Time for change

 

Possibly not quite as dramatic as it may sound, but I have decided I am too sedentary and started on a road to improved fitness. Or, possibly more accurate, a trail to improved fitness. From 1991 for almost twenty years I studied and trained in the martial art of Taekwondo, including 3-4 workouts at the gym every week. I was as fit as the proverbial ‘butchers dog’. After the ‘almost twenty years’ I had to give it up due to other priorities having, by then, reached the grade of 5th Dan Master. Although I have done a fair amount of walking since my accident back in 2010, I haven’t been as fit as I had liked. I have found the hills harder work than I should have. So several months ago I began a plan to improve my hill fitness.

 

An Inspired Read

If you have read 'Touching the Void', you will know it is the grim recount of Joe Simpson's survival of an accident that almost killed him. Joe broke his leg on the descent from Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes and was initially helped down by his climbing partner Simon Yates. But as Simon lowered Joe, near the bottom of the mountain, Joe found himself suspended in fresh air after being lowered over a overhang. Unable to climb back up the rope, and with Simon in a poor belay position, Simon took the decision to cut Joe free.

Book Review: Learning to Breath by Andy Cave

This is the first book review I've done on my blog, a few more may follow. But this particular book for me has a relevance to my past in a small way. I wanted a book to take to the Lake district on holiday, to fill the downtimes on camp. This book had come up on Amazon as a recommendation when I purchased 'Touching the Void' by Joe Simpson (another good read). To be honest, I didn't really know who Andy Cave was, I haven't had much connection to climbing since I was a teenager (a long time ago). But a had a punt and took the book on holiday with me.