Three Stripes South by Bex Band

Summary:

In 2016, desperate for a drastic change, Bex Band decided to walk the length of Israel with her husband: a 1000km trek including a dangerous crossing through the vast Negev desert.

She'd never done anything like it before and the experience changed her life, building back her confidence and self-esteem.

Three Stripes South tells the story of this transformative adventure - battling heat, exhaustion, self-doubt and prejudice - and the new life Bex built for herself when she got home, founding the Love Her Wild women's adventure community.

'Lacking confidence is something that a lot of women can relate to' says Bex. 'For me personally, it began at school with undiagnosed dyslexia and bullying. This fed into my adult years where I found myself in a vicious cycle of unhappy jobs and bouts of depression. I had low self-esteem and a belief that I really wasn't capable of achieving much in life.'

Fast forward to today and Bex has transformed her life, tackling gender inequality in adventure travel, and championing women in the outdoors through regular talks, blogging and leading women on adventures all over the world. Nominated for multiple awards for her work advocating women in adventure, her story is an inspiration.

My Review:

Have you ever dreamed of just giving up your home and your job and just heading off on the adventure of a lifetime? Allow me to introduce you to Bex Band who did just that along with her husband and gave up everything and headed off to Israel. Three Stripes South (Bradt Travel Guides) is Bex's account of their adventure.

The Israel National Trail is 1,000-kilometre trek that includes a dangerous trek through the Negev desert, and this is the trek that Bex and her husband gave up everything and head to Israel and complete the arduous trek in searing temperatures.

Bex has had to this point very little in the way of experience in trekking this sort of distance but after years of seeing dreams becoming stifled, she knew that there needed to be change and to find herself and regain the confidence that sometimes only the wild outdoors can bring. Nature as they say is an incredible cure. So now Bex found herself booking airline tickets. Just that little click, and her life was about to change for ever. Now the 1,000-kilometre trek lay ahead of her. Like a pebble tossed into a pond and watching the ripples spread outward, this was how this incredible trek, and its effect had her confidence and self-esteem. Just the thought of the trek through the desert is an incredibly brave thing to do when you do not have the experience. But does this stop Bex and her husband, not on your life.

Bex writes with humour and passion for what she does, and how this trek has changed her life, after returning home she set up Love Her Wild and this has inspired so many people with her social media posts and just reading Three Stripes South is inspiring. You will want to buy yourself a pair of walking boots and head off.

You can almost feel the heat of the sun from the pages, it is an engaging read, and I really enjoyed the adventure.

You can find more about Bex Band through her Twitter page @Bex_Band

216 Pages.

My thanks to Bex Band and Bradt Travel Guides for the review copy of Three Stripes South by Bex Band Published by Bradt Travel Guides on 6th August     2021 and is now available through Amazon and through your local independent bookshop or through Bookshop.org that supports your local independent bookshop. UK Bookshop.org