Cumbrian adventurer begins rock climbing challenge across the country

Cumbrian climber and adventurer Anna Taylor has set off on an attempt to complete a continuous round of 'Mountain Rock' climbing routes - and will cycle, run and walk over 1,000 miles between the climbs in Scotland, England and Wales.

She plans to tackle most of the routes without ropes, known as free solo climbing. Anna’s fiancé Mathew Wright will meet her at points along the route, to document the trip and help recharge devices that will record her progress.

'Mountain Rock' is a guidebook, written by climber and author Steve Broadbent, Mountain Rock, and it details 100 routes for the aspiring climber. Last year, Anna Taylor completed 83 routes from another climbing guidebook, her first experience of combining bike touring with climbing.

Despite how tough she found that experience, Anna developed an appetite for the epic and came up with her Mountain Rock plan for this summer.

Anna said: “When I completed my Classic Rock by bike tour last year, my first thought was to never do something like that again.

"The weather, the amount of hours sat on a bike saddle, the logistics, and the weather again, all made for what was at times a pretty gruelling and unpleasant experience.

“However, there were a lot of good moments too, and as the bad moments faded from my memory, I started to miss cycling all over the place and climbing routes in multiple remote corners of the UK.

"So, the only acceptable thing to do was to plan another cycling and climbing adventure.

"There are even more routes this time and the clue is in the name of the book - they’re all on mountain crags, so I’m expecting this to be even more of an assault on the legs than last year.”

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