UNESCOrun certificate presentation. Adam and Chris with Craig Glenday from Guinness World Records

Following on from our last world record success, on 14th and 15th November 2019 Chris and I attempted and beat the Guinness World Records for Most UNESCO world heritage site visits in 12 hours and Most UNESCO world heritage site visits in 24 hours. ‘UNESCOrun’ was all about sightseeing and beating two world records in one day!

In 12 hours we visited 15 UNESCO world heritage sites, beating the previous record by two and, in 24 hours, we visited 20 UNESCO sites adding seven to the previous record.

Over the course of the 24 hour attempt we used:

  • 15 buses
  • 8 trains
  • 6 tube/metro/DLR
  • 2 trams
  • 1 taxi
  • 1 flight
  • and walked 20 miles!

The attempt started well with 3 UNESCO sites visited in quick succession in around 30 minutes. However, a broken-down train delayed our arrival into Brussels by 45 minutes and we had a lot of catching up to do. We dug deep, caught a few lucky breaks and, following a good run in the Flemish region of Belgium, were fully back on track at the 7 hour mark.

With 40 minutes to go before the end of the 12 hour attempt, we stepped off a bus somewhere north of Amsterdam into the dark at UNESCO sites 14 & 15 to break both the 12 and 24 hour records.

Arriving at Schiphol airport, it was tempting to try and beat our previous 9 minute dash from train to plane but, with nearly 2 hours before the flight, we were happy to walk and relax in the BA lounge for a while.

During the small hours we visited a further four UNESCO sites in London before catching a bus to Oxford and our final UNESCO site, Blenheim Palace, arriving just before 6am.

After much needed coffee and bacon, we headed back to London as Guinness World Records had very kindly invited us to visit! It was great to see Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday again who, after our evidence had been reviewed, presented us with our certificates.

Here’s the video of how it all happened!