A LIFE APPRECIATED

Tim Ralph is a successful mountaineer, who is also a road and touring cyclist. He has climbed many mountains around the world and, having summitted the highest mountain on all the continents, is a member of the Seven Summits club. In 2010 he stood on top of Everest and became only the 304 Seven Summiteer to achieve this accolade and at 56 years ‘young’, the oldest Englishman to do so. He now cycles covering over 12,000 km and 100,000m of elevation most years. His passion is for cycle touring, going beneath the radar as he wild camps seeking out interesting historic places and engaging people in multiple countries. Two of his longer cycling journeys include travelling across America and an 8,000 km ride from the bottom of Europe to the top of Norway. Others have been is Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Central Europe and further afield in Australia and Thailand. Tim was born in 1954, in a pre-computer era, a time when kids were kicked out of the house after breakfast and were not to return until dusk. Certainly not the ‘sharpest pencil’ academically but blessed with a physique suited to performance and contact sports, he has enjoyed many, such as rugby, squash, kayaking and climbing, only turning to serious cycling later in life. Following several years in agriculture, he had a career in the Fire service, serving in Hertfordshire, London, and North Yorkshire. Married to Rowenna in 1978 they had two daughters; Rowenna sadly died from cancer at an early age. Subsequently, there was a short second marriage.  Fortunately, ‘third time lucky’ applied when Tim met Anne, and after five years they married in 2006 and now have nine grandchildren. When not cycling, Tim enjoys travelling and active holidays with Anne, visiting their children and being entertained by their grandchildren. Anne and Tim live in West Yorkshire not far from the quaint town of Hebden Bridge and the Bronte town of Haworth.  With plans to climb the Eiger before his seventieth birthday and a number of cycle tours including Japan ‘top to tail’ and an Eastern Europe circular trip, Tim has every intention to continue to be active. You can visit Tim’s website htpps://www.timralph.co.uk