Positive education

Oh brilliant. Its going to snow again this week. When it was so beautiful the weekend before I began to doubt the chances of it also being good this weekend, but part of me hoped that it would herald the opening of the Febuary weather window. It didnt. This weekend was shrouded in clag. The arbiter of conditions (the state of the roads) indicated rock permeating, soul suffocating damp from friday evening eating chips in Horsforth, to wading through Northumbrian bogs on Saturday, to hurtling south in an angry Beemer without climbing on rocks on Sunday afternoon.

In some ways, it would actually have been better to have been chucking it down all weekend. At least then theres no question of there being chance to climb anywhere, but instead it didnt actually rain, just that everything was wet. There was a glimmer of hope on saturday afternoon when on walking along Bowden doors the sun came out and a slight breeze picked up, but it needed hours more than those conditions continued. Night fell, the clag descended again and no rock climbing was done.

I got to go to Climb Newcastle which I enjoyed. Good setting of problems, clever use of space, slightly dodgy location (but I dont know the area to be honest) and staff and coffee good. Really good setting actually. Whilst I had fun, I would rather not have been there. Of course, this is no reflection on Climb Newcastle and its staff, just that I had gone North to go rock climbing.

I got to look at Kyloe Out which was good. Whatever the problem is that uses a pinch to climb a prow and is 7c looked fab. I reminded myself why I love the county, but I was ultimately thwarted by conditions - this time. I am dead keen to get back there.

To some extent you make your own luck in life. If you believe things to be shit, then you can be expected to have a shit time. Of course, theres realism, pessimism and scepticism, but its up to you the slant you put on things. So, you could come away from such a weekend feeling despondant about climbing in Britain. Or you could think about the fun that you had doing other things and chalk it up to experience. The rocks arent going away, I will go back, and it means that today when I go to the board I have good skin and will do my project. Then it really will all be allright!