July

Student! Expired!

Some of the month of June was spent in a tent. Other times I was in the pub watching football and going to parties, indeed I'm hungover just now. In between these two great activities, I've climbed on Ben Nevis and Malham. The main theme of both those trips was waking up early. Ha very early. Dan and I got up at about 4am to do Centurion, only to find it complete soaking and misty. On the 2nd pitch I ran out of draws and started wigging myself out that I was gona slip off the wet holds, not have enough rope for the belay, etc etc - the kind of stuff boulderers should get slagged for. It was even mistier by the time we made it to the ledge and I started to worry about getting lost going down. So, we abbed off, and by about 730am we were packing up the tent for a bus at 5pm. Wondering aimlessly around the corrie for a few hours in waterproofs, and a with a Soreen malt loaf to share, we didn't get too depressed which I think was partly due to pretending we were characters from Lord of the Rings... The trip wasn't all bad, we had a great experience on the Bullroar which involved lots of exciting traverses.

The earliest I woke at Malham was the morning after a pub quiz at the Buck Inn. After a few pints, the idea of sleeping outside seemed pretty good. I woke up soaked with dew at about 4. Doom and gloom came quickly as I realised it wouldn't go away till the sun got going in 5 hours time. It was too late to retreat to the tent. The only option was more Aimless Wondering, so I put my boots on and enjoyed a good 3 hour tour up to Malham, down to Gordale, onwards to Malham Tarn and back down the Penine way. Quite nice, but I was knacked for that day's climbing. Climbing at Malham was a kick up the arse, I'm unfit. I need an old fashioned climbing binge to get my act together.

I've just been through the surreal experience of graduation. I'm now a proud owner of a sheet of paper with Latin writing rolled up in a red cardboard tube. I've already accidentally sat on it.