Durham to GREAT DUN FELL and back! – Cycling Britain’s highest road.

Great Dun Fell is the second highest mountain in England’s Pennines at 848 metres high (2,782 ft). Can you believe that there is a road to the very top! This is the highest road in the UK and leads to a giant golf ball structure which is an air traffic control radar station for Northern England and Southern Scotland. The road is closed to vehicles, but open to walkers, and cyclists. Now there’s a bucket list challenge for you!

– Would I ever be able to cycle up Britain’s highest road – GREAT DUN FELL?
– Is it possible to pedal there and back all the way from Durham in the North East?

Then I had this crazy idea, is it possible to do both? I set off from Durham, not even sure I could get there. I’d had a couple of previous botched attempts where I had to turn around and go home due to poor route planning, horrendous weather, and lack of fitness and daylight hours.

I’m not some ultra-cyclist, just an ordinary bloke that likes to do long bikes rides now and again in the stunning scenery of the North Pennines in Northern England.

00:00 Cycling to Great Dun Fell.
00:29 Red flag at the Warcop firing range.
02:41 Monster climb up Great Dun Fell.
06:00 Wrapping up and wearing all my cycle clothing.
07:05 Reaching the top.
08:36 The decent.
09:02 The Great Dun Fell sheep race !
10:07 Water stop.
10:25 The decent
11:32 The decent done
11:57 Wahoo SatNav on-bike charging setup.
12:58 Snapped spoke temporary repair.
14:17 Microlight fly-past.
14:37 Hartside summit.
15:19 Alston.
15:54 Nenthead.
16:29 Killhope Cross (top of Weardale).
17:16 Cycling effort summary.
18:21 Overall cycling stat’s for the whole trip.

I hope you enjoyed the video!
Stuart (aka Stuggy! 🙂

This activity is on Strava:
https://www.strava.com/activities/11701427969

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I used a DJI Action 3, here’s the updated version,
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Here’s a little about my health and fitness background.

Many years ago, I had spondylitis, chronic fatigue, IBS and depression. 10 miles of cycling was about my limit before back pain set in. All my symptoms became much worse and I was sometimes so exhausted that I would struggle walking upstairs and I was in and out of hospital for various procedures, which seemed to make matters worse. After pleading in prayer about what to do, I believe I received the answer I needed, which was to go and radically change my diet. I ate nothing but fruit and giant salads for 6 months straight. I had a miraculous turnaround in my health, which was a massive answer to prayer. Thank you Lord!

This YouTube channel was originally created many years ago, to share what I did to recover. I’ve since changed it’s name to ‘Ayup Stuggy’, something that’s more personal to me rather than just diet focused. After this healing journey, I can now eat and do things that I would have struggled with or found impossible before. For the past year I’ve been attempting to improve my fitness after neglecting it due to too many of life’s stresses, and not enough excercise.

As you can see in my later videos, my eating is much more relaxed now. Significant healing has occurred inside me, and I’m able to cope with more ‘normal’ food that everyone else eats. However, I still prefer to eat loads of fruit, giant salads, heaps of veggies, and I try to limit my intake of meat and baked products. When with friends, and when out and about, I do now eat and enjoy these previously problematic foods.

Take care and bless you.
Stuart Porter (aka Stuggy !)