Sorry for your loss river.

I'm so sorry river. I hope you're holding up okay.

I am sorry for your loss. My thoughts go out to you and your family.

Thanks for the condolences.

The funeral is next Tuesday. I am holding off climbing until then in a vague attempt at isolating to protect my mum. Selfishly, I am really looking forward to getting back on a wall.

I have stayed reasonably active in the meantime, reslying on walking, hangboarding, kettlebells and the odd run. My average step count over the last week has been 25,000 per day. Today has been kettle bell(24 kgs, swings and get ups), hangboarding and 33,000 steps so far.

Sorry, man

River, sorry for your loss.

Sorry for your loss.

Thanks for the commiserations.

We cremated Dad on Tuesday, then I went home via a climbing gym. I was out of practice, as expected after a month off.

On Thursday, a few of us headed off to Cornwall. We arrived just in time to get in a night dive. On Friday, we got two day dives and another night dive. It was my 50th, so we had some cider on the night dive, which worked surprisingly well.

Saturday was two boat dives and a shore dive. Sunday was two boat dices, the highlight being infinite numbers if crayfish, a dog fish and a cuttlefish.

We're blown out today, so will get an early-ish start home.

I got a climb in on Monday after getting back from diving. Surprisingly, I wasn't terrible. (I wasn't good, but I got a couple of harder routes.) I lasted 70 minutes before the pump got too bad.

I should be able to get a climb in later tonight.

I will head back to Mum's soon. She has a biopsy for cancer coming up - hopefully it's nothing - and she needs someone with her when she has the operation.

Happy belated birthday!
More pics of dives, please.

Thanks! No-one had a camera on this trip. I have some other random photos I'll put up at some point.

I am back from Norwich again. I was reasonably active there, but missed climbing. Mum's biosy was negative, fortunately.

I went for a climb this evening. It was good, I got around 6 of the ones graded at 6a/6b. It was a pretty short session - about 70 minutes. I gave a lift to a mate who is more out of practice than me, and got pumped.

I spent the weekend "dry" caving in the Medips in Somerset. It was really good fun - I ended up joining the caving club. We did a very small portion of Swildon's Hole on Saturday and a bit of GB on Sunday.

I was filled with energy on getting home, so went to my local climbing gym. I should have checked online - it was shut when I arrived. So I went for a walk instead.

I got a short 40 minute training climb on my home wall over lunch today.

Here is an out of focus shot of me in a cave from the weekend.

I started today with a walk, so I got my 10,000 steps before breakfast.

On Thursday, I went for a climb. I got a bit carried away, and lasted 2.5 hours, getting super pumped by the end.

On Friday, I tried the active recovery thing by going for a walk. I got a but carried away, and managed 25,000 steps on a workday.

Today, a friend asked if I fancied kayaking on the Thames. We got a bit carried away, and went from Vauxhall to just before Richmond and back, which is many miles. We starred at 11 am, paused ar 3 for lunch; paused at 8 to watch fireworks; and finished at about 9.30 pm

Pic of fireworks.

A pic of me in the canoe.

On Sunday, I did 15 miles walking.

On Monday, I felt like death warmed up and did very little.

On Tuesday, I felt recovered after a decent night's sleep. I went climbing, I was OK but not at top form. I lasted 2 hours.

Today, I managed a shorter walk (around 8 miles). I may lift later, but I am climbing tomorrow and I seem to have a case of the olds, so I will probably just take it easy.

Random stats update:
Weight 142 pounds
BP 105 over 65
Waist 28 inches. (I finally found a belt that fits, I needed to get a teen's as adult male tends to be too big.)

Climbing last night was brilliant fun. I'm not 100% sure of all the grades, as they had reset one of the two rooms and they keep the climbs untagged for a couple of weeks after a reset.

I have now got all the 5/5+ graded routes at the gym. I'm not sure I had the right route for one - I entirely rest my knee on a hold, with my other foot wedged onto a wall. I then do a gaston pistol squat thing with no hand holds, but there are convenient walls. If I fall doing this, which does happen, there is a bunch of stuff you bounce against on the way down. However, if you hold it, it gets the job done.

I got a bunch of 6A/6B graded ones, and there are a few more I'm getting close to. One of the new routes is an ultra-crimpy slab. I fell off last time doing a ropey foot swap. I came up with a new route this time, and avoided the foot swap by doing a short down climb. I'm on the penultimate move of a crimpy and slopey overhang coming out of the cave. The last move isn't particularly hard, but it's a really pumpy route and I've always been too tired to get that. My little brother got it, but he is good at overhangs. He didn't have the greatest session on the slab.

On Saturday, I ended up at Paddington station. I decided to walk to a Vauxwall climbing gym. It's not particularly close, so I was on 21,000 steps when I got there. I expected to be rubbish, due to the excessive warm up. Instead, I snashed it. A really fun session. I lasted 90 minutes and left when they gym shut.

Today, I did a short hike. It was 9 miles, with many hills, much mud, and a lot of drizzle.
I finished after dark.

How close are you to the Bouldering Bobat’s new gym, “Hang”?

That could well be fun.

Google reckons it is 40 minutes drive, although traffic will affect that a lot. It's 70 minutes by train, which is do-able.

I went climbing on Wednesday with my little brother. It was good, I got a reasonable number of harder routes. 90 minute session.

I lifted yesterday, doing
3 sets of 5 (bench), 50 kgs
3 sets of 5 (deadlift), 100 kgs.

It was my first lifting session for a while, I seem to be fairly weak.

I saw my cardioligist on Wednesday, who confirmed that I am OK to dive. He is bored of me, and doesn't want to see me again. I need to schedule a visit to my diving doctor, who has also said he's bored of me and this will be the last time he needs to see me.

If you want anyone in the world to find you boring, cardiologists seems like a really good starting point!

…or like a 3 hour walk? Child’s play for you.

It is very close to two sections of the London Loop walk, which I have done before. Total to the gym by this route, including a bit for my house, is around 15 miles, and it's quite nice. So it may not be a totally daft idea...


https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/walking/ewell-to-kingston followed by
https://content.tfl.gov.uk/london-loop-section-9.pdf

I went scuba diving this weekend. I have a technical diving course booked early next year and I wanted to practice some stuff. It went well, I am starting to get OK at shutdowns.

This me over an old crushing works in the quarry.