I found myself at Robin Hood’s Stride early on Sunday monring, for a spot of bouldering. Jamie, Gareth and I drove over, and met up with Alex, who’s lucky enough to live ten minutes’ walk away.The car thermometer read -7.5 when we arrived, but we had a great morning of climbing, and I reached a high point of B3 (Ok, it was easy for the grade, but it’s still my best yet). A sneaky swap back to my old shoes for this trip meant I felt much more confident with smearing, and I was even coaxed into trying a couple of pinch holds.

After some gratuitous sports-photographer style shooting from Alex, we headed to Birchover for a pub lunch – an excellent end to a superb morning.