Adventurer Lee climbs 80 country high points

He has now crossed off the 80th location on his list since starting his world-wide trekking adventure four years ago.

The past 12 months have seen the self-employed roofer from Bilston visit 13 different summits during trips that took him to far flung destinations in the Caribbean, Africa, South Africa and the Seychelles.

The 37-year-old's recent climbs have included the 3,117ft Mount Gimie in Saint Lucia which saw him accompanied by a guide as required by law.

The pair battled terrain that was both muddy and slippery making it a challenging trek but the view from the top made it all worthwhile

"Using trees and roots to pull ourselves up higher we soon emerged above the tree line and I could see the horizon, I knew we were almost there. I took out my camera and recorded the final few meters to the highest point.

"Visibility was poor but the wind came to the rescue soon moving any low cloud out of the way leading to a fantastic panoramic view where you could see the sea 360 degrees," says Lee.

During his visit to Caribbean he also reached the summit of Morne Diablotins in Dominica, Flagstaff (Southwest Ridge) in Sint Maarten and Mount Obama in Antigua.

Next on his list was heading to Africa to climb the highest points in Togo and Ghana before travelling to The Faroe Islands where he made his way to the top of the highest mountain - Slættaratindur - which stands at 2887ft.

"One highlight in The Faroe Islands was that it didn't actually go dark, I camped by a stunning lake in the town of Eidi but due to how far north I was it only went to dusk and then the sun came back up again," says Lee.

He then returned to Africa where he climbed the 6,109ft high Emlembe in Eswatini and Otse Hill in Botswana.

Describing the second trek, he said: "The ground had a fantastic orange colour to it that had that wild African feel to it. It started off reasonably flat so I was just winding around rocks and prickly trees and plants, There were quite a few large animal prints and tracks noticeable on the dusty sandy ground but none were visible but I’m sure they were aware of my presence.

"At times when the vegetation was less dense, the deep orange ground formed a brilliant contrast with the many green trees and plants on the horizon and blue skies."

Lee followed it up with trips to Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa and before his final journey of 2019 to Lesotho where he reached the summit of the 11,424ft high Thabana Ntlenyana.

"The sun was shining, it was hot and the views were panoramic. There were a few summit cairns and two tribesmen accompanied by their dogs at the top who came over to sniff my bag as I unclipped it and lowered it to the floor.

"I took all the usual videos and summit selfies before turning all of my focus to getting down to the pass in good time," he said.

Lee is now making plans to chalk up more highest points over the 12 months as he moves closer to his goal.

"I will be pushing on again this year and hopefully won't be too far off my target of 100 by the end of the year," he says.