Millstone, London Wall, E5 6a.

Following on from yesterday - why is this route in particular the goal. On the 2nd January 2011 me a couple of mates headed up to a very cold Millstone, about -3 Deg. C. The main objective: to dispatch Great North Road (HVS 5a). After boasting that I would have no problem with the route I now had to put my money where my mouth was. I had wanted to tick the route for a number of years, endlessly looking at the guide book description and trying to imagine how it would feel. After a play about on Embankment 2 (VS 4c) we walked over.

That day, I was totally calm and relaxed and it showed in my climbing, cruising to the top and feeling pretty damn pleased with myself. After waiting a while for my second (standing still for 40 mins and cold rock make for slow progress), we called it a day due to the cold.

During the obligatory post climbing pint, I hinted that if I could cruise GNR like that then who knows, maybe London wall would be easy. In retort a friend said I was living in a dream world, I'd have to be 'really good' to bag that one. It was only a joke but I thought 'f**k you man - what's stopping me?". And so it began.

Since then I haven't really done very much about, until now - hence the blog! During that year I've had to change my mental attitude towards climbing and myself as a climber. I'll write some posts about this later on. So is it possible to go from HVS to E5 in 12 months whilst also trying to get a PhD, and generally doing all the stuff live throws at you? Well there is only one way to find out! Watch this space...

                                         London Wall E5 6a, Millstone Edge, Peak District
                                                             (Image taken from UKC User James Oswald)