Rock Climbing at the Westway, London

Ever eager to keep the dream and those adventurous urges alive in our daily London grind, Chris and I signed up to try out a new sport last weekend - rock climbing! There was a certain driver of necessity in this decision as Chris needs to get to a particular level of proficiency in rock climbing in order to take his mountain leader exam, but it also just felt like a cool thing to do. I thought that I might as well go along with him and learn something new as well. The couple who exercise together....hmm argue and bicker together!? oh well...

We signed up for the beginners course at the Westway centre in Shepherds Bush, London. This is a six hour course, split over the weekend mornings, so was the perfect impetus to get out of bed early and make the most of the day but didn't take up all of our precious down time - perfect!

Hello 2013!!...

What a wonderful start to 2013!

And so our incredible year of adventure comes to an end...As I write this, sat in our new flat-share in Battersea, on perhaps the most low key new year's eve I've had for about 16 years, it is hard to believe that we really did do and achieve so much in 2012, that we saw all of those incredible places and things and met all of those people...now that we are back it feels like we never left our little corner of London as we look out onto the drizzly streets outside our window. If you have been reading my blog religiously (of course you have!) then you will know that we welcomed in 2012 this time last year on the beach in Goa. It was the best night, full of fun, music, fireworks, good food and most importantly, good company, all the way from home. It was also the perfect kick start to what has been one of the most exciting years of both of our lives.  Chris discovered his love of the all things mountainy and is working hard to fulfil new ambitions of becoming a mountain guide and guru and I discovered that I was capable of much more in the physical arena than I had ever thought - skiing and mountain climbing in particular - who'd have thought I would become such a ski bunny or indeed get to the top of Kili, and who'd would have predicted that I'd enjoy it so much that many of the trekking peaks of the world have now made it onto my bucket list. Add to that, a shared love of all things beach, particularly a new found passion for surfing, and a mutual pact between the two of us that life is going to be nothing but exciting exploration from now on and it was rather a successful year...