The BBC's Louise Minchin embarks on a series of fearless adventures with courageous women for her new book

Since leaving BBC Breakfast Louise Minchin has embarked on a series of endurance challenges with female adventurers who she champions in her new book, Fearless: Extraordinary Adventures with Courageous Women by Louise Minchin, published by Bloomsbury.

By Janet Christie

Published 27th May 2023, 04:55 BST

Every day when BBC news anchor Louise Minchin presented the headlines she would finish off with an item about someone doing something amazing, always a man.

“I was sitting in make up one day and thought we’re interviewing another courageous man about an intrepid adventure and started thinking ‘where are the women doing amazing things? Is it that they’re not doing it or is it that we’re not telling their stories? Why don’t we talk about them?’

Now, after quitting the role after two decades in 2021, she’s come up with the answer to her question in the form of her book, Fearless: Extraordinary Adventures with Courageous Women, in which she joins 18 women worldwide on exactly that kind of adventure.

Louise Minchin in Glen Coe with Polar explorer and mountaineer Mollie Hughes. Pic: Contributed

“There are many hundreds of women out there doing extraordinarily brave things and I don’t think they get to make the headlines, so I thought I’ll do what I know best, meet them, do what they love, and hopefully amplify their voices by putting them in a book and celebrating them myself,” says Minchin from her home in Cheshire where she lives with husband David, two daughters, Mia and Scarlett, and the dogs Ruby and Waffle.

The journalist, presenter, author, podcaster, menopause campaigner, Chair of Judges for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, World Championship Triathlete, endurance runner and adventurer, who currently works freelance within the BBC as well as appearing on shows such as I’m a Celebrity and Celebrity Masterchef, trekked through the desert in Namibia for Sports Relief, is no slouch herself and didn’t hesitate to throw herself into the physical and mental challenges along with the remarkable women she features.

Over the course of a year Minchin embarked on a series of 17 different endurance feats which included joining the likes of Polar explorer Mollie Hughes to mountaineer in Glen Coe, swimming from Alcatraz to San Francisco with long-distance swimmers Anaya and Mitali Khanzode, cycling 1,200km across Argentina with endurance runner Mimi Anderson and walked the wilds of Dartmoor with explorer Belinda Kirk.

The book starts with a splash and one of more terrifying adventures Minchin undertakes as she swims the deadly stretch of water from Alcatraz to San Francisco.

Louise Minchin and Mimi Anderson on their 1,200 mile cycle across Argentina. Pic: Contributed

“When I set out to do what became a whole year of adventures, Alcatraz was number one on my list because it’s just such an iconic swim. We’ve all heard of Alcatraz and you think ‘danger’, ‘sharks’, people locked up and never able to escape. I thought if you’re going to do a book about adventures, let’s try and get some bucket list ones in there. I’m a competent swimmer, that’s my favourite sport, but it was really challenging being dropped in the middle of this vast swathe of water which is very fast with very dangerous currents. Had we not gone with a huge safety boat our lives would be very quickly in danger. There were 200 people swimming over a mile to San Francisco but very soon I lost them all, and then I felt something brush against my calf. I thought it was a swimmer but it wasn’t…”

Dive into Fearless to find out what happened but suffice to say Minchin lived to tell the tale. Another of her daring escapades sees her climb in Glen Coe with Mollie Hughes, the youngest woman to scale Everest at 21 and also from both sides, as well as being the youngest woman to ski solo to the South Pole.

For Minchin it was a welcome return to Scotland, birthplace of her grandfather, Hector Munro, from Edinburgh, and where she graduated in Spanish from St Andrews University before studying journalism at the London College of Communication.

“I absolutely loved St Andrews and Scotland feels very much part of my soul because I spent five years there. I explored loads of the West Coast and did lots of walking and it was fantastic.”

Fearless: Extraordinary Adventures with Courageous Women by Louise Minchin is published by Bloomsburyon 25 May 2023, Hardback, £18.99. Pic: Contributed

It was also a return to Glen Coe where the 54-year-old walked the Aonach Eagach Ridge as a student, despite having “a slight thing with heights”.

“I was 22 or something and very underprepared. I don’t think I even had the right kind of walking shoes and once you get on the Ridge, you cannot get off it. It is utterly terrifying. There are pretty terrifying things I do in the book but actually that experience really frightened me back then. I spent hours up there and eventually did it, but looking back we should never have done it. We didn’t have proper walking boots, we certainly didn’t have ropes, so to go back with Mollie was such a different experience.”

“I learnt so much from her about being very respectful of the outdoors, about mountaineering, about making sure you know where you’re going and you’ve got the right equipment. And also that you take stuff slowly - you don’t rush in the mountains. That’s the major thing I learnt from her. In the mountains you are working in a very dangerous environment and I took so much away from her, that calmness and peace she has. Being at one with your environment is so much about being slow, and safety is absolutely number one, so I wasn’t frightened at all and I really enjoyed it.

“We went up there in spring time and did the Meall of Burach on the most stunning, icy cold day and it was such a fantastic experience. She’s an extraordinarily brave, courageous young woman and I loved meeting her. She runs expeditions with her company Ocean Vertical and takes people into the mountains, lots of women and women’s groups hiking. You should go.”

Louise Minchin during her swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco with long-distance swimmers Anaya and Mitali Khanzode. Pic: Contributed

Minchin’s enthusiasm is infectious and she laughs a lot when recounting the adventures that took up the best part of a year. It’s almost as if she can’t believe she completed them all, confessing: “It’s really funny reading back the book because I was exhausted by it but of course I’ve done it.”

She’s also entertained by the fact that there was no guarantee she was going to be allowed to make the recording for the audio version after she had to audition to be the voice of her first book, Dare to Tri : My Journey from the BBC Breakfast Sofa to GB Team Triathlete.

“I said but that’s my job, reading out loud, surely… but no I had to audition. This one I didn’t, so I’ve obviously passed,” she laughs. “I thought it was funny and was so delighted to get to do it. But it is quite a feat. And this book it’s not just my voice, it’s everybody else’s voices too and they all speak slightly differently with different intonation to me, so every time I’d start a new chapter I’d think oh gosh, this is getting hard again.”

Why does Minchin think women’s stories aren’t out there?

“I think there are so many different answers to that. Is it that women don’t shout about themselves? Is it that we just want to get on and do things and are not looking for praise and kudos? I just don’t think we celebrate women’s stories in the same way that we do men’s.

“In a way the book is a sort of call to arms, because having been on a year of adventure and meeting all these women I feel even more strongly now that we really need to celebrate them, particularly if they’re women. The main thing about all of them was they were so self-deprecating and modest and it’s not in their natures to shout about themselves so I think it’s incumbent on us to do that. I’m interested in endurance sports but there are other spaces as well where women’s stories are not being told.”

Louise Minchin about to confront her 'thing about heights' on a climbing wall with Anoushé Husain, one of the country’s leading indoor climbers. Contributed

With more women’s stories of adventure and achievement being told, thanks to people like Minchin, a new generation is growing up seeing women achieve.

“You want heroes that look like you,” she says. “And what I love about this book is there are so many different people doing different things and there will be someone, hopefully more than one, that you’ll identify with. Look at Zee (Zainab) Alema, the rugby player who wants to be the first black Muslim woman to play for England, and she very probably will. She’s already changing lives and I think what’s really important is the impact each of these women is having not just on their own lives but on other people’s as well. Look at Mollie, she’s head of the Scouts in Scotland and inspiring young girls, and boys - because boys and men need female heroes too - to go out and be adventurous so it’s not just something that maybe their dad or brother do.”

“When you challenge yourself, particularly in the outdoors and in sport, you learn a lot about yourself, about your edges, and that you can do much more than you think, and you can take that into different parts of your life.”

Minchin already has, as this year she is chair of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, a role she is enjoying hugely but was intimidated by when it was offered.

“I don’t think I would have accepted that challenge had I not done all of these. When they first asked me I was like gosh no, this is such an onerous task, and then I thought ‘you know what, I can do these things and I’m going to do it’, and it’s been an amazing experience.”

“You see women doing things and think ‘of course they can do it’, but actually they have their own difficulties and things they worry about and are fearful about but it doesn’t need to stop you. For me being chair of the judges was really big and prestigious and I felt very scared. But I am so glad I have done it.”

If Minchin could swap places with any of the 18 women in her book, who would it be?

“Somebody who is in the outdoors. Maybe Mimi Anderson, the endurance runner who I cycled with in Argentina. I wish I was her. I wish I was as tough as her and cared about hardship as little as she does. Also Mollie, who was out on expedition for days and months on her own. I could be them, I know I would get an enormous amount out of that. It’s the big, long expeditions. That’s what it would be for me.”

What is notable about the women and their achievements in Fearless, is how being strong mentally is as important, if not more, than physically.

“I learnt so much from them about how to just be in the moment and not worry about other stuff,” says Minchin. That’s the beautiful thing about going on expedition; that is what you are doing and that ability to focus on the small is quite empowering because we all lead such busy lives with massive responsibilities and if we can all take time out from that it’s really helpful.”

One of the Fearless women exhibiting incredible mental strength is Anoushé Husain, one of the country’s leading indoor climbers. A British Muslim of Pakistani heritage born missing her right arm below the elbow and with a connective tissue disorder that means her joints frequently dislocate, she was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 23. She is also one of the country’s leading indoor climbers and an award-winning campaigner who aims to challenge misconceptions around disability and religion.

“Anoushe is a paraclimber and has a lot of difficult health issues to deal with and the focus that she has on the wall and the way that way removes her from all these things that she’s got going on in her life was amazing. She says the wall is always the same: it’s like a mirror that reflects you, so if you’re having a bad climb it’s probably because you’ve got difficult things going on in your life. She talks about how much release she finds from doing it and I found that really inspiring. I might go back to indoor climbing because of that focus; you’re not worrying about other stuff, you’re focused on getting up the wall and what your body can do. It was really empowering to watch her do that and the way she moves is so fluid it’s inspirational.”

“As I said, I’ve got a slight thing with heights, but once you’re on the wall you’re not thinking about the drop below, you’re just working it out and trying to get from one place to the other.

When climbing, Minchin asks Husain what her superpower would be and the answer is strength. So what would Minchin’s be?

“I think resilience. If you’ve got it you can use it in any place or time or circumstance. It’s not a very sexy one is it?” she laughs.

Resilience is something all of the adventurers in Fearless have in abundance.

“They’re all just getting on with it because they want to and love it. That is the beauty of them, that they are modest. They’re not doing it for headlines or sponsorship even. Most of them want sponsorship just to do it, not to be paid enormous amounts of money. I think it’s just the quiet determination we have and that probably comes from what we’ve had to do in life. Most of them are either holding down jobs or families at the same time as doing this thing they love.”

Born in Hong Kong, where her father was a major in the Irish Guards, Minchin was adventurous as a child, encouraged by her parents.

“My mum used to drag us to the swimming pool even though she hated even being in the swimming pool area and was brilliant at making sure we could swim. And my dad would take us on a mini camping trip with him to Dartmoor every year - Belinda and I passed the stones where we used to be as children when we walked across it - so adventure was definitely in my upbringing. I liked messing about, being muddy and being outside. It was always in my DNA.”

As well as physical challenges, Minchin has always loved writing and she is currently working on a third book, her first foray into fiction.

“I can’t tell you about it,” she says, “but I’m super excited. I love writing and get completely lost in it. I’ve just been down in Cornwall writing for the last few days and hours pass and I get totally immersed. I feel very lucky to be able to do it and hopefully I can do more. It’s a strange thing, because writing is so different from my job. I’ll do a day of writing in my small space in front of a computer then do something in a theatre in front of 400 people and the transition I find quite difficult because it’s two different Louises. I have to put makeup on and different clothes go back into that role.”

And finally, does she miss presenting the headlines?

“No, I don’t miss reading the news. I’m really lucky because I get to do lots of presenting in different ways now and with the book, I’m coming on tour, so I get to do that. In fact I’m coming up to Scotland in October.

“I think I’ve always lived my life with my foot on the pedal and that’s the way I really enjoy it. I’ve always worked weird hours every day of the week, breakfast and on Saturdays. My life is so much about work, but it’s because I love it.”

Fearless: Extraordinary Adventures with Courageous Women by Louise Minchin is published by Bloomsbury, Hardback, £18.99