Young adventurer off on 5,000-mile UK challenge

On 13 May 2017, young adventurer Alex Staniforth will begin the biggest journey of his life, ClimbTheUK, scaling the highest points of the UK’s 100 counties in just 72 days.

Staniforth plans to cover 4,782 miles on bike, 484 on foot and 5 miles by kayak, climbing a total of 117,004m, the equivalent height of 13 Mount Everests.

His epic challenge will be entirely man-powered, with the exception of essential ferry crossings, taking in 48 ceremonial counties in England, 13 historic counties in Wales, 6 in Northern Ireland and 33 historic counties in Scotland.

“This challenge will take me across some of the UK's most challenging terrain,” says Staniforth, who will be carrying all of his own supplies in panniers.

_{Goat fell in snow on the Isle of Arran, one of the 100 peaks Staniforth will be climbing ©Getty}
Alex will be using his ClimbTheUK adventure to raise money and awareness for YoungMinds. It is a charity with particular relevance to his own life, he reveals on his website, having experienced mental illness throughout much of his life.

The intrepid adventurer is urging as many people as possible to join him on his journey, particularly in their home counties, believing it is a great way to promote adventure on home soil.

ViewRanger, a free GPS navigation app, has teamed up with Alex as his official navigation partner.

“We’d like to see as many people as possible download Alex’s routes in the app and join him on different legs of the journey to show their support,” says Craig Wareham, CEO and co-founder of ViewRanger.

“It’s going to be an incredibly tough challenge, but if anyone can pull it off, Alex can.”

_{Adventurer Alex Staniforth using the <em>ViewRanger </em>app ©ViewRanger}
Alex Staniforth has undertaken a number of challenges around the world. He is a fundraiser, endurance athlete, motivational speaker and ViewRanger ambassador from Cheshire. To learn more about Alex and WalkTheUK, head to www.alexstaniforth.com