I should have known that I wouldn’t survive the whole weekend with a desire and need to get outdoors. Maybe I could have, but today I really needed to empty my head of all the thoughts rattling round inside and bumbling about at home just was not going to help me achieve that. Lisa’s head was also filled, but sadly hers was brimming over with the numbing ache of a migraine. As such the idea of Lisa getting out for a walk was well and truly off the cards, and so I was committed to heading out by myself whether for a walk or climb:
Yesterday afternoon Sarah sent me some great images of the resident Carpet Python that we so often see on two particular climbs that are next to each other at Wilyabrup. This time it was out in full and not, as we normally spot it, hiding in the flakes and cracks. She had snuck in a midday climb with Rongy, and with the warm sun on the crag the python had ventured out. This resulted in messages flying about, and my solo mission was being swayed towards a solo climb on the lines they had been climbing in the hope of seeing the python out and about:
Then Rongy hinted that he was free in the morning and could be encouraged to get out. We plumped for Castle Rock, and as the water there stays clear for much longer than at my local beach I considered suggesting to take snorkel gear. In the end I decided against that, and while the water looked very clear we both agreed it probably would have felt a tad chilly. It seemed that fish were taunting us and suggesting we had made the wrong decision, as they schooled just off the rocks and in the image below one is even jumping out of the water:
We instead focused on the climbing, picking off the easier routes one by one. And even some of those physically and mentally challenged us. Leading me to question whether some of my routes here were sandbags, or was it simply that I was weary today. You may be thinking that I should be from my two days out during the week. However, the weariness was more emotional and a result of having been out last night in what, for me, was an uncomfortable social setting for longer than I would normally cope with:
I’m definitely comfortable in my own skin, and initially this can come across as suggesting I am a pretty social person. However, I’d suggest and it probably fair to say that I have a degree of social phobia and sensory processing limitations. As such it doesn’t take long before my social bucket fills up, and when it starts overflowing it can take some time to reset myself. So despite being a relatively short and sharp trip, I was very grateful for the morning out and it definitely helped to blow the tangled cobwebs from my head:
Sandbagged 