• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

alex@alexstaniforth.com

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Alex Staniforth

Alex Staniforth

Adversity Adventurer, Motivational Resilience Speaker, Author and Mental Health Activist

  • HOME
  • ALEX
    • Bio
    • Charity
    • Sponsors
    • Media
  • SPEAKING
  • ADVENTURE
    • Climb The UK
  • 3 PEAKS RUN
  • MIND OVER MOUNTAINS
  • WORDS
    • FAQS
  • BOOKS
Contact Alex

Climb The UK 2017

You are here: Home / Climb The UK / Climb The UK 2017

February 22, 2017 by AdversityAdventurer 9 Comments

I’ve dedicated the last few years trying to climb the highest there is. A journey that gave me so much more than expected – the amazing opportunity to make a difference and inspire others, whom their daily Everest could simply be getting out of bed. Through time I’ve started to wonder whether climbing Everest is still the best way to achieve this. The mountain itself doesn’t float the boat for me right now. My mid-life crisis may have started a tad prematurely at 21, but I have plenty of time to go back when the time is right and the burning desire returns.

In the meantime… my next project “ClimbTheUK” will involve climbing to the highest point of all 100 counties in the United Kingdom. ClimbTheUK will take me over 4,000 miles in approximately two months on foot and bike to the variety of mountains*, hills, roads and tops of the ceremonial counties of England and historic counties of Wales, Scotland and N Ireland. The journey will be almost entirely human-powered barring a couple of ferries – having decided the Orkney Isles is probably not a good place to learn how to kayak…

* my Scottish friends will point out that England doesn’t have any real mountains!

CTUK will commence on May 13th 2017 (National Mental Health Week) on Shining Tor in Cheshire and finish on Moel Famau, Flintshire. I will be self-supported and staying in hostels along the way. A full route/schedule and tracker via the amazing Viewranger app will follow soon. My route will be open to all, providing a chance for anyone to join, follow and become part of the journey. I want to inspire the young, old and wise; or those who haven’t tried.

CTUK will also raise as much as possible for YoungMinds UK, the mental health charity. Mental illness affects people of all ages and sizes. Myself included. By engaging every corner of our home turf, we can get every corner of the UK talking about mental health and #WhoTriesWins.

… Who’s with me?!

Delighted to announce Westgrove Group and YHA England & Wales as the major sponsors for CTUK with more supporters to be announced in due course.

 

Category iconClimb The UK,  Inspiration Tag iconalex staniforth,  challenge,  ClimbTheUK,  icefall,  mental health week,  young minds

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 42 other subscribers.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kate Smith says

    February 22, 2017 at 1:53 pm

    Hi Alex, first of all may I say that I think your new challenge CTUK is a wonderful idea and I will be behind you all the way. Out of interest our third son is the head of a number of counties for Natural England and has contacts that may be of help to you. His counties are Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey and London. He has quite large teams under him and I’m sure he could publicise your event but I don’t know about sponsorship. He does meet a lot of interesting people during his daily rounds from all walks of life. If you feel he could be of use to you don’t hesitate to ask and we will see what we can do. Cheers for now Kate

    Reply
  2. Richard says

    February 22, 2017 at 8:52 pm

    Gulp!!! You never do things by half do you Alex!!! Looking forward to seeing more posts on your training group and prep for your new challenge, along with those for when you are actually on it.
    I’ll defo aim to meet up with you north of the border, passport permitting 😉 and hopefully make a climb of a *mountain with you 🙂

    I’ll contact you separately about some possible publicising on Facebook.

    Mad, simply mad 😉

    Reply
  3. Kate E Smith says

    February 22, 2017 at 11:54 pm

    I might also add that sons 1& 2 walk the Lakes every year and know them well. They also built their own canoes and canoed the Leeds Liverpool canal to raise money to buy a Range Rover for a local children’s home. No2 son also joined a New Zealand cycling club to cycle round Nepal – it was tough! He also did a BC trek and really enjoyed it. I think you can see that in their younger days they were a lot like a young Alex I know and I am sure when you publish your routes they will step forward to give you some support on your great idea. I should add No4 child is a girl who runs for charity and not to be left out I am sure she will do some fund raising for your wonderful CTUK challenge. With that I look forward to the activities. Cheers Kate
    ps. To others,if you haven’t bought Alex’s book yet please do,it’s a great inspiring read.

    Reply
  4. Majid G.E says

    February 23, 2017 at 2:20 pm

    This is a wonderful idea and a challenging one. It is amazing that you have the chance to do such a remarkable adventure, many people aren’t that lucky.
    Wishing the best for you my friend.

    Reply
    • Alex says

      February 23, 2017 at 3:13 pm

      Thanks Majid for the kind words. Hope you enjoy following the adventure.

      Reply
  5. Bob Cartwright says

    March 10, 2017 at 7:42 am

    Hey Alex, this looks like an interesting little jaunt 🙂

    Get in touch as I would love to do an interview and help with publicity.

    Cheers

    Podcast Bob

    Reply
  6. Mike Impson says

    March 26, 2017 at 10:27 am

    Hi Alex – we met at a recent training course in Hinckley, whilst my home County of Norfolk (and Suffolk where I now live) are rather flat compared to what you are used to I would love help or support you if I can.
    Please be in touch if I can help.
    Thanks!

    Reply
  7. Jason Smith says

    April 11, 2017 at 11:45 am

    This is fantastic Alex. A wonderful opportunity for every child in the UK to begin their adventures young and old, while joining one of the UK’s most inspiring young adventurers. I look forward to sharing some Southern County ascents and know the UK are right behind you on every summit. Stay Safe & see you soon.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Call of the Mountaintop | Adventure Uncovered says:
    September 28, 2017 at 4:03 pm

    […] just two months ago, was an attempt to climb all 100 UK county tops in 72 days. He called this the Climb the UK project – a human-powered adventure that entailed 5,000 miles of biking, walking and kayaking. It […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

WANT A FREE CHAPTER?
Join my newsletter for new challenge announcements, blogs, events and a free sample of my new book 'Another Peak'...
We respect your privacy.

 

Partners

Footer

Alex’s Charity

 

 

 

 

Mind Over Mountains is a charity restoring mental health naturally through therapeutic outdoor experiences.

Read more and join us at: www.mindovermountains.org.uk

Contact Alex
alex@alexstaniforth.com

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Instagram

alexstaniforth_

Climbing mountains and the mind.
Charity Founder @mindomountains
🌎 The Lake District #GetOutside
Athlete @inov_8 @ordnancesurvey @ellisbrigham

Alex Staniforth - Adventurer
Back where it all began. Running with my old man! Back where it all began. Running with my old man!

Last March I got my Parkrun PB at Keswick and this weekend got my slowest at Fell Foot.

The plan was to keep my heart rate under 145bpm to avoid another crash of fatigue, which meant walking most of the hills. It took the discipline of Yoda not to set off chasing people like the good old days, especially when my dad overtook me in the first km. 

I hated exercise as a kid. On holiday in France my stepmum bribed me with €2 to run a mile with him. That was a lot of money back then... I hated every minute but dad inspired me to enter a 10km race for charity, and the rest is history. Dad came to watch every race since, as I happily claimed the family record at every distance from 5km to marathon, whilst he retired to become a Parkrun tourist. 

Never thought he'd beat me again, but never forget where you started.
.
#LongCovid #TheComeback #MatchingJackets #parkrun #loveparkrun #fellfootpark
#LakeDistrict #lakedistrictuk #runninginspiration #Fellfoot #windermere #parkruntourist #fatherson
Much-needed adventure inspiration from @mrmarkbeau Much-needed adventure inspiration from @mrmarkbeaumont on his Faster tour at Rheged last weekend. 

Mark is the fastest person to cycle around the world in 80 days (that's 240 miles a day... for perspective) amongst many other records. He's been a huge personal inspiration and kindly endorsed my 2nd book.

So much resonated, but a few favourite takeaways: 

- Trust the process, the bigger picture will always take care of itself. 

- Remove the faff. His team had to ensure he was on the bike by 4am, not 4:05am. That would have added an entire day to his record.

- Mark had 40 people working on his world record. He knew that if he failed, the whole team failed. 

- Good times won't last forever, but that means the bad ones won't either... 

Thanks Mark. Grab his books, talks and films if you're needing some adventure inspiration! 

#faster #worldcycle #ultracycling #markbeaumont #inspiration #80days #mindset #cyclingheroes #rheged #ultracyclist 
@speakersfromtheedge
214/214 Wainwrights complete! Somehow it's taken 214/214 Wainwrights complete! 

Somehow it's taken 12 years, 8 months and 25 days since my first summit, Souther Fell, aged 14 (swipe for evidence). For those who don't know, the Wainwrights are a list of 214 summits created by legendary writer Alfred Wainwright. There was no better hill to finish than the aptly named 'Great Cockup', with a great crowd of friends.

The record is 5 days 12 hrs 14 mins... If only we hadn't stopped for a sandwich 😂 

Meanwhile @thehodfather666 is currently climbing all 214 with a 4 stone hod of house bricks, to raise money for @mindomountains.

However fast you go, there's something strangely addictive about this collection of fells. It's been a fun project to explore the Lakes and maybe one day I'll start again to see how fast I can get around... 

📸@danobeaumont

#GreatCockup #Wainwrights #LakeDistrict #Hillwalking  #GetOutside #Lakes #peakbagging #wainwrightswalks
A big welcome to the first CEO of @mindomountains, A big welcome to the first CEO of @mindomountains, Ian Sansbury! 

When Chris and I founded the charity in 2020 we never imagined how big it would become. From the flagship event with @adventureuncovered to delivering 27 events last year, supporting 300+ people with their mental health, including the NHS, Police and Ambulance Service.

Leadership is about creating a vision, and building a great team to achieve it - like our wonderful trustees, team and 50+ freelance staff who continually go above and beyond. 

It’s also knowing your strengths and weaknesses, when ironically it's compromised my own mental health sometimes too. As the charity grows I'm not the right person to take it where it needs to be, so it can reach everyone who needs our help.

Feeling like a proud parent sending their kids off to start school, with less crying, but I'm super excited to see the charity grow and support even more people with Ian’s expertise. 

I’ll remain heavily involved as a trustee (and Chief Interference Officer) to support the team, tell the story and raise money through daft adventures… 

Thanks to everyone who's been part of the first chapter. Onwards!

#NewChapter #MyBaby  #MentalHealthCharity #MindOverMountains
Load More… Follow on Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2023 Alex Staniforth. All rights reserved.

Implemented by Koogar Integrated Marketing

Return to top