Like Cheryl Strayed in Wild, Sarah Outen bravely explores mental health issues and grief as she chronicles her four-year round-the-world adventure
The
British adventurer Sarah Outen has made an introspective and emotionally brave film about her awe-inspiring journey around the world. She travelled 20,000 miles in four years, powered entirely by her own steam – on bike, foot and rowing boat. Documentaries about big adventures usually feature a scene or two in which the hero (usually male), with chest-beating bravado, goes mano a mano with nature. Not here. In Alaska, Outen giggles when a bear sneaks up on her having a wash. And it takes real guts to open up as she does about mental health issues in her elegant, self-aware voiceover.
Her adventure begins in 2011 rowing across the Channel to
France, and from there it’s five and half months on the bike. A recent Oxford graduate, Outen describes herself as confident and accomplished, but feeling lost and grieving the death of her father. In Kazakhstan, she falls for the landscape and the hospitality. People constantly invite her in for tea and ask: “Where is your husband?” She points to her bike, Hercules. Make no mistake, Outen is a tough lady, but her warmth and gentleness are as helpful while travelling so far alone. In
China, she picks up a young lad, Gau, who has recently dropped out of business school – and for 2,000 miles to
Beijing the film becomes a buddy comedy.