Today is my birthday. Last year Bex and I spent the weekend in the Lakes and I did Inaudible Vaudible, which was a nice present. This year we headed to Burbage and I was hoping for similar birthday success. After warming up on a nice short slab beyond Remergence, we both did a really fun arete under Voyager called Cleo's Edge. Looking up at Voyager, it's an amazing bit of rock- oh to be strong enough to even think about trying it! I pretended to myself that I was warmed up and moved onto The Terrace. I messed about on a few of the moves to warm up properly and had a couple of half decent efforts. Three fig rolls, two cups of coffee and two cheese sandwiches later, I was on top. All I can remember is sticking the move to the slot and just praying that my foot didn't whip off as I went for the top. Phew.

We were then going to hook up with an old mate at Stanage, but it turned out that he was still in his house on the south coast. Maybe not then. I was buzzing from doing Terrace and Bex decided she didn't want to do any more climbing, so the only logical conclusion was for me to try WSS. It had been quite foggy all morning, so I wasn't too confident about finishing it off. Two fig rolls and a cup of coffee later, I found myself at the break panicking about topping out. I fannied on for a bit and then dropped off. So bitter-sweet! I was so happy that I'd sussed it all out, but knew I wouldn't be happy until I'd topped it out. It took me another half an hour or so to get back up there, but this time I wasn't letting go. It's probably the worst bit of climbing I've ever done in embarrassingly terrible style. That top out sums up the thing I like least about climbing- being in the position where the fear of falling completely dictates how I climb. I'm not vaguely interested in that aspect of climbing, not at all. I think Bex was equally as scared of me falling off too, which isn't cool.

Anyway, it's done. Ticked. Alright!

Today I've also been to the pub, ate my first (half) parmo and received a bunch of lovely presents. It's been one of those rare days when everything works out class. Perfect birthday with the woman, thanks.