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Why hello everybody? I hope that you are well. My name is Christian and welcome to my channel backpacking bananas. I am in the UK for a short amount of time. Well, for a few weeks and I am very excited to be back because it is summer which is just the best time to be in the UK to be in Europe. It feels very good to be back. Now, I didn't have that many plans for coming back to the UK. My entire trip is bookended with two weddings. But the three weeks in between those two weddings, I didn't have that many plans and so I thought, you know what? Because it's summer, I'd love to go exploring. But here's the problem. I just sold my car the last time I was in the UK. So, I didn't have any way of getting around.
Now, very kindly my father has let me borrow his car for a few days. So, I'm absolutely making the most of it. I'm not wanting to spend a lot on this road trip though. So, I've literally brought my mom's camping sleeping pad and I'm going to be sleeping in the car tonight like freedom camping. I've never done that in the UK. So, basically yesterday I was in Wendover and I did my very first trail half marathon with my friend Cheryl which is exciting. It was so good. Today my legs are feeling pretty achy and I'm not going to do any hiking but starting tomorrow I'm going to start doing some hiking in the Peak District. So, I thought, okay, well, what can I do today? I should probably get some work
done and I had a look at the WeWork locations cuz I get three free passes a month and I saw that there was one in Cambridge. I haven't been to Cambridge in ages and also it wasn't too far and it looked like a nice one. brought myself to the Cambridge WeWork and I've just been working here all day. But it's 5:30. I feel like I'm kind of coming to an end here now. So, I'm going to head back to my car and the exciting thing is I brought my electric scooter with me. So, we are going to be scooting there.
Did you get a phone? Yeah, I'll do. It's all right. What do you mean it's all right? I actually had to go buy a towel from the M&M's, which you'll see in my backpack, because I will need it to shower at the WeWork tomorrow, and I completely forgot to bring a towel from home. Wee! I've been parked at this beautiful spot by the river, but I've now just arrived back in the car, and I'm feeling a little bit unsettled. Just because there's nowhere that I can really see here that's not occupied where I can set up my mat, my stove. It's very tranquil, but it doesn't feel quite right, so I'm going to go to another parking location. As I no longer
live in the UK, I've like relocated myself to Australia practically entirely, I don't have a SIM plan anymore in the UK, which means that when I come over here, I am having to get an eSIM as if I'm traveling abroad, technically traveling home, also technically traveling abroad. And for my travel SIMs, I've been using eSIMs, and specifically Saylite, who are the kind sponsors of today's video. I've been using Saylite for years now. eSIMs for travelers have just completely changed the game now. Because no longer do you have to wait until you arrive in the country and find a network provider, possibly be scammed, then have to like switch out your physical SIMs. We don't have to do that any longer. You can
download the eSIM of the country that you are traveling to before you arrive, so that you can literally switch on your data from the moment that your plane lands, so that you have data, and you can go ahead and start exploring the country immediately with confidence knowing that you can call an Uber. You can use Google Maps. You can download a currency app if you've not yet looked at an exchange rate. And with Saylite I just love how quick and easy it is because unlike other eSIM providers, with Saylite you only ever have to download an eSIM once. After that, you literally just top it up with data for whatever country that you're going to and obviously you can keep topping it up
throughout your trip if need be. And so to purchase data, it literally takes about 20 seconds. And I for sure would not be able to facilitate a road trip like this if I didn't have any data. So, I'm so, so grateful for technology these days and for Saylite. And of course, I have a special discount code for you guys. We can get 15% off all Saylite data plans. You can use my code backpacking or you can head straight to saylite.com/backpacking and I'll put the link for that in the description as well. And so, make a note of that for the next time you know you're going to be going abroad. I don't want you to forget your discount code.
Now, I was going to lay out my picnic blanket, but there is picnic tables here. So, that's ideal. I actually don't need to right now. I filled up my water tank at Cheryl's this morning. Not the whole way up. It's a 10-liter tank and I think I've got like 6 liters and I am absolutely starving. I had a really early lunch unintentionally at WeWork and now suddenly it's like almost 7:00 p.m. and I'm like, "God damn, I haven't eaten in 7 hours." So, on the menu for dinner, we have soup which I can hopefully just easily heat up. And then, I will boil up some water to not only clean the hot, but also to add to this lovely pasta and
sauce, cheese and broccoli. Obviously, I could have been so much more adventurous with my camp food, but to be honest, especially cuz I'm by myself, I didn't want anything that was going to cause too much clean up, you know? Oh my god, this dove is really damn strong. Very nice, very hot. Okay, and now the water's boiling. We're ready for course number two. I've actually never had this before, a bit risky. I've come for a walk in these beautiful fields. If I'm completely honest, I really need a wee. And I'm just trying to go somewhere where I can pop a squat behind a bush. But there's
loads of people out at this time. I feel like I can't find a good hiding spot cuz someone's just going to come walking after I finish this little walk and quest for a wee. It'll be time to get in the car and start trying to sleep cuz it's like quarter to nine. What time is it first? This is an excessively large blanket for just me in the car, but I could only find a double duvet at home. This is where I'll be sleeping. Ah. That's comfortable. I can lie completely flat. It's pretty good. Morning. It's 6:00 a.m. I feel like I've already been awake for about half an hour now because obviously the sun just started shining and I couldn't find my sleep mask. Anyway,
I've looked at my Garmin first thing in the morning and look what I see. How have I got a 91 excellent sleep score in the car? That is incredible. That is miraculous. I felt like a little bit scared as I was going to sleep. Like that felt the most like, "Am I going to get murdered tonight?" Like going through all the possible scenarios in my head and thinking how I'm going to survive. But alas, no one approached me or the car and we're all fine. So, first night sleeping in the car was a success. Now I need a wee. I also need to desperately like clean my teeth. I'm so thirsty.
I'm on the way to Cambridge again. Today, I parked at the park and ride and it's just this lovely straight, smooth cycle path to get all the way from here right into the center of the city, right into WeWork. Perfect. Shamefully wearing the same clothes that I was wearing yesterday and slept in. But, I have brought my shower gear and I am about to shower. So, and some fresh clothes, of course. I have arrived in the Peak District. It was like a 3-hour drive and my goodness, that last 45 minutes was just so beautiful driving through the actual peaks. I wish I could have filmed it, but safely, I couldn't have done it. I'm meeting my friend
Vicky at this car park. It's called Gradbach Car Park and she's given me an option or she's given us an option of two different hikes. One is 18.5 km, the other is 11.5 km. Now, considering it's already 6:00 p.m., I think we should do the 11.5 km one. I think the 18 one is doable, but it means we'll be finishing around 10:00 p.m. We'll probably need to bring our head torches for the final like half an hour. I did stop at a service station on the way here. And I got a KFC bucket. I haven't got KFC in a long time. Here's my running vest, which is what I'm going to be wearing. But first, I'm going to fill up my water bladder.
Okay, this can hold 2 L, but I'm going to do 1.5. I think 1.5 is plenty. Do you guys suck out the air from the bottom as well? Yay. One. How does that look? Is that okay? Dovestone Reservoir. Oh, is it? Yeah, this is what I see. And we are going to do the longer route, but like an adapted version, which is good. This is so cool. Lots Church. Quite muddy down here cuz I get They get no sunlight at all. I'm going to get a picture. Vicky said that it's normally super busy down here. But I guess because we're here at like 7:30 at night on a weekday, no one's here.
This is like when I was driving along the road, like this is kind of what it looked like, but I couldn't film. Beautiful. Beautiful evening. Tittesworth? Yep. We can see Tittesworth Reservoir over there. Are your titties worth it? Let's hope that Strava summer bag if you don't clock this, oh well. I'll be disappointed cuz here's the proof that I'm here. So, it's 8:00 now. Sun technically sets in 1 hour and 35 minutes. But we don't go out till like half 10 when it was dark. Yeah, that's what Vicky's saying.
I didn't put my head torch on till like half 10. So, we've got 2 hours to do 10k, which Vicky reckons Oh, yeah, defos is a it's defos adorable. Good morning. It's another absolutely stunning day in the UK. Sunny as ever and it's my last day of the road trip and I'll tell you what my latest find but I still want to make the most of this weather and on the fact that I've got a car. So, I'm going to push it today and I'm going to do a 30 km hike called the Edale Skyline Circular in the Peak District. But right now, I am actually in Manchester.
I stayed with Vicky last night which was very kind. Thank you so much for having me. And I didn't have to sleep in my car again which was absolutely lovely. Before I set off though to the Peaks, Vicky's just gone to work and before I set off to the Peaks, I'm going to get a coffee and she's recommended a couple of bakeries. Somewhere up here. Here we go. I will go into here. Hopefully they do a good coffee. Companio. Okay, I have secured the goods. This is what's going to get me through this hike. And in the UK, I only need to ask for a flat white because there's only ever one size of flat white in the UK and it's a double shot which is exactly what I want. In Australia, I
have to order a small strong flat white if I want to get this. But it tastes better in Australia so we'll let them off. I am going to the Mam Tor car park. One hour eight minutes from where I am right now. That's not too bad. It costs 8 pounds for the day. I'm going to do the 8 pounds not the 6 pounds because realistically, I am not about to do 30 km in under 4 hours. I feel like this is going to be a 80 to 90% hike and a 10% 10 to 20% run. I'm definitely not going to be running half as much as I was in the half marathon the other day uh just because my legs are already tired and um it's even longer and obviously more of an elevation and stuff and I just don't think I have those capabilities but I'll
run what I can. If there's like flat sections or down sections with like good terrain, I'll break into a little jog. That's the plan. Oh, they're on the screen. Okay, let's down a little Actimel. I've had oats and a piece of toast this morning. This is the pack. We've got 2 L in my hydration bladder in the back. I also have 500 mils of electrolytes in the front. I don't think there's going to be many places on route to um to fill up. That's what Becky said anyway. I've got a little children's ham cheese sandwich from M&S which I bought yesterday. I've got three SIS gels. I bought these the other day.
We've got some Trek bars. My pack feels really funny with all the water in the back. So, I've set the AllTrails off. We're going up Mam Tor first which is easy enough. I am going to bring just a few Compeeds and also a little antiseptic wipe just in case I fall and bleed. God forbid. Really not unlikely though. And I have just like a battery pack a power bank for my phone cuz I'm out there for quite a long time. Right, keys to the car in here. We are ready to go. Starts just straight uphill. I'm guessing this way up to Mam Tor. I'm just going to vlog on my phone. I'm not bringing my other cameras just because I guess it's just extra equipment weighing me down, isn't it?
There we go. First one. Okay. Almost 4 km in and we reached Loose Hill. There wasn't one of these at Back Tor, but I passed Back Tor as well. And then we keep going. I think. Wow. Somewhere between 10 and 11 km, it's just this very steady uphill, which is good because I'm just committing to walking, but my heart rate's not too high. I realized I forgot to put sunscreen on the back of my neck, but everywhere
else. And so far in the past few kilometers, I've passed three men and I've asked all of them. None of them have any. Not that I can blame them because I don't have any either. But I really would have thought that someone would have had some sunscreen in their backpack. Anyway, we'll keep asking the passersby cuz otherwise I'm going to have a very burnt neck. Guys, I was saved by a guardian angel. Um another boy, lot of solo um hiking boys around here. And he had sunscreen and he lent it to me. So, I've now got sunscreen on my neck and I feel a lot better just knowing that's kind of covered. Oh, look at
me go. I'm jogging. I haven't jogged in a while. It's been not too steep, a kind of difficult terrain. My legs are getting really tired. And I'm coming up to 15k, meaning I'm about halfway. Oh boy, and how long have I been going for? 2 hours 30. Yeah, it would be nice to be done by 5 hours. I don't know if that's realistic. I kind of think if I do it under 6 hours, I'll be happy. You got a good spot there, buddy. Just did lap 17. Almost at 17. And I actually think I'm going to cut a little bit off just because I am slightly worried about my water consumption and how much I've got left.
I do think I've got plenty, but I've also still got a long way to go. And there's this kind of like peninsula, shall we say, in the walk. And you can just cut it off and it'll probably cut off a kilometer or two. So, I think I'm going to do that just to make it a little bit shorter. There was a bit that I was running on just back there. And I haven't been running on a lot of it, but I was running on this particular bit. And I ran past some hiking girls. And they looked at me and they went, "Oh my god, that is crazy." Like referring to the fact that I was actually running. And it made me feel so good because I remember a time where I would hike and wouldn't even dream about breaking into a run. And I would see trail runners and I would
think and say to them, "Oh my god, like you're crazy. Like you got to be so fit to do that." And it just made me think like how far I've come to think that I'm now running on these trails and people are saying that to me. Like I know I'm not the fastest one out here, but like the progression that I've personally made is going to make me feel really good. That's crazy. Oh. that's steep. This thing is called the Pagoda. Does it look like a Pagoda? Not by my standards, but we'll go with it.
Okay, I think this is possibly Hello. I think this is my final peak of the day. I think. Can you tell? No, it's called the Ooh, just hit half marathon distance in like 3 hours 46. So, that's two half marathons in 4 days. Maybe 3 days, actually. Oh, I lied. It wasn't the last peak. I don't even think this one is either, but the other one was the highest. That's Brown Noll. That was so hot. See, I know another 96 hours of recovery. Garmin saying 28.32 km, 4 hours and 53 minutes, 42 seconds. Average pace of 10 minutes and 22 per kilometers. I'm getting bitten. There's so many mozzies around here.
Bloody hell. And my average heart rate was 152. Average heart rate of 152 for almost 5 hours. That is ridiculous. My legs feel like they're about to fall off. I drank all my water. I'm going to get inside the car because these mozzies are unbelievable. Oh my gosh. I am so sweaty. Ow, is just completely drenched. Got wet wipes for my legs. I'm so glad that's done. That was big and that was really challenging. It didn't feel muddy at all, but I think it's just it hasn't rained in a while, so it'll just be the dry mud becoming dust and kicking that up.
I think I'm just going to need to take like 10 to 15 minutes just to sit here before I start driving just to decompress. [cough] I'm heading straight back from here now to Woking and that is I don't even know how long that is. Well, that was 5 hours.
