Day 11: Climbing the walls

When I was a lad, my brother and I devised a way of climbing up narrow passages by leaning against one surface, putting one foot against the other surface, and then putting the remaining foot on the wall below your bum and levering yourself up. I even used the method in childhood adventures such as to get up on the roof of a local school. Much later I discovered this to be a common method used by rock climbers, but that did not diminish the pleasure of discovery.

Today we went down to the basement to try this out as our adventure for the day. I tried in the doorways at home, but the woodwork was too smooth to get a grip on with my feet. However, the basement walls were nicely rough, but I am afraid that the strength has gone from my legs, mainly as the result of fifteen years of arthritis and a more recent lack of exercise. Both of us 'ageing' adventurers did manage to get both feet off the ground, with some mutual assistance, but in no way could you say that we climbed the walls. Perhaps in some months time, if we keep up our efforts in the gym, we will be able to repeat this adventure and climb high enough to touch the ceiling.