What is The B Road Challenge?
What if there were no motorways or A roads? Or no such things as maps or sat nav?
This is what the B Road Challenge is all about. Travel from one location to another avoiding motorways and A roads using only a compass and the sun to navigate.
For 2026 the challenge includes altitude!
This is what the B Road Challenge is all about. Travel from one location to another avoiding motorways and A roads using only a compass and the sun to navigate.
For 2026 the challenge includes altitude!
Who is The B Road Explorer?
Enigma? Superhero? No, just an ordinary bloke called Matthew. I always wondered what it might be like to just drive and see what you would find, so in 2018 I tried it and enjoyed it so much I created a persona due to an over inflated sense of importance.
How is altitude involved?
Using the same principle as normal (no maps, no sat nav, no motorways etc), I will attempt to navigate from the lowest altitude in the UK accessible by car, Holme Fen, Cambridgeshire (2.75m below sea level) to the highest altitude in the UK accessible by car, Cairnwell Pass, Scottish Highlands (670m above sea level), in just one week. But there is a twist!
What do you mean!?
Driving from Holme Fen to Cairnwell Pass by B road only and with only a compass to navigate is hard enough, but to increase the challenge I will need to hit 12 increasing stages of altitude, 50m at a time. However without a map I will have to rely on eyesight - if I see somewhere obviously higher than where I am at the time then I will head there and check if I have reached the next integer. So might not always be heading in the right direction!
Will the car survive?
Of course! Cookie the 2CV may have turned 40 years old last year but shows no signs of stopping!
What is motor neurone disease?
Motor neurone disease (MND) is a fatal, rapidly progressing disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. It attacks the nerves that control movement so muscles no longer work. It can leave people locked in a failing body, unable to move, talk, swallow and eventually breathe. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, six people are diagnosed every day. Up to 5,000 people are fighting MND in these countries at various stages of the disease. Thousands more are fighting in other countries - it can affect anyone.
MND kills a third of people within a year and more than half within two years of diagnosis.
There is no cure.
For more information visit www.mndassociation.org
MND kills a third of people within a year and more than half within two years of diagnosis.
There is no cure.
For more information visit www.mndassociation.org
