Attempting to Ride to the Highest Peak in Every UK County - Peaks 1 to 9

Hello. Back out. Another video. I'm in the van this time. This video should be interesting. I think it will be. It could be the first of a many part series. There are 90 something counties in the UK. 92 depending on who you consult. I'm going with 92 and I think what I'd like to do is try and ride my bike up every single one. It may take a while. In fact it definitely will take a while but I thought it'd be a fun thing to do. So yeah that's the plan. I'm in Suffolk because that's my home county. This is where the first ascent will be. I say ascent. I mean I'll tell you about this peak when I get to the top. It's hardly a peak but it still counts. It still counts and because it's quite flat around here I think I should be over the next two days able to knock off nine of these peaks right in this video. So we'll see. We'll see. Yeah like I said I think it's going to be an interesting video. The state of my van. All the emergency equipment. Wall plugs. Sugar. Stirrers. A fork. Screws. A pen. Keys that I don't know what they're for. This thing. And a wheel. Prepared for any eventuality. It looks like this first peak is half a mile that way. So it's going to be, you know, some of these are going to be really short little rides. Some a bit longer but that's just the way it is. It seems I have so many. I will be getting a fair bit of exercise today. Let's get going. Here we are. God the air's thin up here. Let's find out how high it is. Not very. So this is called Great Wood Hill. 133 meters. So this is the summit in Suffolk. The highest point is Great Wood Hill at 133 meters. Easy first one. Back to the van I suppose. Literally five minutes. That's all I did. That's just the way it is. Peak one done. Now on to peak two. God look at the state of this fan. I haven't cleaned it since before I went and did the GDNBR. It's pretty disgusting. I'm sorry. I'll clean it before the next video and if I don't I'm busy all right. Cut me some slack. Right before we set off to our next one which is in Cambridgeshire. I thought it'd be interesting for me to tell you what each of these counties is famous for. The most easterly point in the country. The secrets of Shingle Street. The white bricks of Woolpit. The green children of Woolpit. I remember that. The green children. All the other things put aside because obviously green children is way more interesting than anything else. Two children of unusual skin colour who reportedly appeared in the village of Woolpit in Suffolk, England in the 12th century. They had a green colour, spoke an unknown language, would eat only raw broad beans. That might be why they were green. Interesting. Look it up. It's on Wikipedia. The green children of Woolpit. Right let's go. Right so this next one is a bit different. We have two peaks, two counties, one ride. I think it's about seven miles so yeah we'll get going. Another peak. They're not all gonna be as easy as this. I'm sure that. I'll find somewhere to stop. So there you have it. Cambridgeshire. Highest point. Great chisel. 150 meters. Now on to Essex which is much higher at 166 meters. Yeah so I got a bit of a ride to get there but that's fine. Let's get moving. I'm glad I brought my mountain bike. I nearly brought the gravel bike. I would have been screwed. It's bloody muddy. I always want to learn about mushrooms and which ones you can eat and which ones you can't. I'll get round to it. Nearly at the peak. So there we have it. Peak number three. A muddy one this time. I've got another three miles to get back to the van. Like I say I'm glad I brought my mountain bike. I brought my Vitus. It's the one I use for like single track trails, things like that. I literally brought it because it was easier to get to than my Kona. If I'd have brought the Kona I wouldn't have made it up here. I had to push for the last little bit because it was a footpath so my addendum is I'm going to ride as much as I can and then if I have to push the rest or even ditch the bike and walk the rest I will. The aim will be to get as high as I can in each county legally and as physically possible. Kind of makes sense and this peak is on Crissall Common and it's 166 meters. You can probably tell the east of England is pretty flat which is good for today. Time to make a cup of coffee to take with me and then head off to the next one. I don't actually know what it is. I'll have a look in a minute. So yeah I'm gonna make this coffee and then we'll see what Cambridgeshire and Essex are famous for. So Cambridgeshire famous for the university which is the obvious thing. I'm sure it has more stuff going on but that'll do. This video would be too long. Now what is Essex famous for? The longest pier in the world. It's so big it's home to its own train track. The first county in the country to create a county park system. Colchester is in Essex. I used to be the capital of Britain. I know that. There's a lot going on in Essex. Come and visit. That's about all the time I have. Now I need to get to... I've forgotten. Let's see. It's a good job Ross provides everything. He's done all the routes for the road and all the individual routes. I just have to follow along. He knows I just get lost because I have all the sense of direction of a raccoon. A raccoon's probably got a good sense of direction. Bedfordshire. Dunstable Downs. Yeah so off to Bedfordshire. Let's go. So there aren't any hard and fast rules for this challenge. I think Ross has just found the lowest point that we can see from elevation profiles of each of these peaks or hills whatever you want to call them and tried not to make them too long. Obviously there's a lot of driving involved and time is a factor. Some of the peaks I imagine in the future are going to have official start points and where there are we'll we'll use them but yeah this is just just a bit of fun. That took ages. Looks like a shortish ride. We're going up this hill to Dunstable Downs. Gonna get going quick. If there's a chance then I can do the next two in daylight or at least not in the dark. Let's give it a go. I felt that climb. Short and sharp. This is beautiful. These things are interesting. I think they used to set fires in them as some sort of alert, a warning thing. I don't know when. Maybe the war. I'll have a look in a minute. When I stop I think I'm here though. I'm at the peak. So that's Bedfordshire done. Dunstable Downs. 244 meters. The highest one yet. It's nice here. I'd like to come back and visit promptly. Reminds me of the South Downs. It says here these beacons were part of an early warning system in 1588 when England was overshadowed by the fear of Spanish invasion during the reign of Elizabeth the first. So there was a network of these fire beacons from Cornwall to London. I don't know if that one was from 1588. I doubt it but I'd imagine that's where one was sited. Very cool. Right back to the van. Right done. So Bedfordshire is famous for, this is the best one, the world's first tractor was invented in Bedfordshire. They were created in Biggleswade by a man called Daniel Albone. Tractor invented here. Love it. Right now on to the next one which is Hertfordshire, Pavis Wood. It's going to be dark and I think there's two quite close to each other Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. I'd like to get them both done tonight but it might be that I do them tomorrow. We'll see. Let's get there and see what's happening. Okay change of plan. Decided to stop for today and then start again early in the morning. So I'm just parked up back at the top of Dunstable Downs actually in the car park. I'm going to have some dinner. I've got some onions and some sausages. I'm just going to fry them up. Maybe some noodles. Maybe not. Maybe just the sausages. We'll see. Tomorrow then we'll be going to Hertfordshire first thing. In fact I'll probably go there tonight. I'm not going to stay here tonight. I'll have my dinner, wait till rush hours passed. It's a quarter past five now and then head off and then park up somewhere down there for the night and get up early. I don't want to... I could ride tonight but I don't want to miss out on the views. I think they're supposed to be quite nice. So I'll get up, get a sunrise one in and tomorrow's going to be a nice day weather-wise. So why rush it? I'm going to do that. So I'm going to cook this, eat, then get to the next spot and then go to sleep probably. Get up early. Simple but good. Right I'm parked up. Stealth mode. About to go to sleep. I'm going to be up nice and early for the sunrise tomorrow. Get going on these next couple of climbs. I'll see you in the morning. Good morning. I had a good night. I got the bike all ready. I've got a seven mile ride now I think for the peaks of Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. I think that's what it is and then we're off to Oxfordshire but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's get these done first. It's pretty cold. So that's Hertfordshire done. Pavis Wood, 268 meters. Now we've got a little ride to Coombe Hill in Buckinghamshire which is 277 meters. This is a nice spot and it's a beautiful morning. Perfect. Embarrassingly we go past my country retreat on this route. Just a little place. I like to keep it you know. Over there you might be able to see my two sheep. Quentin and Tarantino. Yeah I think I'll stop in for a coffee and then carry on. I was embarrassing. I got mixed up. That's not my country retreat at all. I've just been escorted off the premises by the police. How many times am I going to do that again? Looks like we've got an actual trig point for this one. So that's it. We're here. What did I say it was? Coombe Hill, 277 meters. Very misty. Now to get back to the van and for my second coffee. I've usually had about five by now. Starting to get withdrawal. Right whilst the kettle's boiling let's see what these places are famous for. Start with Hertfordshire. It has one of the largest reconstructed Iron Age settlements in the UK. Famous clock tower. Yeah that's about it for Hertfordshire. What was the other one? Buckinghamshire. It's the most filmed county in England including famous films like Star Wars, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, James Bond. Anyway that'll do. Kettle's boiled. Just a short one this one I think. Three or four miles. Beacon Hill. Can't be very high because I can't see it. So we're pretty much at the summit now. I think it's just slightly off in there but this looks like the highest point to me. Beacon Hill, 253 meters. I think my shifter is broke. I may well have a single speed bike for the rest of this trip. I'm pretty sure it's snapped. I'll have a quick look when I get back. Another challenge isn't it? Yeah it's broke. It's just in about fourth gear. So Oxfordshire. Famous for the university obviously as is Cambridge. But this interesting fact. Cambridge University was formed by scholars who escaped from Oxford. This was during a time when the locals wanted to lynch all of the students because some of them had beat a local woman to death. What a way to start a university. And the first person to run a mile in less than four minutes. Roger Bannister studied at Oxford University. It's all about Oxford University. Nothing else in Oxfordshire exists because of Oxfordshire. Because of Oxford University. Anyway that's it. Now on to the next one. So it's about a seven mile loop and only about 500 feet which is good because I'm not in the ideal gear. I can't really be bothered messing around with it to try and get it into a lower one. Just gonna grind through. We're gonna buy a single speed. That is the least edible looking mushroom I've ever seen. But somebody now tells me that is the tastiest one. Which would be a good example of why I shouldn't go foraging. What a beautiful place. I suppose everywhere's beautiful in the autumn. Flapjack. Cappuccino. This is the best view so far of all the peaks I've done over the last two days. Now to get back to the van. So there you go. Leith Hill which is 296 meters. Is that the highest? Believe it or not yeah that's the highest one of the lot 296. So what is Surrey famous for? Inspiring some of England's most influential influential writers. Jane Austen spent holidays here. Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle lived in Surrey for 10 years. E.M. Foster lived in Abingahammer. I don't know how that's pronounced but I've just been past there. So yeah that's that really. And it's also England's most densely wooded county. One-fifth of its land area is covered by trees. Excellent. I like it. It's a nice place. I think it's very affluent. You can tell. Now on to Kent. The last one. Right last one. Kent. I'm in Crackett Lane Services. This is where my ride starts. I'm counting on Ross. He told me there was a way out of here. I'm hoping he doesn't mean onto the M25 because if that's the case goodbye. Yeah I'm going to get the bike out and figure out. Let's see. Yeah he's right it's over there. I'm going to head over there now and start today. I think it's only about five miles so let's get moving. Muddy. Just hit the first dead end of the whole trip. I shouldn't complain. Find a way Having to push. Big in hill. I can't go up there in fifth gear. Hopefully not far on the road though. It's a little bit scary. It looks like this is about as high as I can get. Bethsum's Hill. 251 meters. Anyway that's it. I'm done. Let's see if I can get someone to get the drone up. Maybe give you a quick look. That hill was a killer. Big in hill. I've heard of that. So that was Bethsum's Hill and that was 254 meters. I'm back in a van now. Just got to get home. Beat all the Friday evening traffic which I won't do but not a problem. What is Kent famous for? Canterbury Cathedral. Apparently it's wine. It has really good wine. So that's it really. Yeah that'll do. That's enough information. So I'm gonna get home. I really enjoyed that. That was really good fun. I like little challenges like that and it was completely manageable. It all went perfectly. I'd like to do more of those so if you liked it let me know in the comments and if you didn't like it just don't say anything. But thank you for watching and I will see you in the next video. Goodbye. Goodbye.