese woman on this expedition, but if you enjoyed Into the Wild by Jon Krakuer, you may also enjoy Into Thin Air, about the author's ill fated trip to Everest in the 1990s 'Everest Disaster'. A more claustrophobic and intense read about travel and human limits you will not find!

Great thread idea, I'll be looking at others suggestions too :)

A classic is Annapurna: A Woman’s Place by Arlene Blum.

The Sun is a Compass by Caroline van Hemert is good. I also liked West with the Night by Beryl Markham.

Tasha Tudor was a remarkable woman who lived by herself for many years in very rural, not to say primitive, conditions. She has been an inspiration to me for years.

Although fiction, I really loved The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec as a story on its own, but doubly so due to the descriptions of the daily life and tasks involved in living in a solitary environment. It spoke to my homestead-wanting heart :)

I found this very inspiring, when I used to take motorcycle trips on my own (no dog):

http://www.gasolinegypsy.co.uk/index.html

[I've always wanted to know what happened to Peggy after this trip--and I'm not the only one--but I don't think we've ever found out.]

Here's another one, about two women on a motorbike trip across Africa:

https://www.nationalmotorcyclemuseum.co.uk/product/the-rugged-road/

I enjoyed the Amelia Peabody series, about Egypt. Fiction though.

I looked at the linked list and those books sound amazing! I’ll definitely try them. The only one I’ve tried already was Flaneuse and I wasn’t super captivated.

Don’t hyacinth it all out but I’m not