I awoke on Thursday morning slightly less convinced that morris dancing cures colds… I still had a cough…but I was not going to be deterred by such things and Thursday is now climbing day 😀 so after work and suchlike Jen and I set off on our merry way to Craggy Island in Guildford, which is where said climbing takes place (at least where it takes place when it is dark and we have to climb indoors…)

I told you last week about the time I threw myself off a mountain and how it affected my climbing persona. How I basically turned from someone who was a fairly competent climber with little fear to someone who basically gets 3 holds up and cries.

This is not a climbing persona I wanted to perpetuate..but after facing my fears last week I was half confident that I would be better this week.

I wasn’t.

But I did get over it quicker this time! Which is definitely an improvement!

The first 2 routes both started well, but ended in me forgetting how to move, freezing completely and basically panicking until I got down again…

The third route started with fear and coming down, but then on the third go I managed to get to the top, I also managed to make my life difficult by putting my feet on the wall behind me (the route was in a corner) instead of on the holds…this is allowed but is not always helpful!

Anyway…I got to the top 😀

On the way backdown I ended up trapped and sitting on part of a different wall…this is hard to explain but the route is in a corner and your bum hits the other wall on the way down. the other wall had a ledge on it that I ended up somehow sitting on…at which point I got all flustered and shouted “help, back up, I am stuck”

Apparently “back up” is not actually possible.

So I had to remember how to do things and stop sitting on a ledge and basically just put my feet down (I was 3 feet off the floor at this point…)

It was a teeny tiny mental block…I didn’t actually mean back up…but never mind.

The good thing about this was that it made us laugh so much that I completely forgot about being scared and went back to remembering how to climb things…I am still a way off remembering how to climb properly but I am getting there!

well actually I can remember how to climb fine…I just can’t force my legs and arms to do what my brain know they should do…but that is a battle for next time 😀

Day 244 complete