The Plan

Welcome to our (clichéd) travel blog!

Climbing the three highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales has long been a classic British mountaineering challenge. Every year hundreds of people attempt to summit Snowden (1085m), Scafell Pike (978m) and Ben Nevis (1344m) in under 24 hours. But that challenge involves a single day cooped up inside a car driving away from some of the most beautiful regions in the UK, which frankly doesn't sound much fun at all. Instead myself and my sister Catherine will be cycling from Snowden in North Wales, up to Scafell Pike in the Lake District and further north to Ben Nevis in the heart of the Scottish Highlands.

I hear the obvious question being asked: Why? We are not doing this gruelling task for charity or out of necessity. Instead it is just a cheap, exciting holiday to the mountains which, being from pancake-flat Norfolk, we don't get to see a whole lot of. We both have done some cycle touring before: last year Catherine took her bike back from Budapest and I zigzagged down the French coast from Cherbourg to Bordeaux. So I hope that will stand us in good stead for what will be a very hilly (and almost certainly very wet) ride.

This trip starts early on the 27th of June 2012 when we will arrive Bangor and begin the challenge with the ascent of Snowdon. The plan is then to get to the Lake District in three days to climb Scafell Pike on the 1st of July before cycling the final 400km into the Scottish highlands to tackle Ben Nevis on the 6th of July. This is still an open event, and if anyone fancies a bit of hiking and cycling please feel free to join in!

The next couple of weeks will involve getting kit together, printing maps, planning routes, searching for campsites and doing a few practice rides!

I hope to post on most days during the ride, partly to keep friends and family updated, but mostly just as a record of this adventure for myself so in ten years time I can look back on it and say "Why the hell did I do that?".