Rocks

When we were young my brother was always the fit outdoorsy type, I didn't play any sport or go out in the countryside often, he'd certainly inherited that trait and left none for me.

He ran marathons, climbed, hell he was even on the mountain rescue team for his school (he went to school in the middle of nowhere in Scotland).

He was such a good climber that he instructed, but there was no way I was going to get instruction from him!

There has always been rivalry between us but on fitness I knew I'd never compete (my how things change!), but there was no way I was having him lording it over me about climbing - I think I was about 20 when I signed up for and completed a 10 week climbing course in Swindon (not even knowing if i was scared of heights - i'm not particularly) Nothing fancy, just some bouldering and a bit of belaying. By the end of the course I could confidently climb a simple route to the top, I was happy with that and didn't return to climbing.

You'd think that moving to the UK centre for climbing would make me interested again, and John had been a keen climber before we'd met, but I never seemed to get round to it.

So when Jo at work (in Stockport) mentioned that she wished she had a regular climbing partner, and I'd been looking for something else to do, I thought why not try again.

Tonight Lucie, Jo and I have been bouldering, and I loved it (having lots of fit men to watch helped!). I didn't feel confident belaying after such a long time, but Jo has convinced me that she can teach me, so I'll be going back again after work next week - I'm really looking forward to it!

One of the great things is the availability of walls in Stockport and Sheffield, and that I can go bouldering on my own. I need to build up my upper body strength so this will certainly help.

So, gym on Mondays, skating Tuesdays, climbing Wednesday, gym Thursday, rest Friday, gym, climbing or skating (if there is a bout) Saturday and skating again on Sunday - wow! Go me! (although in honestly it doesn't always work out like this!)