Making Plans!

A couple of months ago, I wrote something that I put on Facebook, about some things that I would like to do. We had just started lockdown then and we are still in lockdown now, but i am optimistic that in the next few years I will get some of these things done.

Not being able to get out and do a lot of things that you love, does make you think about those things that love getting out and doing. Even before Coronavirus started putting restrictions on our lives, I had been thinking about some of the things that I would like to do. I hate the term bucket list, but I guess it is that to a certain extent. Anyway, I thought I would share a few things that I have been thinking about.

1. A traverse of the Cuillin Ridge. This has been on my list of things to do since I was a teenager and I have been to Skye many times, climbed sections of the ridge, but never the full traverse.

2. A big alpine route. It’s been more than a decade since I last climbed in the Alps and I have done very little climbing at all in the last few years, but I would love to go back to the Alps and climb something iconic, I was always obsessed by the Eiger as a teenager, but the North Face may be beyond me, the Mittellegi Ridge appeals though.

3. National 3 Peaks by bike. I’ve walked and climbed up Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon on many occasions, but whilst a driving challenge does not appeal, I like the idea of cycling between them and walking up them over over a few days.

4. The Bob Graham Round https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Graham_Round. My club mates know that I’m not much of a fell racer, with my running more suited to the road, but I love being in the hills and idea of a challenge rather than a race much better suits my approach to being in the hills. I also think that someone else in the house might have aspirations in this area.

5. Running fast again. Less specific I guess, but I will try and explain why and define. Over the last 18 months I have been having some relatively minor, but nonetheless annoying health issues, I think I have got to the bottom of the problem and am able to resolve it, but as a consequence my running has taken a big hit, slowed down and not been as much fun. The target will be to get as close to a sub 5 minute mile as I can. I’ve never run close, probably 5:30, but I have never trained specifically for a mile and never really run one at my absolute limit. If I can even get close, my definition of fast for all of the other distances will surely follow.

6. Cycle across a continent. This probably one that will have to wait for retirement or semi-retirement, particularly as it is probably not something that I would want to rush. The English Channel to the Rock of Gibraltar seems an obvious start, but does a journey through France and Spain count as crossing a continent. Perhaps a second journey from the Baltic Sea to the Bosphorus.