Airbrushing...

"Don't give your money to any institution that sells you the lie of 'perfection'. They are trying to break you, so you will hate yourself and go out and buy something you don't need, in order to fix something that was never broken in the first place."

Another new year...2018

New year, new me? I doubt it but it's always a time to think about what one might do differently over the coming year. For me, I think it's mostly about starting to move again, eating sensibly, spending less time working and more time playing. Time moves so fast and it's so easy to miss things because you're too busy staring at a screen.  My house won't fall down if I don't clean it. I might trip over something and do myself a mischief if I don't tidy it, but there's still only so much of that worth doing. I should aim to post more here too, for my own benefit not anyone else's.

So far this year has been ok. The weather has been predictably damp and gloomy although we seem to have escaped most of the crazy high winds that have hit the rest of the country (that makes a change - it's usually pretty windy here!). Thing 1 and Thing 2 have been good as gold, work wasn't too bad (although I'm anticipating that will not continue) and the fridge appears to be still reasonably full. The Paw Patrol cupcakes are still there (no surprise - I wonder how long it will take them to become obviously inedible...) and there are toys everywhere. But who am I to stifle the creativity of the very young? Here is the mess which greeted me over breakfast earlier this week:

Our Art Wall has also had a refresh. All the pictures have come down and we will spend this year filling it up again.  Here is the cumulative effort of the last couple of years:

Tonight, I'm struggling to sleep for some reason. I've no idea why. Being woken very early ought to mean I'm shattered by about 8.30 but tonight I am wide awake. Busy brain. Wondering about new year's resolutions. Lots of ideas of things to do, planning time to do them, mulling things over....I think the conclusion is that I need a Tardis if I'm going to tick anything off the list.

One special climbing trip - Part 3

Our sea stack day proved to be the start of some wet weather, so we tootled over to Reiff. But nae luck. We spent a day wandering like lost souls along the enticing cliffs at Reiff. Frustrated, we sat under an impressive roof and watched seals through the binoculars.



They say the best things come to those who wait, so wait we did. We were rewarded with a beautiful still evening and a dry day. We turned up at the Pinnacle Area to face the horror of Blackpool-style crowds! Hoards of climbers, crawling out from under rocks having spent the last 24 hours sheltering from the rain. Such was our determination to have the crag to ourselves, we hiked all the way round the bay to the Minch Wall.

Still here, plodding along

Just keeping in touch, keeping going, trying to arrange time and energy to do something other than manage work/home/work/home.  I did as much of the Ashtanga Primary Series as I could manage at home last week. It was good. Surprisingly good, and I suffered suitably in the following days. I definitely noticed that some things were harder to go back to (for the third time) than last time, presumably because I am now carrying 3 stone extra less frequently.  The three stone can move itself now...!  I still spend too much time sitting at a desk, wondering when I will ever get time to do the things I used to do.  When I'm not at my desk, I love what I do, but I can't help but think wistfully of the life I used to have. It was good, oh so good. But so different.  Really I should jsut get on with it and arrange all the stuff I want to arrange. Where there is a will, there is a way....so they say.  I just haven't found it yet.

Return of the Jedi

Re reading some of my posts from my less responsible days makes me quite nostalgic. I realise how quickly and easily time and events run away with life and one is pm caught up living it that one forgets to take stock, look back, remember and be inspired by what was good and be reminded of what's good now.

I've just read a previous post about a return to yoga after a long break. I've just repeated that return after 5 years and some life changing events. It is comforting and reassuring to read that the process of returning to a strenuous form of exercise was the same then as it is now.  Perhaps I haven't lost as much in the fitness and flexibility stakes as I thought I had. I am however, undoubtedly 5 years older. It's a positive that I am not in denial about that!

My return to yoga was a re baptism of fire. Having done almost nothing one would specifically label as "exercise" since 2011 I went for a power yoga class with KBK. It was full on. She takes no prisoners! While I don't pretend to have managed the whole class without a wobble or even a collapse or two I was pleasantly surprised and very encouraged by how much I did manage.  I can't do these things half heartedly. I have to give it my all. Every so often during those 90 minutes I had to remind myself of the possibility of injury given my lack of practice and my tendency to try too hard. There are bits that hurt and four classes down the line I've realised they aren't going to stop hurting any time soon.

Nevertheless, it's good to be back in the game.

My life these days...

I read something today which said:

Life as an adult is mainly about Googling how to do stuff and feeling tired.

That about sums it up. For today at least.

No climbing for a while now...

It has been a while since I last donned climbing shoes and a harness but it is my full intention to do so again as soon as I can.  Two small ones take up all my time and are both frustrating and adorable, entertaining and exhausting.  Watching them learn to take care of themselves, do very simple things,is fascinating and for now, my needs have to take second place.  The time I give them now will set them up for the rest of their lives.  There is time yet to play the role model on a wall, and that too is something I think is important. For now, let's get outside when we can, when they are long, and not worry too much about loss of fitness and finger strength. I admit people who seem to be a ble to wrap the children up and bundle them along on any climbing trip.  My children are not willing and on four years of disrupted sleep,I don't have the will to persist.

This is just to keep the blog going.i will come back to that too.please blogger don't delete  it!

Diggory, Diggory Delvet

Look who we saw by the River Esk on the outskirts of Musselburgh! Out for a stroll on a fine Sunday evening, and this little fella had his nose in a hole next to the path. He was snuffling about and wiggling his tail, clearly looking for something interesting. He came out of one little hole and went snuffling into the next. As he did so, out of the first hole at breakneck speed came an enormous worm. No kidding, it was 7 inches long and of commensurate girth. And it was legging it.......as much as a legless creature can.

Diggory Delvet then snuffled out of the second hole and right onto the tarmac in front of us. He wasn't moving very fast and of course his tiny eyes meant he couldn't see much, but his little pink nose was twitching nineteen to the dozen. He didn't seem in the slightest bit scared by two giant omnivores standing over him, but sensibly he turned round and snuffled right back towards the exploratory digging he'd done on the side of the path.

Diggory, Diggory Delvet,
Little old man in black velvet.
He digs and he delves,
You can see for yourselves
The holes dug by Diggory Delvet.

from Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes, Beatrix Potter

One special climbing trip - Part 1

Diff and I recently had a two week tour of the north west, doing a bit of climbing and a lot of eating. We had a fabulous time and some fabulous weather (as well as some not so fabulous weather - we didn't get that lucky!). It was a trip we can never repeat, but we would love to explore further the places we found and certainly to do some more climbing. It's too much to write up in one post so this is just the beginning....

We hired a vintage VW campervan, a bright yellow splitty called Hannah, from Classic Campers in Carlisle and after the party in the Lakes, set off on our 30mph adventure. Aiming for Glen Coe, we got as far as Gretna on the first night. Well, we were tired, not in a hurry and it had been an exciting two days. Having realised that 35mph on the hilly M6 wasn't going to get us to Glen Coe that night, we relaxed into a slower pace of life on the road.

Everyone thinks they know what needs fixing, even if nothing needs fixing.

From Gretna we aimed for Glen Coe, deciding that the safest route (with our maximum speed) was right through the centre of Glasgow. We had a lovely (if hot) drive past Loch Lomond, stopping for tea in Inveruglas, with lots of other drivers waving and tooting at our trusty mechanical steed. A van with 1967 hydraulic brakes certainly brought a new meaning to the phrase "exciting to drive". I had to leave my seat to make her stop. I definitely need to eat more pies. Accidentally over-filling at Dumbarton, meant that we drove to Glen Coe with a strong smell of petrol in the cab. A concern that she was over-revving had us calling the AA man to the Red Squirrel campsite the following morning. I don't remember what he twiddled with but it worked and we did the next 900 miles without any trouble.

The weather was holding for us, so we headed across the Corran ferry for Ardgour and Garbh Beinn. Our objective was Butterknife, a 4-pitch VS topping out at the summit of the hill. The guidebook gave us two approach options: the 2-hour scenic stroll or the 1 hour brutal slog. We opted for the scenic stroll.....but it was more like 3 1/2 hours than 2! Finding the bottom of the route was pretty hairy. The guidebook instructions didn't make much sense to us once we were there and looking up at the massive wall of Garbh Beinn. We ended up scrambling up some steep slippy grass slopes above sheer drops in order to reach the bottom of the right terrace. We felt more secure once we started climbing.

Diff did pitches 1 and 3 an I did 2 and 4. This means I got the crux corner pitch and the last one. The corner was pretty good climbing, but things moved in it! Having not done much trad (ever, let alone recently) I was probably concentrating too hard to really enjoy it properly, but it was good. The top pitch was a bit random. It started with a big pull over a little roof - an unusual move for me at about 200 feet up the route! After that, the gear and the holds got very thin and I continually wondered whether I was going the right way or not. Eventually the rope drag was so bad I had to find somewhere to belay. What I didn't know was that instead of going 15m I'd gone 50m and there was no rope left anyway! I'm sure I set out in the right direction, but where I lost my way, I'm not sure.

Cooling off on the hot walk in to Butterknife

When we reached the top, the whole of Scotland was laid out before us. 360 degrees of clear skies and sunshine. By this time it was about 8pm. We thought we'd go down the quick way, rather than the way we'd come up the hill. Mistake. It wasn't quick. No path, craggy, steep....it was 10.30 by the time we got back to the van. And then we had to fight the midges over dinner!

Starting Again

It seems like a long time since I've been out bouldering. In fact, I know how long it is. My bouldering mat was still in it's shrink-wrapping from my last trip to Font in September last year. So much has happened since then....


Having had a busy couple of months I found myself on Friday looking at the weather maps for the weekend and wondering whether my intended trip north to Achnasheen was really worth it or not. When the levels of predicted precipitation run not just to blue but through yellow and well into the red zones on the map, one does wonder whether putting a giant umbrella over the house wouldn't be a good idea. A 5pm phone call at work on Friday made the decision for me. I wasn't going.


Motivating myself to go climbing without company is always hard. With Diff away working for most of the weekend and other buddies, sick, injured or out of the country, I needed some pretty good weather to coax me out. It was my lucky day! Bored with driving I opted for Berry Hill and found that lots of people had had the same idea. It's a lovely spot, south facing with a good view of the hills. Asking permission to climb is (according to the guidebook) imperative, but a knock at the door received no response. As an aside, what is the protocol in this case? Is the default position to climb without permission and deal with it if a problem arises, or is one supposed to not climb because one has not obtained permission? Anyway, I opted for the former.


I was the only one bouldering among several parties of traddies. A very nice chap with lots of tattoos and gold teeth came over to chat and offered that I could climb with them if I wanted. I hope I didn't offend him by declining his offer. I was quite keen to just potter on some boulders and get moving again rather than worry about gear and ropes and being too high up!




There's nothing particularly difficult at Berryhill (although some things were a bit tricky!) but it was a good day for cruising through 16 problems, reminding my skin that it needs to grow and reminding myself how to climb. Some warm sunshine and a strong wind made for a pink face, but I went home very content.