Inaugural RNLI #ThreeShires Cycle Sportive! £5,600 rasied for RNLI :-)

I started thinking about organising an RNLI Cycle Sportive in August 2015 and after going along to the Abersoch RNLI Sportive in September of that year to chat to them about the viability of such an event got swept along into organising my first event! The #ThreeShires Cycle sportive! How hard could it be!?

Three routes on offer to encourage and accommodate cyclists of all ages and abilities.

• 100km Three Shires route, taking in the quite country lanes of Cheshire, Shropshire & Staffordshire
• 35km Three Shires Event intermediate Route
• 6km Family Fun route

It was a lot of work, but the adage 'many hands make light work' has never been truer! It really couldn't have been done without the help of so many people and at the risk of missing a few here goes!

• Rod, Phil & John and the team from Crewe Nantwich & South Cheshire RNLI for the massive organisational help, route planning and risk assessments, route signage and Marshalling on the day
• Sophie and the team at RNLI Head Office
• Simon, Steph, Peter, Pete, Russ, Rich & Dominic and the team from Sandbach Cycling Group for creating and test riding the routes and helping with the route marking and on the day event
• Rob, John, Symphony Bistro and the team from Sandbach Rugby Club for their support and use of their fantastic venue and catering
• Yvonne and the staff of Waitrose Sandbach for their in-store support
• Barrie and Gary of http://bikemarshals.co.uk/ for the event Motorcycle Marshall and medical support
• Overwater Marina and Alsager Leisure Centre for the use of their facilities as Pit stops (and the Alsager RNLI guild for staffing the Alsager pitstop)
• Our Pro Cyclist support for the event from Kristian House of ONE Pro Cycling
• And last but not least, our 35 volunteer Marshalls on the day for making the event such a success
• and of course... The participant riders!

The weather on the day was fantastic and the Marshalls seamlessly filled any of our planning gaps to make it look like we'd been running the event for years!

We had over 330 participant's over our three routes which was more than we actually thought would be possible in our first year! Everyone made it home without injury which was a huge relief!

If you have a few more minutes to spare, you can watch the photo, video montage put together by my daughter Lucie here ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDNMtRvdQEw

Pwllheli Aquathlon ~ 39mins 23 secs :-)

My fourth outing at the Pwllheli Sprint Triathlon but unlike previous occasions unfortunately this time the weather really didn’t cooperate! Winds gusting to 50mph and a lightning and thunder storm immediately before the event caused the event organisers to quite rightly pull the bike leg (to be honest I would never normally have gone out on the bike in such winds so it was quite a relief).
So, the Triathlon became an Aquathlon! A 400m swim and a 5km run.

The swim start didn’t go to plan. I was waiting for the nod to enter the pool when the starter blew the whistle to go!? I didn’t even have my goggles on L. Other than that, the swim went quite well and accounting for the 20 seconds or so it took me to get in the water and off, along with the time to get out of the pool and building and across the timing mat, my swim time was clocked at 10 mins 21 secs which I guess would equate to around 9 mins 50 actual swimming time? My swim is something Ive been working hard to improve in readiness for the Weymouth Ironman later this year so all in all pleased with that.

When I got out to the transition area, my kit box wasn’t where I left it!? It took what felt like an eternity to retrace my steps, search around only to find it had been blown across the paddock and was heaped in the corner with some other folks kit! T1 was 2:42 and then out for the run.

The run out with the wind behind me was ok, the run back into the wind was like running in treacle! Still a respectable time of 26mins and 22secs to give an overall event time of 39 mins 23 seconds J

Much kudos to the event organisers for once again pulling off a great event despite the weathers best efforts! Also to my pal Dave McDonald who I did the #3PeaksbyBike & #BikesBoatsBoots events with on tackling his first ‘Triathlon’! Welcome to the Dark side Dave! J

Abersoch RNLI Cycle Sportive ~ Done! 1 hour 57 mins

I took part in the inaugural Abersoch RNLI Cycle Sportive on Sunday... The RNLI produced a press release about it all which I thought I'd reproduce below…

It was a great day out cycling 28 miles around quiet country lanes and I can thoroughly recommend it for next year! It's given me a thought for 2016 ;-)

Rescued man takes to the saddle to support Abersoch RNLI          

Lifeboats News Release

• Date:
  07/10/2015
• Author: Chris Cousens

A man who said he owes Abersoch RNLI an ‘enormous debt of gratitude’ after being rescued at sea has completed a cycle challenge to raise money for the station’s lifeboat volunteers.

Dave Hursthouse was among those who got into the saddle on Sunday (4 October) for the first Abersoch RNLI Sportive.

The event saw cyclists complete one of a number of picturesque routes on the roads in and around Abersoch – with all money going towards helping the RNLI charity save lives at sea.
It is the latest in a long line of fundraising feats completed by Dave, who was rescued by Abersoch RNLI after a serious sailing accident in 2007. He was struck in the face by the yacht’s boom and knocked overboard, breaking his nose and leaving him concussed and struggling in the sea.
Abersoch RNLI lifeboat volunteers raced to his aid and rescued him out of the water.

Dave, who lives in Sandbach, Cheshire, and is also a member of the RNLI’s Crewe, Nantwich and South Cheshire Fundraising Branch, has already completed a Three Peaks By Bike challenge, the Great North Run, the Great Salford Swim, the Tenby Long Course Weekend triathlon, the Way of the Roses coast to coast cycle route and a Scottish coast-to-coast canoe, bike & hike trek in aid of the charity. He jumped at the chance to support a new fundraiser for the very lifeboat crew which rescued him eight years ago.
‘I have always felt I owe a huge debt of gratitude to those guys at Abersoch RNLI,’ he said.
‘I needed help after what happened to me and the volunteer crew at Abersoch RNLI got to me in no time with exactly what I needed.’

The sun shone for the maiden event on Sunday, which saw riders start and finish at The Vaynol in the centre of Abersoch village and  take on one of two cycling routes – one 28 miles and one nine-and-a-half miles long. 

Dave took on the longer route, which included a climb of 2,200 feet, and completed the course in 1 hour 57 minutes.
‘It was shorter than some sportives, but it certainly was a challenge with the climbs,’ he added.
‘It was a fantastic day, the weather was beautiful and the scenery along the route was breath-taking. I can’t recommend it highly enough and I can see it becoming a really successful event in the future.’

The event raised over £1,000 for the RNLI charity.

Abersoch RNLI Chairman Phill Brown said:  ‘I am really pleased that we did so well today and am
pleased with the foundations that we have laid for future events.’

Notes to editors:

The attached picture shows Dave Hursthouse after completing the first ever Abersoch RNLI sportive.

For more infornation please contact Chris Cousens, RNLI Press Officer, on 01745 585162 or 07748 265496 or by email on Chris_Cousens@rnli.org.uk.

Manchester 100mile Sportive ~ Done! ~ 6hours 11mins

Having been debating whether to enter this or the Nantwich Sprint Triathlon which clashed on the same day, I opted to do the Manchester 100 when I found out a few friends from work and the Sandbach Cycling club were also doing it. I entered the week before but had been keeping the training up since the Long Course Weekend earlier this year so felt good :-). We set off as a group at 7am from Wythenshawe park in Manchester with Dave (who I've previously done #3PeaksbyBike & #BikesBoatsBoots with) & Brendan from EGL and their friend Andy, Paul from Findel and Steph from Sandbach Cycling Club in glorious Indian Summer weather (if a tad chilly initially).

The route took us out through Knutsford and quickly onto the regular Cheshire lanes I now cycle frequently with the Sandbach Cycling Club... Home Ground! The route signage was good as too were the Marshall's but the pit stops left a bit to be desired! A 20minute queue for the one loo at Norley where we made our first stop and had to pay for water!? A recurring theme on the drinks at every stop!

We cycled on around Beeston Castle and through Nantwich were the route combined with the Triathlon cycle route which was also in progress and it took a bit of concentration to ensure we stayed on
the right route (many didn't!).

On through to Winsford where we stopped for another 20mins or so to attend to a mechanical on Dave's bike and then continued through Church Minshull to Middlewich (a stone's throw from where I live but 25 miles from the finish line!). Continued on through the again familiar lanes of Mobberley and Wilmslow and on the home stretch through the outskirts of Stockport and Manchester to the Finish Line.


A good group photo at the finish line meeting up with Pete from work too which was great!

All in all a good ride on a great route let down a lot by the pit stops... At the very least I'd expect free water if not some top up sustenance of cereal bars and bananas!? A finishers medal would have been a nice touch too!?

Here are the stats from Strava...

Long Course Weekend, Tenby, Wales ~ 3rd to 5th July 2015

The Long Course Weekend is something I’d been thinking about doing for some time now. It’s an Iron man distance event of 2.4mile sea swim, 112mile bike ride and a 26.2mile marathon run but run over a long weekend rather than back to back as in the full Ironman. It has the same cut off times for each of the disciplines and I thought this would be a good tester to gauge the feasibility of an Ironman which for some time has felt like unfinished business for me!

Centred in Tenby in South Wales it runs over the Welsh Ironman course and takes in the stunning Pembrokeshire coast and National Park. Running alongside the Long Course Weekend are the separate events of The Wales Swim, The Wales Sportive and The Wales Marathon, Half marathon & 10k… involving over 6,000 athletes in total, 650 of which were doing the full long Course Weekend like myself.

Friday 3^rd July

The swim kicked off at 7pm on the Friday evening. Two laps of a 1.2mile circuit in Tenby bay with an ‘Australian Exit’ between the laps involving a run up the beach around ‘Goscar Rock’, over some timing mats and back in for the second lap. The swim start itself was brutal! A mass beach start of 1,800 swimmers!? The first half mile was shoulder to shoulder, nose to tail swimming in a froth of water. It took some deep breaths and calm thoughts to settle in to but once around the first marker buoy at 0.5miles (which was like getting pushed around a fairground ‘hook a duck’ attraction) thinned out to a more manageable and comfortable swim. I never had any doubts about being able to swim the distance but was anxious about the cut off times of 1 hour for each circuit and 2 hours for the total swim, even though I’ve previously swam mile events in a comfortable 35 to 40 mins… I exited my first lap and noted a time of 52mins on my Garmin watch which indicated a comfortable second lap.

The second lap seemed to go much without incident. It was difficult to gauge the time without really being able to see my watch but felt ok. As I approached the beach for the finish though and caught snips from the event P.A. system and could hear shouts of ‘come on’ and then a countdown as I neared the beach!? Surely not!? As I scrambled out of the sea in a bit of confusion & bewilderment the countdown was counting down 5, 4, 3, 2… 1 ??? I ran up the beach, across the line, stopped my Garmin ~ 2hours and 20 seconds!? How on Earth!? I was gutted! Having covered the distance it seemed I’d missed the cut off ending the chances of the LCW medal even though I could continue and do the other events… It was an evening of very mixed emotions but I tried to console myself that I’d still done the distance… In fact by my Garmin I’d covered 2.78miles even though I thought I’d swam a pretty good line…

We forced down something to eat that evening (with my good friend Dominic who was also doing the event) and got an early night for the 7am Bike start the following morning.

Saturday 4^th July

Arrived at the Bike start course having not had time to grab any breakfast but stacked up with energy gels and bars. The disappointment from the previous evening had waned some and we were both looking forward to the start (with my start time 15mins ahead of Dom’s).
I’m now very comfortable on the bike, getting out with the ‘Sandbach Sunday Cyclists’ most Sunday’s for regular 50+mile rides and cycling to work once a week (40miles), so soon settled in to my own comfortable rhythm and was pleased to find my hill climbing good, passing quite a number of folk on route.

The route took us out from Tenby, cycling West along the coast through Penally and Manorbier, through Pembroke and out to Angle before heading back to Pembroke, through Lamphey and a long, steep hill climb into Narberth and then back down to Saundersfoot to return to Tenby… A 70mile first lap and then a repeat partial loop of 42miles through Lamphey and Narberth again to make up the total 112mile distance.
There were plenty of opportunities to chat to fellow riders along the way which helped the miles pass… A conversation with a guy called Stuart from Harrogate at around the 20mile mark though made my day! It was him that passed on the news that the swim cut off times had been extended by ten minutes due to the course being inadvertently set out at 2.8miles rather than 2.4miles (meaning that the second lap was also out against the tide). It was amazing the energy that news put back in my legs!

Even stopping at most if not all of the ‘pit stops’ including taking a ‘bacon butty’ stop at the 100mile mark when energy gels, bananas and cereal bars were no longer enough! I made a fairly respectable time of 8hours 12mins with an average moving speed of 14.5mph. All in all a really good ride. Not an Earth shattering time but comfortably within the cut off times and leaving something in my legs for the following day’s marathon run. Unfortunately Dom had a mechanical which explained why he didn’t pass me on route (but he too still finished within the cut off).

Sunday 5^th July

A 10.00am start in Tenby town centre for the discipline we’d least been looking forward to… The Marathon.
Dom and I had decided to start together, run a fairly steady pace of around 10minute miles with thoughts of dramatic finish times set-aside and look to get around as best we could! The strategy seemed to pay off well. A mile looping around town and a descent out of Tenby and then a 2 mile climb up a 16% hill to Penally in a shower of rain that turned into a full blown downpour! Actually this kept us relatively cool and fresh on the run out through Freshwater East to Pembroke. More runners joined us at the halfway mark to run the Half marathon back to Tenby and similar for the final 10km so the atmosphere on the return into Tenby in improving weather was pretty good! The last couple of miles back up to Penally were very tough involving our first bit of walking! The steep descent down from Penally to Tenby not as good as we thought with the pressure on tired shins on every step. The Compression sleeve leggings that had been given to all LCW eventers at registration really paid off though and despite not looking great, worked amazingly well! I won’t do distance runs again without them!

The atmosphere as we returned into Tenby was euphoric! Truly overwhelming! Tenby clearly loves Triathlon with even the local mayor greeting every finisher with a handshake! A finish time of 4hours 46mins. Nothing to set the world alight but again well within the cut-off time giving me a total LCW time a smidge under 15hours at a very respectable 14hours 59mins and 06seconds!

We had time for a couple of well-earned beers and a pasty (rehydration and nutritional choice of elite athletes!) before the Long Course Weekend medal ceremony at 4.30 that afternoon… The ceremony itself was like the celebrities coming out of the jungle! Full of pyrotechnics, streamers and pumping muzak! Fantastic!!! All in all a superb event in a stunning area of Britain! And for anyone wondering… A full Ironman is definitely not off the cards… Watch this space! ;-)

 

#BikesBoatsBoots for the RNLI ~ 4th to 8th June 2015 ~ £5,176 raised for the RNLI!

The #BikesBoatsBoots Trek was once again inspired by a chat at the coffee machine between myself and my now good friend Dave McDonald as to how we could beat last year's #3PeaksbyBike trip and we came up with the plans for a 190 mile coast to coast adventure trek across Scotland... Cycling from Oban to Fort William, Hiring canoes and canoeing along the Caledonian Canal and through Loch Lochy, Loch Oich and Loch Ness, climbing the Loch Lochy Munro’s of ‘Sron a Choire Ghairbh’ and ‘Meall na Teanga’ on route to Inverness, cycling back from Inverness to Fort William & finishing off with a climb of Ben Nevis... Joined again by Paul Cunningham and this time also accompanied by Stu Thompson who with the most canoeing experience would look after us in the boats (something the rest of us had to take some basic training for including rescue skills).

The plan was to start at Oban Lifeboat station, visit Loch Ness Lifeboat station at the top of Loch Ness and also call by the Kessock lifeboat station in Inverness. The trip was going to be very weather dependant but unfortunately we didn't envisage it conspiring against us so much!

Thu 4th June, Day 1 ~ Went well with an amazing and very humbling reception at Oban Lifeboat Station to start us off where 6 of the crew made time to have a coffee, chat & photo's with us before we set off on our 50mile bike ride to Fort William.

From there we picked up the canoes and paddled onwards for
another 14 miles to wild camp overnight on the banks of Loch Lochy which made for a total of 13hours of Trekking.
 
Fri 5th June, Day 2 ~ We set off at 8.00am from our overnight camp up through the woods to climb the Munro's with a very steep scramble before getting caught in a storm and 'white out' after 1.5 hours that we had to take shelter from for 40 mins. After much deliberation we decided to turn back at that point as further storms drew in...
This delayed the canoeing for an hour because of the rough water before carrying on and finally getting to the banks of Loch Ness after a total of 15 hours to make camp for the night at 11pm!

Saturday 6th June, Day 3, Saturday was a write off :-(. 50mph winds on Loch Ness brought up 2m high waves, much too big for our laden canoes. A huge disappointment but the wise and safe choice advised by Loch Ness RNLI team who told us afterwards they were quite relieved at our decision...

Sunday 7th June, Day 4 ~ With winds still against us and to claw back some of the distance we were aiming for we decided to pull the canoes out and amended our plans to cycle 20miles up the Loch from Fort Augustus to Loch Ness RNLI at Dromnadrochit rather than canoe up to say hello to the crew (and reluctantly skip the final 10 miles from there to Inverness). We received another overwhelming reception by the Loch Ness crew and then had the return cycle back to Fort William seeing us cover just over 75miles that day on the bikes.


Monday 8th June, Day 5 ~ And another early start for a 5 hour climb of Ben Nevis with the last mile to the summit in snow!? In June!? Altogether it was about 8'deep at the summit with many of the usual landmarks buried deeply with only the storm shelter and Trig point visible!

We didn’t make the full 190miles due to having to sit out the full day on the Saturday but it was still an amazing and exhausting few days meeting some 'ordinary people doing extraordinary things for the RNLI' and a lot of other lovely folk on route too!

 Here are some of the stats from our Trek...
~ 170miles covered
~ 33hours 47mins on the move over the 3.5 days we could make progress
~ 7,542 calories burned
~ 3,986m elevation climbed
~ £5,166 raised in donations from our trek for the RNLI

2015 Pwllheli Sprint Triathlon ~ 1:26:45

My third outing at the Pwllheli Sprint Triathlon and as on previous occasions and against the weather forecasts, the sun shone brightly on the day! 

This time I was joined by my wife Karen (swim), Sister-in-law Bev (bike) and brother Kev (run) as ‘Team Hursty’ and my nephew Kieran bravely tackling his first Triathlon…

With my daughters Zoe & Lucie cheering from the side lines it turned into a real family affair!

Really pleased with my times and splits which at 1:26:45 were my best so far at this event  J

The pool swim at 9mins 50 was better than expected with no real hold ups. T1 transition fairly smooth. A really good bike ride of 44mins 37 secs averaging 17.5mph over the course which includes the steep climb out of Pwllheli and another smooth T2 into the run where I soon regained my legs and got into a good stride to do a fairly respectable 27mins 20secs.

The best part as always was the well-deserved post event beer in the sun on the terrace of Pwllheli Sailing club!  J

An impromptu Tour Ride 100 Cycle Sportive

After a last minute change of plans for the weekend, we ended up at home so I decided to enter the Mark Cavendish / Tour of Britain sponsored Tour Ride 100.

I hadn't trained for this but figured my fitness from the #3PeaksByBike a few months earlier would see me through... Well it did... Just!

There were two options, a 50mile and a 100mile route... I opted for the 100 mile route which took in much of a previous Tour Of Britain stage out of Stoke, up over the Pennines and over the infamous Gun Hill.

You could choose your own start time between 7.30am and 9.00am... Unfortunately I messed up with this and although I left in a wave at 8.45, at the route split for the 50 / 100 miles I was the only rider to take the 100mile route and it quickly became apparent that I should have left much earlier!

I ended up cycling the first 45miles on my own! Fortunately the route was well marked but it did make for a lonely atmosphere! It was morale boosting to catch some riders at around the 50mile mark!


The other thing I underestimated was the volume of climbs... 2,700m of climbs over the 100 miles in total! To put this in perspective, my climb of Ben Nevis earlier in the year was only 1,300metres!

All in all though a great day and an unexpected huge sense of achievement at the finish line!

The moral of the story? Well you can just rock up and do a 100 mile sportive without training properly for it... But don't expect a great time! 8hours 11minutes of slog in total! :-)

#3PeaksByBike for the RNLI ~ 20th to 24th June 2014 ~ £6,750 raised for the RNLI

What began as an idle chat at the coffee machine early in 2014 with a colleague and now friend, Dave McDonald quickly became our #3PeaksByBike challenge. An adventure made possible with a lot of help from work and another friend in particular, Paul Cunningham who acted as our support driver, fellow climber on the hills and general carer for the weekend!

The #3PeaksByBike challenge was to climb the traditional peaks of Snowdon, Scafel Pike and Ben Nevis but cycle the 450 miles in between. We decided to attempt this over four days meaning that we'd be looking at a Mountain climb and at least 100 miles cycling per day.

We spent a lot of time training, a lot of time researching and plotting the route and logistics, a couple of trial runs of certain sections and got a lot of fundraising support from family, friends, colleagues, our employer's charity committee and from suppliers... Dave even bought a bike! All that was left was the event itself! How hard can it be!? ;-)

We kept a Facebook page which was very well supported of our efforts here ~ https://www.facebook.com/pages/RNLI-3-Peaks-By-Bike/1378450009104320?ref=hl but here's some snapshots of the tour as it took place..

Friday 20th June 2014

7am am the foot of Snowdon's Pig Track

Snowdon Summit!

A great first day of our #3PeaksByBike! 
A very early start for Paul & Dave travelling from Preston via Sandbach to pick me up and get to Snowdon for a 7am start!


Climb done, start of our epic cycle ride!

Pit stop at Rhyl RNLI!

The hike itself was fantastic...
We couldn't have wished for better conditions! Snowdon was conquered in just over 3.5 hours and then we started our 116miles cycle from there to Preston. A fantastic ride along the North Wales coast stopping off to say hello at Rhyl Lifeboat station.

Garmin thought there was a path around the coast just after Bangor but there wasn't! So a hike over the beach with the bikes on our shoulders and a ride through a field to pick up the bike track! 

Navigation error!

Continued along the beautiful North Wales coastal cycle path continuing across the Wirral to meet up with Paul for a lift through the Queensway tunnel to get the bikes across the Mersey and then on up through Wigan to Preston...

A late arrival at 10pm in Preston but felt remarkably good if flagging a bit towards the end! 






Saturday 21st June 2014

Cycling past Windemere

Paul ferrying the bikes around Scafel

Scafel Summit!

Running out of daylight!

Second day of our Adventure saw us starting at 7.00am again and picking our way up through Preston, past the beautiful lake Windemere and meeting up with Paul at Great Langdale for him to ferry the Bikes around to Seathwaite, meet our friends Matt & Rachael and climb Scafel summit to meet us at the top. Meanwhile, Dave and I commenced our longer
13mile/6 hour climb from Great Langdale over the summit, picking up Paul, Matt and Rachael and descending down to Seathwaite for our onward cycle to Carlisle... Another very long day & 98 miles covered on the bikes finishing last night at 10pm just south of Carlilse! Great of Rachael & Matt to support us on the climb!Take away Pizzas for tea and then asleep before our heads hit the pillow in our tents!


Not Scotland without a thistle!

Sunday 22nd June 2014

Border crossing at Gretna

Crossing the Clyde, Glasgow

 

After a surprisingly good nights sleep in a tent, we crossed the border via Gretna Green into Scotland following the A74 (which is now barely used with the M74 running parallel a hive of activity!).

We met up with Paul for a lunch stop at Abington after a puncture repair. and continued on via a carefully selected route through the quieter more bike friendly areas of Glasgow finishing up at Balloch on Loch Lomand at 6.30pm... Could we have gone further? Probably but we wanted to get a good rest and Pub grub at the Drovers Arms on Loch Lomand so wrapped up for the day with time to do it! 

Home for the evening!

 The burgers and beer at the Drovers Inn on Loch Lomand at Inveraran at the end of the day made the days 125miles in the saddle well worth while!



Monday 23rd June 2014

Crianlarich

 The morning of the Monday was probably the low point of the entire trip! We woke early again, absolutely exhausted, plagued with midges and another 100miles ahead of us!

As we warmed up though on a dedicated cycle path along Loch Lomand it quickly turned to fun again! We met a couple in Crianlarich who made us look lightweights! Both in their 70's, on mountain bikes with all their gear in panniers and rucksacks on their 21st day of Lands End to John'o groats! Much respect!


Ranoch Moor

The climbs through Glencoe & Ranoch Moor were breath taking and the feeling of elation upon reaching the foot of Ben Nevis just through Fort William at 4pm that afternoon overwhelming!


The foot of Ben Nevis!

Beer won!

And then a decision... Carry on and climb Ben Nevis, an anticipated five hour climb and finish too late to get food and celebrate, or an early start to climb the Ben the following morning???
Beer won! :-)





Tuesday 24th June 2014

Hitting snow on the ascent

In the snow in June!?

We had a great climb of Ben Nevis after a night in a proper bed and full Scottish breakfast!

Climbing up through low cloud from about 300m upwards to snow at the summit!

10miles hiked in 5hours 15mins.
All in all we had an absolutely epic adventure!



Ben Nevis Summit!

Britain really is quite stunning and the route we took along the Welsh coast, over the Wirral, through the Lake District and up through Scotland into the highlands was stunning!

Here are some stats from our long weekend...
• 422 miles cycled, averaging 105miles/day at just over 14.1mph
• 28.4 miles hiking over Snowdon, Scafel Pike and Ben Nevis
• 20,839 feet of ascents (11,003 on the bike and 9,876 on foot )
• 52 hours 35 minutes of total workout time over the 4.5 days
• 12,964 calories burned!
Happy to share the Garmin GPX plot files for anyone wanting to give this a go... We could well recommend it!