BELFAST – When Rosie Swale-Pope’s husband of 20 years died of prostate cancer, she embarked on an adventure that few grieving spouses would even imagine: to run around the world.

“When something like that happens, the bubble of life gets smaller, and one either gets stronger or you get weaker,” the Irish native who now lives in Wales recalled Saturday. “I decided to run around the world to raise awareness for cancer. It’s been a very strange and wonderful journey.”

Swale-Pope, 61, ran into the city this weekend and stopped briefly at Foxy’s restaurant and the Belfast Bay Motel to await delivery of her new cart, Icebird, that was shipped from Shipshawana, Ind. She travels light but still has enough outdoor gear to fill the small cart.

“If you can’t wear it, eat it or camp with it, forget it,” she said. “The idea is to make a sensible, ordinary journey. It’s not like pulling a bathtub. It’s an expedition. I can sleep in a palace or I can sleep in a ditch. My only rule is I can’t take a lift. There’s not much point in running around the world if you’re spending all your time in an airplane.”

Icebird will replace Charlie, the tricycle-type cart that she took from Alaska to Maine. Icebird was designed by Amish craftsmen to navigate the northern climate as Swale-Pope’s direction of travel now has her pointed across Maine and New Brunswick toward Newfoundland, Greenland, Iceland, Scotland and England. She plans to be “back on my own front doorstep in West Wales” for a huge party on the first of June.

“I’m heading right into the heartbeat of winter,” she said. “I’ve always loved the northern latitudes. It’s where people have learned how to survive the elements. I have to get to Greenland, it’s the Everest of my journey.”

Swale-Pope began her journey on her 57th birthday, Oct. 2, 2003, setting out from Wales to London. She ran across northern Europe and then Russia, and took her only airplane flight from Siberia to Alaska. She then ran across western Canada and came into the U.S. at North Dakota.

She has no support staff traveling with her but keeps in contact with her sponsors, the international shipping company DHL Global and Runners World magazine, as well as her two children and two grandchildren by cell phone and e-mail.

Contributions she has received along the way will be divided among her favorite charities: The Prostate Cancer Charity, Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Camp, the Siberian Railway Cancer Hospital, Kitezh Community for Orphan Children Orphanage in Russia and the Nepal Trust in the Himalayas.

An open-ocean sailor and marathoner, Swale-Pope felt from the start that she was physically fit for the task and warmed to her journey as the months rolled by. She has covered 16,500 miles to date. She has a book contract and will write about her adventure once she arrives home.

“It’s a four-horse race. You’ve got to make the miles and you’ve got to do the writing,” she said.

Swale-Pope said she ran from England to Moscow carrying her gear in a backpack. She carried her gear in baby strollers across eastern Russia and Siberia.

“I’ve had to survive entirely by myself,” she said. “I’ve been through two Russian winters and a winter in Alaska, one in Canada, and now I’m in Maine at Foxy’s. I thank Dan Fox and his crew at Foxy’s for all their help and kindness. It’s very rare that I spend a night in a motel.”

Despite this being a solitary adventure, Swale-Pope said she never gets lonely and has encountered many kind and wonderful people during her journey. She said although people offered her rides along the way, she continued running and pulling.

She has suffered frostbite, fought off double pneumonia and cracked a few ribs in falls but otherwise has remained in good health. She basically lives on spaghetti, which she describes as “wholesome but boring.” The major thing she learned on her travels was to not take chances and always remember that she is not as smart as she might think she is.

“The cold is a frightening thing. When you try to sleep out in the cold at minus 60, your heart thunders,” Swale-Pope said. “You always have to remember you are not smart. If you remember that, you might have a chance at surviving. Don’t be worried or afraid, be cautious and take action. It’s a mixture between planning and having to grab the moment.”

“You do learn not to be falsely frightened, there’s enough real things in the world to be frightened about,” she said. “You have to control problems. That is as true with cancer or when you are trying to get across raging rivers in Siberia. Saying, ‘I can,’ takes no more breath than saying, ‘I can’t.'”

Swale-Pope’s adventure can be tracked by visiting rosiearoundtheworld.co.uk.

Walter Griffin may be reached at wgriffin@bangordailynews.net or 338-9546.