NORTHERN PLANNER

Just outside my village there's a very steep little hill, it's an effort to get up there by foot for most.

On the bike, it's murderous. I know I'm some sort of form when I can zip up without gasping for air.

Right now, I am not in form.

So I do it ten times in a row regularly in the hope my legs will begin to remember what they're suppose to be doing. 

It's not for everyone, but you find out about yourself when you climb, there are no hiding places.

Not just how strong you might be, how much of a beating you're prepared to take, how much the mind can master the body. 

Sometimes in life you're the hammer, sometimes you're the nail. Climbing teaches you to be the hammer. 

When you get into a rhythm the body works with the mind, not against it, you forget what you're doing, yet you're completely present. 

All sorts of thoughts stuff comes into my head, with a sharp clarity that eludes me at other times. Issues, tensions, challenges, ideas. You are stripped of all the extraneous stuff and its just you laid bare. 

On physical and mental level, lots of questions are asked and answered.

If you don't want to find out, stay at the bottom of hill.