Bulbhaul

At the end of September I'd sussed the moves on Bulbhaul 8b at Almscliff and was keen to give it a go, more as a way to train for a problem in the States rather than as an end in itself. The Keel boulder kicks my arse; strung out and core intensive all the way, any previous success on this block had been hard earned so I felt I had nothing to lose. The poor weather in October forced me indoors and I feel like I've trained in a structured way for the first time ever. Lots of core punishment, no rest and trying to keep up with Turnip and Dr P at the Depot were the key. Getting back on the problem a couple of weeks ago I surprized myself by getting to and falling on the last move, then the nerves kicked in as I knew it was on. Last weekend I fell at the same point and thoughts of going backwards soon materialised. Yesterday, I luckily scraped up it by the 'skin of my teeth', thanks to sheer will power and Ceri screaming encouragement. Feeling rather beaten up today as man-flu has finally struck, probably as pay back for going under 9 stone! Respect to Tom Peckitt for opening Bulbhaul, it's a great piece of involved and frustrating climbing. Gonna give 'the Cliff' a rest for a while!