The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Greener way to climb Munros
Sean Green is attempting to cycle up – and down – Scotland’s 282 Munros. He is already past the halfway mark.
An Angus scaffolder is halfway through his mammoth challenge of biking Scotland’s 282
Munros.
Sean Green, from Carnoustie, came up with the idea after always having had a love for being out in the hills.
The 31-year-old said: “I’ve been biking properly since I was about 11 and then within a couple of years I started taking things really seriously, I started racing and stuff.
“I’ve done it for the last 20 years and I just got a bit fed up of the sort of stuff that I was doing.
“I ended up just wanting some bigger hills, different terrain, so around three and a half years ago this idea came to fruition.
“I had been climbing Munros sort of on and off basically my entire life, it was something my dad was always into so as a family we would always be out in the hills or away camping, so it was just like a natural progression.
“When I was out walking I’d always think ‘oh I wish I had my bike’ and even as a kid I would pretend I had my bike, so one day I decided when I was looking across towards the Cairngorms, I’d go exploring.
“I enjoy the hike up just as much as the descent. For the descent I get to have a little bit more fun than anybody else who is hiking.
“It’s the sights you see, the sunsets, the sunrises, just even when the weather is horrendous, it’s just the sense of being out in the wild, the atmosphere, it’s just pretty magical most of the time.”
After biking around 20 Munros, Sean bought a map of all the Munros in Scotland and then told his wife what he was planning to do.
He said: “I went and bought just a really basic map that listed all the Munros and I walked into the living room and I pulled it out and showed my wife and I said ‘I’m going to bike every single one of these’ and she just looked up at me and said ‘well let me know when you are done’ and that was sort of it.
“I’ve basically done it since, I’ve been a bit obsessed about it.”
Sean, who is just over halfway through his goal, having completed 145 Munros, believes he is the first person to attempt to ride down all 282 Munros, however well-known climber Paul Tattersall, from Gairloch, is believed to have been the first to take a bike to the summit of each.
Sean said: “I’ll definitely finish it, some are obviously a lot harder than others and involve next to no riding at all.
“I might as well get it done.”