Gibbage 6.

The final day in a tidying up loose ends and finishing stuff off sort of way. The forecast was for cloud, it was glorious again, despite storm clouds over the hills providing a scenic backdrop. I still felt like utter shit with my gayflu. Bored of that. But there was plenty to get on with. We "warmed up" sliding off heinous micro-slabs: F6c and F7b that were more like that in British tech grades. The rock was cool but the sun was warm and needless to say our toll in skin and rubber was not repaid.

Thence it was on to the shady side, requiring a retreat and re-stomp to the opposite sector of the hillside. I'm noticing that after several days doing short uphill walk-ins and plenty of other exercise, my legs are still completely and utterly fucked and as usual I feel no progress in fitness at all. Cocktwats. Anyway the shady sector was shady although kinda sweaty. Managed a couple of routes including a pretty challenging one. Finally it was over to a different sandstone crag, El Bujeo, for a breezy and scenic evening, and a few more good and varied routes and a slightly frustrating "slip-off-the-first" move attempt of a stiffer proposition. A pretty good day despite feeling rougher than an East End Glaswegian's face.

This brings things to 34 routes I think. Not bad for a short week :). Plenty of fun on the sandstone, a few good challenges tackled (better than I thought!) and a few near misses to learn from. Tomorrow we fly back to dismal Scotland where I plan to hibernate for a while...


Africa in the morning.

Horses in the afternoon.

Gibraltar in the evening.

Gibbage 5.

Aka the day that was forecast for cloud and was glorious sunshine instead. But first, what the fuck is up with me: I come away to get some good climbing action and escape the endless sodden damp of Glasgow and the persist rundownness I've been feeling this winter. So I'm out here - plenty of activity, plenty of rest, loads of fresh air each day (sea air no less), loads of sleep each night, lots of mandarins and pears (when I can stop Tris feeding them to horses). And what do I get?? A mouthful of ulcers, glands like a second bawbag, and now a proper sodding cold!! What the fucking fuck?? IT MAKE NO SENSE!!

Anyway I can't complain too much because today rocked: We headed back to mmmMosaico to enjoy plenty of cooling shade from the forecast clouds, of which there was none. So it was climbing in the (minor) heat before lunch on some rather good routes, and climbing in the dusk after a somewhat snotty siesta on some just as good routes, and then climbing in the dark on some cool wee slabs that rounded things off nicely. The highlight of the day was my hardest route of the trip when I sent Senda Del Tiempo on the main Mosaico wall. This took all the tactics and waning stamina I had, and was satisfying partly due to the challenge and getting in the zone where I really had to deal with it, but mostly because it was an objectively great route: sustained, consistent, well-balanced, some respite that the most improbable points, and a delicate finish. Which was nice ;).

A slight misnomer today - for a change!
I tried to clean this bossly beetle, but he just squeaked furiously at me.
Guess who is having their rump firmly scratched...

Walking Corpse.

^^^ this has been me in the last few days. The gayflu has been especially gay and seasoned with lashings of a mild throat infection (feeling a bit like the Brutal Truth vocalist sounds) for the optimum blend of crappness. I've turned down wall sessions and good forecasts in the County and have been set back a good week in general logistic progress, so I feel like a walking corpse mentally too, BLUURRRGGGGHHHHH. Hopefully I'm getting over the worst and will be able to get back into things with renewed energy soon.

Very little climbing at various lovely crags.

Climbing trips - sometimes you win 'em, sometimes you lose 'em. Recently I've won a few, so in the grand karmic balance it's not that surprising to lose one.

In recent years I've become very inspired by the Caithness area - lovely looking sea-cliff outcrops, reasonable approaches, peaceful area, benevolent (for Scotland!!) climate, what's not to like?? Finally I got up there butr due to various circumstances the promised mega-ticking-trip didn't happen. The climate had a moment of malevolence, mixing midges and mizzle in equal quantities - it was climbable, but not captivating conditions. And there were issues with the abseil approaches and a loose block falling onto my partner's (thankfully helmeted) head. Despite this there is a lot of great looking stuff there and the few routes I did confirmed the quality. On the plus side, I got a good recce of many great routes, the Wick campsite is very nice and very cheap, and there's a good curry house in town.

In recent days I've become extremely inspired by the Caithness area....and will be back soon!!

Retreat was beaten via: Strathconnon - okay but too hot and too midgey; Cummingston - kinda cool but too late and too greasy; Cullen Caves - ugly choss but good fun power bouldering, unfortunately Cullen Skink in Cullen was somewhat disappointing; Luath Boulders - nice rock but rubbish micro-bouldering; and finally Glen Clova - lovely evening, fairly inspiring, but so knackered due to low-level gayflu that I quit after seconding a couple of routes.

Thusly a rather flaccid non-celebration of midsummer. Long trip, lots of crags, little climbing. Best just to view this as a recce and recuperation time - I think a wee break to let the gayflu settle, then a guns blazing return with maximum SYKE is the best plan. Raaargh.

This, and that.

Not a lot going on at the moment but that's going to change pretty soon. This week I have had gayflu and it has been pretty gay but fairly shortlived. After a pleasantly energetic week last week I knew it was best to rest and did so quite diligently - the mediocre weather helped too.

The cold has mostly abated, still a bit sore and snuffly but it's out of my head now. Somehow I seem to have missed the "feel considerably better but still hack up great solid lumps of phlegm" stage which is a little disappointing.

Last night I went bouldering at Dumby. I'm really syked for routes at the moment but then again also syked to get a couple of hours out full stop after a day stuck indoors. It had changed from a glorious spring day to a cold spring evening. I kept my t-shirt on and just managed to warm up by the time it got dark. Cold fingers, very sluggish, no energy after gayflu. Only to be expected really. Naturally Dumby is particularly harsh punishment for someone in this ailing state, so I was rubbish. But it was exercise and there was some good news - my tweaky finger has been feeling better all week and was fine last night despite a few crimpy and pockety things. That is good. I reckon it was raving the previous weekend - 4 hours of wild mal-coordinated arm-flailing must have got plenty of blood to my digits.

This week I do have some exciting plans - going out to Sicily from Tuesday morning to Friday night to join a veritable clan of veteran climbers out there who invited me along. More Euro-lime is not my first choice and if the weather was remotely decent (naturally it's not) I'd rather just have a couple of days in the Highlands BUT given the forecast and the opportunity and it does look rather nice in the photos, it would be churlish to refuse. Coming back on Friday night I go straight up to Northumbria for Squirrel's weekend bonanza which might be an Official Burd's Tradding Weekend or something of the sort. All of which is cool but it is avoiding actually climbing in Scotland which is partly why I'm up here!! Hopefully mid-late Spring will be good.

So this is me...

...fucking crippled.

I've had some medical check-ups in the last few days - vascular surgeon and haematologist appointments, with the usual anti-coag and doctor's appointments in between. I had some long discussions with the vasc and haem specialists, following a second MRI Venogram in December, and the summary is:

- My IVC (main vein from my lower body to my heart) is sealed and there is no possibility of opening it (this was to be expected).
- The clots in my legs are dissolving slowly, and will continue to dissolve over the next couple of years but...
- ...they are still present and are likely to be there for years if not lifetime (this is contrary to what I was told in Sheffield).
- The iliac veins in my pelvis are completely blocked and could remain blocked permanently.
- The surrounding collateral veins are taking up the blood flow and will develop over time (a long time?).
- There is nothing chemical nor mechanical which can be done to open these veins up nor speed up the process.

All of which explains why:

- I'm currently at 30% of fitness for running, and 20% for walking uphill, there has been little progress with this.

Which fucking sucks.

As if ONE fucking sealed major vein wasn't enough.

I asked a lot of questions and got the same answers each time: There is nothing that can be done, and my body will dissolve some but probably not all of the clots over time. What fitness I'll get back is completely unknown - it is likely to be more, but no-one can predict how much more. I'll be on warfarin for life, and continuing exercising a lot will be beneficial in helping clot dissolution and over-developing the collateral veins.

All of this encourages me to train hard, push myself harder, go on more trips, explore more, and tick BIGGER FUCKING NUMBERS. As much as my often-fragile mental state will allow - but whilst this might have ruined my leg fitness, it's not ruining my life nor my climbing.

Fitness shitness...

A big deal for me at the moment for obvious reasons. I've been thinking about my climbing and general physical activity plans and progression at the moment, and fitness - or the lack thereof, in fact not only the lack thereof but the seeming inability to regain any - plays a big role.

Not least because I've got to get up to Sron Na Ciche Eastern Buttress, Stac Pollaidh, Beinn Eighe Far East Wall, Bonaid Dhonn, Garbh Bheinn, Aonach Dubh, and The Cobbler (and maybe some of that Ben Nevis and Cairngorm granite nonsense too) somehow.

Hmmm.

Walking 20 minutes uphill (40+ minutes for me including rests) recently was murderous and little improvement over previous months. Walking 2 hours (5 for me?) is hard to imagine.

For many years I've stuck to roadside outcrops through choice and personal preference. Now I have to stick to them through necessity. But although there's hundreds of inspiring places to explore like that in Scotland, I don't want to be restricted to that, and to be clear, I don't want to be permanently crippled.

I'm going to see the vascular surgeon tomorrow. In an ideal world it would go like this:

Mais oui Monsieur Fiend! Now that the clots should have fully dissipated, we have this new exercise regime that will get you back to full fitness in a few months...

Oh bien sur, we can operate and drill out that stupid spasticated IVC in your chest and replace it with a piece of vein that actually works, pas du problem...

I doubt that's going to happen though :S. But I do really need to find out how things can proceed and progress from here.

Fucking hillwalking.

Yeah what FUN. Legs and lungs burning after 5 minutes, every step feeling like I'm going to puke my lungs inside out, having to collapse and rest every few minutes before my pounding heart knocks out my balance and I fall over. Whose fucking great idea was this??

Oh yeah, it was mine.

And all of the above crippled flailing around indicates I do really need to do it.

My climbing fitness has come on well, general walking is okay, strength is good, swimming fine, skiing fine too despite my legs getting a bit achey, running is....bad....but not nearly as bad as hillwalking. Hillwalking sucks and I suck at it. However climbing doesn't suck and I don't suck much at it, and unfortunately a lot of climbing is found on top of hills, so really I need to be able to walk up to get to it. So I'm going to have to keep trying I guess...

I think next time I'm gonna take my discman, I've got enough death metal and gabber to fit my mood. This will help take the pain away...

Sillver lining?

I've got a good dose of the plague that's been floating around. Just a common cold backed with a common cough, but a pain in the arse having it. I don't like being ill - the throat pain and mucus and shit don't bother me that much, the disorientating and debilitating feeling in my head does. I get one or two each year which is okay but still fucking boring at the time.

BOOORRRRED.

But anyway, this does have one minor silver lining, it's keeping me resting. Yup I haven't even been well enough to go out climbing *shock*. So this encouraged me to give my shoulder a full two weeks rest, followed by some gentle pottering recently. It still feels weak and tweeky but generally a lot better. Theraband exercises have helped, very careful management will help from now on.

One disappointment is not being well enough to run either. Hmmm! Yes I've actually missed it. Would have been a good exercise / recuperative distraction, but my lungs have been struggling with day-to-day breathing let alone the puny unfit ambulatory flapping that passes for me jogging. Oh well, soon...