Climbing in Derby

(Sun, 6th July)

Visited the local climbing gym (http://alter-rock.co.uk/) alone on a fine Sunday afternoon. I willingly took a 30 min walk from home to get there, which my parents disapproved of. [yes, there was a faint air of lingering unsafeness, esp in the residential areas. It's not sg and it's not a pleasant feeling, which was why on the way back I took a different route]

On to the gym itself: architecture-wise, it smth different - the building is actually an old church. It still looks like an old church from the outside, but the inside's been converted. Most of it consists of highwalls, with a relatively small boulder area (about SRC-sized). Have harness no partner, so boulder it was. There are taped routes but honestly nth to rave about. 

My experience was mehh because of a few things: (1) the last time I'd climbed was 6 weeks previously and uh, I didn't feel v much like a climber at all (2) I paid an equivalent of S$27.50 for my first climb there (£5 lifetime membership and £8 entry fee) (3) climbing alone made me miss UMC a lot...

Nevertheless, it was a remedy for fingers that had been itching for so long. At any one time I also pretty much had half the place to myself. As per every first-climb-in-a-long-while, I went away with raw fingers and a sore back, but against all odds, I found myself still able to do 3 pull-ups (truly extremely surprised). I'll go back, not just coz I need to make the lifetime membership worth, but coz there is no choice other than to not climb at all.