Shortly after my birthday outing at Burbage I sank into a seriously melodramatic sulk about  bouldering and decided I was fed up with it all. For eight days I did no climbing or training, which is the longest time off I've had in at least six months. I did, however, go on a night ride at Hamsterley with the boys, which was as brilliant and terrifying as ever. During my time sulking, I tried to figure out what brought it on:

> Almost all of my mates have either stopped climbing or have moved away.
> Climbing on my own (when Bex is working) is both boring and lonely, especially coupled with...
> Living at least an hour drive from rock.
> Diesel is a fortune.
> I am not as good as I want to be and...
> I will probably never be as good as I want to be.
> The weather is ridiculously unreliable.
> The depressing attitude of many boulderers, particularly those who predominantly climb indoors,  upsets me. It normally washes over me, but lately it crushed my enthusiasm.

I have since snapped out of it. I concluded that I was probably doing a bit too much and therefore put too much pressure on myself. Silly really. I'm not a 'proper' climber and never will be, and I don't go bouldering because I think that one day I will climb 8b+. I go out bouldering because it's a laugh, I like drinking coffee and eating cakes alfresco, and I like climbing problems that I find impossible at first. Which leads me on to my comeback at Caley yesterday. There were three objectives: 1) do a bunch of problems with the woman that I enjoy and haven't done in ages. 2) Progress on Terry and 3) Finally pull on and try Zoo York.

We warmed up at the crag, doing Mr. Smooth, The Horn problems and and some aretes behind The Pinch- all class. There's me thinking, 'Caley is fucking class, bouldering isn't that bad really'. A bit later on we head up to Terry, where I manage the first move quite easily, having previously struggled with it. Mono crimping on pebbles is a bit of a niece, but I will go back and clean it up on a rope next month and invest some time into it because the top moves look like (to quote Tim Emmett) 'spicy times'.

So, Zoo York. Having put off trying it for literally years, I finally put some pads underneath it. I've always been intimidated by the holds, or lack of, and the fact that I hear a lot of 'it is hard for 8a'. Hard for 8a? Soft 8a is more than hard enough for me. I need a plan, so I decide to try it from standing first, then depending on how that goes I'll try the bottom moves. It takes me a handful of goes to commit to the slap up, but the first time I catch it right I top it out. Well, that was hard enough. Over the next half an hour I piece together the bottom section, breaking it down into sections. Eventually I've done all of the moves and I'm in love with bouldering again. There's nothing like feeling strong to give you half a dafty. I imagine the problem as three bits: from the floor to the tape box, a REALLY hard cut loose, and another problem stacked on top. Wow, this is going to be a long term project. In the videos, the moves look awkward and unappealing, but they are some of the best I've ever done. And it's realistic. I can do the moves, all I need now is to do one after the other all the way to the top. Piece of cake, eh?