Ben Nevis - April 2016

The temptation was to do the three peaks challenge, however it's not that I didn't like the idea of the challenge, but I didn't like the idea of climbing the most amazing mountains in the UK and not being able to see them. Knowing that you climb one in the middle of the night made no sense to me as the vista from being on the top and the sites you see along the way is one of the biggest reasons why I want to climb the three highest mountains in the UK. To stand on top of the country and see for as far as the eye can see and to look down on life below gives me a rush of excitement.

On mentioning the idea of this challenge to my older sister, Katy, she mentioned that she would love to do it too. There we were around Christmas dinner table planning our trip that was to take place in April 2016. We decided that not only would we aim to climb the highest mountain in the UK, but we would do it with my 9 month old niece, Katy's daughter, May strapped to our backs.
Fast forward to April 22nd 2016 and I'm sat in Bristol airport waiting for my flight to Inverness. My previous months challenges of healthy living had given me some hope that I was fit enough and my mental ability and drive to make it to the top gave me courage. The worry that the weather would change meaning we couldn't climb with May, and put ourselves in danger was the only factor threatening to put a stopper on our challenge. With the positive knowledge that if we were unable to climb we would still have a lovely weekend together made the risk all worth it.

I arrived half an hour before Katy and May from Gatwick giving me time to collect our hire car and meet them in arrivals. The journey from Inverness to Fort William was stunning. We followed Loch Ness as it wound between hills and through valleys, we passed remote outhouses and turnings towards the outer Hebrides. As the mountains git bigger and the snow on top got thicker we knew we were getting close and suddenly there it was. Looming above the landscape was a mountain, flat topped and covered in snow. What could we do but pull over and take a photograph. After the initial awe my thoughts were 'well that doesn't look too bad' knowing full well that the climb would be a different matter. The weather was looking good so all we could do was bunk down for the night and get ready for a day of climbing.

Saturday 24th April, Ben Nevis summit day.
We set off around 10am leaving the car in the visitors car park, and giving two fingers to the lady who worked in the visitor centre who told Katy she was basically being irresponsible taking May up. We felt far from being irresponsible. We had the gear, we told everyone where we were, times and what we were doing and we had all the previsions including a safety whistle and pork pie - it's not a day of walking without a pork pie!

Everything we had read had prepared us for the first hour and a hour steal climb up steps, over boulders and ascending thousands of feet and boy it was hard going, but we took our time and took in the beautiful surroundings that we found ourselves in. At the point where we started to think 'blimey this is going on for longer than we thought' the path starting to become more of a path and less of a boulder field that resembled a rock fall. And we were there, the halfway point. With May safely strapped to Katy's back, she'd slept for the whole way so far and had learnt Katy mountain respect for carrying another human being, give it a small one but still another life, up the mountain.

Past the loch we went and the path continued to climb with the steepness increasing once again. over the waterfall we went and the temperature dropped. Snow started to appear on either side of the track and we freaked for lunch giving us quite possibly the best al fresco spot for dinning.

At this point we'd seen people walking back down. There were mixed opinions from those who said the ice was impassable and others who said it was fine. We decided to keep going and to see what lay ahead of us. After a spot of lunch we cracked on. The snow got thicker and the path got narrower. At 4000ft high i looked to my right and there it was, the summit, the trig point, the top of the country.

After a further few hundred feet climb we'd made it. We were at the summit on the south side and lying between us and the trig point was a field of compressed ice and snow. Should we push it, or should we be sensible given it was -7degrees and we had a baby. instead we turned around and gave the 'V's' to cancer on top of the highest point on the country. At that very point May was the youngest point on top of the UK let alone on the mountain. The views were breathtaking. The knowledge we'd made it in 4 and a half hours was incredible and the feeling of being on top was unbeatable. I was full of pride and as we turned around to start our decent I literally felt on top on the world.

The climb down..... as we started Katy and I had raised spirits, we'd done it. We both said that surprisingly neither one of us had felt as though there had been a point on the ascent that made us feel like we could't do it and we started to get even more excited about the prospect of having a drink in the pub at the foot of the mountain. But boy we were in for some endurance. The first two thirds were welcome, but the boulder field was a different beast on the way down. Our knees ached, our ankles shook and our legs generally became incredibly tired. By the time we rounded the last corner and the roof of the pub was in sight we, and May were incredible thankful. May had slept for the majority of the climb but in the last half an hour was ready to stretch her legs and help us celebrate our successful climb.

After 7 and a half hours we'd made it. We were back at sea level and as only two true West Country girls would do we celebrated with a pint of cider.


 

Ben Nevis..... you beaut!!!! 

Jumping out of a plane - March 2016

On March 8th 2016 I jumped out of a plane at 15,000ft, the highest you can jump from without running out of oxygen. I free fell for 1 minute and fell at 200mph a total of 10,000ft. I did it all and raised £650 for Bloodwise.

I'd wanted to jump out of a plane for ages, call me mad. I wanted to experience that rush and to know what it felt like. Instead of filling me with dread it filled me with excitement and whenever I saw or heard of anyone else doing it I really wanted to do it too. It was also one of the experiences Luke didn't get to do, so it was a massive thing to me to make sure that I did it for him. It so happened to be the anniversary of the day that he was first diagnosed with Leukaemia.

I arrived at the airfield at 7.30am for a check in at 8am - I'd been told to get there early as the earlier you register the earlier you get to jump and I for one didn't want to be hanging around on the day. I knew that the hanging around would be when the nerves would kick in. In all honesty, leading up to the jump there had been moments where I thought about it and imagined doing it and the nerves kicked in, but on the day I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. It was no different than the nerves I'd experienced starting a new job or reading a speech.

After registering the waiting began but in the space of 40 minutes I found myself with two others being trained how to jump out of a plane, what position I needed to be in when jumping and how to land. After I came out of the training some familiar faces appeared to cheer me on - Holly, cash, John, Ava, Monty, Mum and Clive. I got myself kitted out and stepped into my yellow jumpsuit having also met my instructor who I was going to be jumping with. It was perfect weather with not a cloud in the sky and hardly any wind, so we were set to go.

Working out to the plane Mr Brightside pumped out of the speakers at the airfield and my confidence and excitement increased. At this point I was really surprised how little nerves I had. being the only female jumping in the morning, and it being International Women's Day gave me even more inspiration and the knowledge that what I was about to experience and the feeling I was expecting to have afterwards massively outweighed all of the potential nerves.

Into the plane I got and found myself positioned right by the door which clearly meant I was set to jump first. Up we went.... 5000ft, 10,000ft, 15,000ft, all within a space of about 7 minutes. The light above the door went green and the shutter door was pulled back letting the air rush in over my goggle covered eyes and face. As I inched forward I leant back getting into the position to jump. Before I knew it I was falling, tumbling and quite surprisingly not feeling that overwhelming surge of adrenaline or that stomach turning feeling when you fall. I had no concept of falling as I was looking straight ahead at the horizon, not at the floor as I plummeted towards it! It was sensory overload and I couldn't quite take it all in meaning that instead of feeling something I was just feeling. I wish I could have done that part in slow motion to really experience it, but before I knew it my parachute was open and I jerked back. This, at this one point, is where I felt a sense of fear for about 5 seconds. The feeling of only being held by a harness and that I was putting my trust into that made me aware of what I was doing. But as quickly as I felt it I forgot it as I was greeted by this amazing sense of calm. Due to the amazing weather I could see the devon and dorset coast, I could see South Wales and Somerset. The lack of wind meant that there was little noise. I took the reins and steered doing loops and changing direction whilst heading towards my original starting point.

The time came to approach for landing, which was the hardest part of the whole jump physically. Raising your legs to 90 degree angles when the air pressure pushing down on them is ridiculous is hard work. With help from my instructor I did it and we landed safely.

Would I do it again.... hell yes!!! I may have found a new hobby. An expensive one, but an incredible one and an experience I loved every minute of. 

January and February - health months

I'm writing this now in May having already done 4 months of challenges, but I figured keeping a blog would be a good way to document the year, what I've done and how it was. 

During January I decided to quite drink, which sounds like quite a simple challenge, but it really wasn't! I quite enjoy a glass of wine after work with dinner and when socialising love chatting over a drink. It's not that I depend on it, I just really enjoy it and like the taste and sharing a drink with someone. It's a way of relaxing, so all in all this month was quite hard and I did have a couple of cheeky drinks, but I made sure that I added on the days to the end so I still had 31 days without a drink. 

February, the plan was to exercise everyday. I initially wanted the exercise to be high impact and cardio, but I quickly realised that this was unrealistic and actually bloody knackering, so I decided to change the challenge so that I did some form of exercise every day from high impact cardio including running to enjoyable walks with Buddy and Matti after work. I made sure I walked Buddy every day and did yoga, whilst swimming and running. I didn't try any new exercise, which is something I wanted to do, so I would still like to kayak more, play a team sport and go trampolining, but overall the first two challenges for me were about lifestyle changes. I wanted to throw myself into the deep end and give myself a month of each to give myself a new routine, way of approaching healthy living with the hope that it would ensure I exercise at least three times a week and I reduce the amount I drink. 

My year of challenges

Last year I turned 30 years old and i gave myself 30 things that I wanted to do during my 30th year, however many of these things didn't get done and 2015 turned out to be a pretty turbulent year. In October a dear friend passed away after 8 years of fighting on and off with cancer. He lived his life to the full and inspired me every day to do the same. My year of challenges is in honour of him, his life and everything he stood for. Luke, this is for you.

So, what am I doing? I've decided to set a series of challenges of things that i've always wanted to do, that will provide new experiences and that will provide personal goals. The aim is to do one challenge a month varying in size and difficulty. They will range from personal challenges to physical  challenges where I will push myself into the unknown.

My challenges:
1) Dry January
2) Exercise at least 3 times a week
3) Jump out of a plane
4) Climb Ben Nevis
5) Learn to surf
6) Do a jewellery making course in the Jewellery quarter in Birmingham
7) Climb Snowdon
8) Walk part of the Cornish coastal path
9) Climb Scafell Pike
10) Take part in an aquathlon
11) Learn to play a musical instrument
12) Learn to ski