Cruising at Cambusbarron.

Yes, cruising, honestly - it sometimes happens! I occasionally get up slightly challenging climbs, which is invariably due to my uncanny ability to downclimb to rests and often milk the most awkward rests and shakeouts like they are a quad of ripe bulging udders, and almost invariably involves a lot of stress, swearing, and substantial battling, partly with the climb's challenge but mostly with my own psychological demons.

However, that is almost invariably and sometimes that variance includes climbing "normally", unhampered by those demons, and with a modicum of confidence and smoothness. Hard to believe but rest assured it's a rarity. This evening was one of those rare occurences. I bought one packet of Polos and two bottles of midge repellent, cut all the superfluous straps and tags off his rucsac, went to Cambusbarron, seconded a couple of easier routes, warmed up on the challenging "Quantum Grunt" which was quite stiff but I got up it, got on the slightly more challenging testpiece "Big Country Dreams", downclimbed to a rest, milked another rest like a quad of bulging ripe udders, and surprised myself by sailing to the top. Nice to climb something well for a change, and as with almost every challenging route I've done this year, they were both really good. Hurrah.