To the top of Lion’s Head – a journey of firsts.

They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks but I am proof that you can. I have set myself the challenge of doing as many things as I possibly can for the first time. The reward is great but the effort to achieve it is great too.

For my first ascent of Lion’s Head I just kept looking ahead. I’m pretty frightened of heights but I just focussed on taking the next step ahead of me and followed as closely as possible in the footsteps of Andrew and Jenna-Sue who are Lion’s Head mavens.

At times it was very, very difficult for me climbing up but the fear of getting down again or worse, being scared stiff and needing an airlift off the mountain, was always at the back of my mind. My focus on getting to the top did mean, and there’s a life’s lesson in this, that I didn’t enjoy the journey – I consciously decided not to look out and about in case I freaked out so just kept climbing.

It was great to get to the top but then I was antsy about getting down again. When I’m anxious I manage my anxiety by doing things and sitting around on top, chatting, eating the lunch we’d carried of chicken salad with broccoli and fabulous coffee was less enjoyable than it might have been on account of my worry about how to get down.

So, instead of keeping my anxiety to myself – I shared it and asked the experts how best to get down. “Keep your back against the rocks”, Andrew said, “and make sure that your centre of gravity is back and not forward so if you do topple, you topple backwards against the rock face.” Jen chimed in: “Have three points that are solid”, which Andrew further explained as having one hand and two legs to secure yourself or two hands and one foot.” I ought to have worn my bikers’ gloves as the palms of my hands got a little sore supporting myself on the rocks as I came down.

I found coming down harder on my knees and those muscles between the hip and the knee but also psychologically. It was only once we were on the level that I began to enjoy the view – the bay with its lines of blue sea, white sand and green trees that looked like a country’s flag and the vibrant puce of the flowers.

We then came to an avenue of silver-leaf trees which glittered in the light as the breeze moved the peach-fuzz of their leaves into the sun. We had a hedge of silver-leaf trees in the front garden of the house we grew up in and I thought about my mom and how proud she’d be of the way I have transformed my life.

“Here’s where most people slip and fall,” Andrew warned, describing the gravel near the bottom of Lion’s Head akin to walking on ball bearings . “Best is to tread lightly,” he said.  The traffic boom at the foot of Lion’s Head felt like the finishing line of a race against myself that I’d won.

It was great to be done – I was tired, very tired and my feet and muscles were sore, but I felt that I had achieved something new.

I look forward to the next Lion’s Head climb and I’m sure I will enjoy it more – secure in the knowledge that I can do it.