AN East Lancashire publisher, whose adventures have taken him rowing across the Irish Sea and riding across the deserts of America, today revealed his biggest challenge.

Mark Ward, who own's Blackburn's Mulberry Books, said the outbreak of foot and mouth disease almost finished his company.

"We specialise in books about the countryside and walking -- and suddenly everybody had to stop going out. They stopped buying our books, too, and it nearly brought us down," Mark said.

But now Mulberry Books, which has its distribution centre in Carlton Road, Burnley, is fighting back with the launch of its seventh title, 'A Guide to Historic Lakeland and Wordsworth'.

The book charts several popular walks and also puts them in an historical context, with biographies of major literary figures associated with the area.

Globetrotter Mark, 39, whose parents live in Revidge, Blackburn, visited 35 countries between 1987 and 1997 and shot to fame trying to row the Irish Sea several times.

He also attempted to cross Africa on a motorbike but was forced to sell the bike to survive.

When he wrote a book about the Bronte sisters and their home of Haworth he spent solitary nights in a tent in freezing temperatures and buffeting winds to research the wild moorland conditions that prompted some of their masterpieces, including 'Wuthering Heights'.

Mark has also written five collections of poetry and contributed to numerous anthologies.

He spent three years as Haworth's official historic guide, and now works part-time for the Wordsworth Trust at Grasmere, spending half his time in the Lake District and the remainder in Blackburn.

'A Guide to Historic Lakeland and Wordsworth' is available in bookshops, priced £7.99.