Sunday 12 July 2009

Dunkeld




Sarah looking strong

Yesterday Sarah, Rob and I headed to Dunkeld for a sunny day of sport climbing. I was picked up and told where we were going, great I thought I have not been to Dunkeld before, so should be fun, hard, but fun. 

We arrived and toodled on up the hill to the crag, and the always super psyched and strong Sarah was on the wall in a flash, however all was not good, not because Sarah was not climbing well but because of the distinct lack of bolts!

Now for all those that know me well, you will be aware that I can have moments of total muppetry and my memory is as good as a goldfish with amnesia. So it took me a while to remember, even though I have been reading about it on Scottish climbs for about a month now, that someone had chopped many of the bolts at Dunkeld. I felt slightly guilty at my stupidity, but Sarah said she would not have believed me even if I had told her.

Anyway all was not lost, the mighty Mirfin managed to put up a top rope and we had a great day making up our own routes along the line that we managed to clip. Sarah and Rob moved with relative ease over this tricky wall and I climbed better than I thought I would be able to considering the grade of the routes that are there. Although I think my belayers may have helped me up a little.

It was a great day out and taught me that I need to work on my footwork, strength and endurance.

The funniest part of the day was when we popped into the Scotmid in Dunkeld to get an icecream. Whilst in the store, Sarah picked up a few extra groceries and a bottle of red wine. Then we got asked for ID at the till! Ok, it was Sarah and not me that was buying the wine but we were clearly together at the till, which gave us a combined age of 61. My new anti wrinkle creams must be working. Love it.



The Robster



Our friend for the day

Me trying hard

Oops failure again

Still trying

Good times

Plant



All photos by Caroline Harvey or Sarah Daniels

No comments: