Cornwall to Nepal

With a 10:30am sailing from Dover to Calais on the 17th of April 2017, time is quickly passing and our days are becoming filled more and more with that nervous, excited anticipation that you only experience before a trip. The Plan is to drive, with a tent mounted on the roof of our Landcruiser ('Toby' - I'll let Alice explain that one), across Europe, through the Caucasus, across the Caspian Sea, through the 'Stans, into China, Pakistan and finishing the journey a year later in the roof of the world - the Nepalese Himalaya.

As outdoor enthusiasts, our time will not be lightly wasted as we look to search out the higher points in life. Be that Via Ferrata in Austria, multi-day Alta-Via in the Dolomites (a mixture of long-distance hiking and Via Ferrata trails used by the Italian soldiers to avade the Austrians after WW1), Rock Climbing in Croatia, Trekking the Albanian Alps, Mountaineering in the Caucasus, attempting a first 7000er by way of Pik Lenin (in fact a first ascent of over 6000m for that matter!), Trekking in the Wakhan Corridor, driving the two highest roads in the world, and finishing, if we really have to, in Nepal and The Great Himalayan Trail.

This is not a story of bold new routes and first ascents, but rather some distinctly average climbers with some big ideas, a big old car and, very shortly, an exceptionally large amount of free time.

In the meantime though, it's back to the montany of work-sleep-save-work, but somewhat more bearable than before, safe in the knowledge that it is all now increasingly inevitable.