Bucket list.

I was lucky enough to tick off a lifelong ambition of road cycling in Tuscany. It was absolutely amazing; the roads, weather, food, wine, company and sights. I’ve now made a goal of trying to tick off one per year now I’m 43, YOLO and all that.

I’d be interested in other people’s experiences of ticking off their lists and how it felt. Also what else is on the list?

My list got rather mucked up with the death of Mrs TJ however since then I have made some more plans.  Best so far is riding and driving a dog sled on the frozen Yukon river – I was the main character in my own adventure story.  It was fabulous as were other aspects of that trip.

I would still like to climb a really high mountain – 20 000 ft plus.  It was one of the plans that got buggered up but maybe I still will

Mine’s run out, all the ones important are ticked or being lived now. Sure I’ve still got ideas but they don’t mean enough to me to have regrets if they never happen.

I want to ride from my door to Cape Wrath via most of the Great North Trail.

I also want to travel by train and bike from my home town to a few destinations in the Alps and Spain to go mountain biking.

Really want to do the Traws Eryri.

I had always wanted to see the Great Barrier Reef and to have a go at scuba diving. I combined both in  1995 and it was better than I had ever expected. I gained a PADI open water certificate and then did further dives in Australia and Fiji. None were as good as the first few dives on remote reefs and then I dived the Yongala.
I haven’t done any diving since.

Saw sharks on every one of my first 8 open water dives, turtles, a grouper the size of a small car( well it was nicknamed the Volkswagen).

As to things I would want to do, a flight in a Spitfire, visit the east coast of Canada amongst others

I ticked off skydiving from the list about 8 years ago now (and have since done about 671 jumps), but the one thing that I really wanted to accomplish with my life just seems to keep avoiding me.

Maybe one day…

I also would love to climb a really high mountain.

I also want to do a really long canoe trip – several weeks.  Hopefully going to do that on thew yukon next summer.  At the moment I am trying to pluck up the courage to go to the antipodes this winter.  To make it worthwhile it needs to be a 6 month trip really.  I so want to do it but I am scared at the same time

randomly. 75mile cycle to hull and cross the humber bridge.. i’ll get train back shame TPE require upfront bike booking..

not got any major ones,

Builders
Tin
Mop
Hat
That’s all I got.

Fly in a Spitfire for me too, and/or drive an F1 car (former more likely than the latter i suspect).  Travel-wise, having enjoyed an African safari based in a camp, I think a place to place mobile safari might be even better.  Bike wise, ride the Strada Bianca roads of Tuscany.

i have one thing that i hope to do that is right on my doorstep just about but never done it.

i am going to start saving up towards a fuss sus bike (a specialized chisel fs for £2000 ) and whilst saving up train to be able to attempt to ride the ridgeway both ways (it’s around 85 miles each way not including cycling to start on top around 8 miles from where i live devizes).

it would be the longest ride i will have attempted offroad for sure (i have cycled 205 miles back in 2003 on my cannondale f800 ht but that was mostly on roads and the k & a canal towpath).

i hope to be able to afford the bike by may 2025 and plan on attempting the trip when i get it.

am not a fit/fast or good at offroad riding (am 49   and have suffered with long term depression so have gone long periods of not riding my bike etc due to it and laziness).

i know it isn’t travelling the globe etc but i have always wanted to ride the whole length of the ridgeway so doing the double would be a big ride/achievement for me if i could do it.

also would love to cycle the whole of the k & a canal one day as i have never ridden it from devizes to reading way before (it has always been to bath way).

good luck to everyone’s bucket list wishes also 🙂

Sorry to go a bit off topic but..

I am trying to pluck up the courage to go to the antipodes this winter.

Do it. I spent four months in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji as part of a round the world trip on my own as a slightly better off than average  backpacker in 1995. I was in my early thirties. It was the best experience of my life, and Australia, New Zealand,  Western Canada  and western  US were the best parts of it. I went everywhere by bus in Aus and NZ- spending 36hrs on a bus between Alice Springs and Townsville certainly gave a better idea of the distances involved and at the time how sparse some of the outback towns were. I was concerned that I would get lonely as a natural introvert, but in fact I met so many interesting people and learned to be more outgoing so it was a real benefit.
Fiji is a place to visit if you aren’t afraid to splash the cash, on a budget it was the biggest disappointment of my whole trip.
my only regret was not staying longer and visiting the east coast of Canada but after six and a half months away I was ready to go home and was running out of cash. I should have put some on a credit card and stayed longer.

I’ve never understood “bucket lists”. Presumably on completion you then die? If there’s one item left do you live forever?  Whilst I’m trying to do low environmental impact activities to keep myself fit, I’m trying to ensure that my children and grandson are sorted, a lot better use of my limited finances!

At the moment I am trying to pluck up the courage to go to the antipodes this winter.  To make it worthwhile it needs to be a 6 month trip really.  I so want to do it but I am scared at the same time

What are you scared of TJ?

I want to ride the Pennine bridleway

I have plan

I’ve ticked off loads

What are you scared of TJ?

Kicking about at a loose end.  Being on my own for 6 months plus, spiders and crocs 🙂

crocs 🙂

Just put them in sport mode and you will be ok

To go to Japan.

The recent threads don’t help either

Kicking about at a loose end.  Being on my own for 6 months plus, spiders and crocs 🙂

But you won’t be will you. You find things to do and you’ll meet people.

I did Peru, NZ and Australia for three months a few years ago, ands when it was time to come home I wished I had another three months.

I met loads of people and had a great time. I don’t recall being bored for one minute, in fact I was struggling to fit everything in.

I get to do one of mine next year, the missus has a big birthday coming up. We’ve booked a bit of a dream holiday, Orient Express through France, Switzerland to Trieste. 4 days around the lakes and then onto a cruise around the med.

I love a scenic train journey so very much looking forward to it: has been a holiday I’ve wanted to do for at least 15 years.

Lofoten and Patagonia are my big ones.

I’d also love to rag a supercar around race track and drive a stupid big 4*4 off-roader somewhere daft

But, I gotta say, that all this climate change malarkey is kinda putting a damper on my ambitions 🙁

A MFF threesome, though…no climate implications for that 😉

Was going to (jokingly) say “twins”, but never mind.

Never had many big bucket list dreams, but vlimate/air travel are making me want to scale back even more, a source of some annoyance with MrsMC.

I’ve flown 3 times this year (4th in an hour as I’m sat in an airport), which has doubled my flights this century.

@racefaceec90

I can loan you a FS bike and will do the ride with you mate. If you don’t want to do it in one go I can put you up near Goring too.

What are you scared of TJ?

I did a solo motorbike tour of Australia, all over the outback and up to Cape York. Hired an off road bike for 2 months. You would love it, you know how to maintain a bike, no worries.

People were awesome, out of the cities you will never be on your own or lonely, in the bush people will look out for you. Crocs no bother, the bastards are out there, just stick to the rules and you’ll be right. I got right into the grit of Australia outside the cities, it was a great adventure.

Funnily enough it was on a list of 5 things I wanted to do, way before anyone coined the term bucket list.

Its not really rational – my head is full of mince.  I can do whatever I want but mostly I just want to hide under the duvet.  🙂

@weeksy thank you that is extremely kind of you 😀

no worries about the fs bike. i do plan on saving up for the chisel bike tbh and the time it will take i plan on using to get fit to attempt the ride (my fitness really is at rock bottom atm).

i would definitely love to do the ride with you if you wanted to join us (and ride with a slow bugger with bad offroad skills lol).

i hope to take around 9-10  months to save up for the bike and start training etc to try and get the fitness for the double attempt. may/June 2025 should hopefully have some good weather too for the ride. i will be 50 then also so it will be like a multi milestone thing (new fs bike  and a big ride).

i live in devizes so plan on riding to the start and back also so it will be about 200 miles all in i think (mostly offroad).

i can message you my email and mobile if you like.

thank you again 🙂

I’m not sure it’s a bucket list as such.  I have outcome goals around climbing at the moment but try to hold them relatively lightly – whilst enjoying the process of building towards them and the satisfaction from the progression that may lead to the final outcome.  Apology if it sounds like sports psychology BS – but I’ve recently had some coaching in this.

When I’m too old for climbing I’ll move focus onto other things – prob hiking – and I think I’ll ease from one into the other.

my head is full of mince

Welcome to the club

This ‘bucket list’ thing implies something terminal. We just keep bashing away.

I did some off-road travelling in Australia and it was utterly mesmerising. I was 20 at the time and not really understanding what I was undertaking. Turns out camping/travelling in the outback everyday for a month is pretty inspirational.

Regarding Bucket-list being terminal. We are all terminal right. No need to bring a light hearted thread down.

@racefaceec90

Post up here when you’re off on your Ridgeway ride. I’m about five minutes from the Ridgeway in Oxfordshire and will happily head out and ride a bit with you if you want company for a while.

@crossed i will do. hopefully may-june 2025 if all goes well.

I would like to do the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route……but even being a teacher and having more holidays than god I will struggle to fit it into 6 weeks.

Nothing too fancy for me – the GR10 and GR20. 10 when I’m retired, 20 in spring/early summer one year but when the kids are older. Have done bits of both over the years but always wanted to walk them end to end.

the GR10 and GR20

Yes, very nice plans to have.

Flown a Spitfire 😀 it’s every bit as brilliant as you’d imagine.

Next up is flying a jet fighter.

 and/or drive an F1 car (former more likely than the latter i suspect).

It’s much cheaper to drive an F1 car… https://www.trackdays.co.uk/experience/jordan-f1-race-car-driving-experience-with-pace-car/12089/

I started a list called 50 Things To Do In My Fifties. A decade on there are now around 200 things on it. To be honest though the majority are pretty small and achievable. It’s not a bucket list as such; I just add things to it in case I forget about them.

I have managed loads (mostly small) but including some biggish things, like doing an Ironman.

The main huge one I have left is the one I’ve had all my life. To go into space. Very unlikely to happen but in twenty or so years who knows. If nothing else it gives me a big incentive to stay physically and mentally fit and focused.

I’ve a few big events I’d like to do…

• Ride all pretzels in zwift in one day (prob a winter event)
• Cape epic
• Leadville 100 MTB race
• Brighton marathon (in for April ’25)
• London marathon (to get the  London classics medal)
• 200 mile road day
• Enter the 4 islands epic race with one of my kids (son is 14, daughter 9… So a while yet!)

DrP

Islands.  More islands.