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The Ultimate British Adventure: From the Scilly Isles to Cardiff Hospital

Follow Aaron Rolph's 2700km bikepacking trip up the United Kingdom, taking anything but the shortest route. His self-propelled journey involved various activities along the way but when things don't  go to plan, his lockdown daydream ends as a hospitalised nightmare. A year on, the journey continues...

Aaron Rolph

Follow Aaron Rolph's 2700km bikepacking trip up the United Kingdom, taking anything but the shortest route. His self-propelled journey involved various activities along the way but when things don't go to plan, his lockdown daydream ends as a hospitalised nightmare. A year on, time has passed yet nothing had really changed, follow his epic adventure from the Scilly Isles to the Shetlands.

Can you call yourself an avid British cyclist unless you’ve taken on the much-revered Land’s End to John o’Groats? Perhaps. Either way, I suffer from the persistent and unfortunate disorder known as box ticking… So, sure enough, my time had finally come to take on this cross-country adventure. Only, if I was about to commit to this lengthy British ride, I needed to do it my way…

Firstly, why start at Land’s End when there’s a beautiful archipelago 40km south of Cornwall called the Scilly Isles, and a whole load of islands north of John o’Groats called Orkney and Shetland? Secondly, it seems short-sighted to cross the entirety of the UK and not take in the very best it has to offer. My route would need to hunt out the wildest and most dramatic locations, no matter what the cost to my legs. And thirdly, I’d need to get stuck into these places while I was there, right?  

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