Big Rock Climbing

A taster session at the Big Rock Climbing centre in Milton Keynes, an hour and a half with an instructor going though the basics of indoor wall climbing. Even though I wanted to do this, I was a little freaked out by the height and that when you get to the top to have to sit back and come down abseil stylie. Was totally not an issue, our instructor, Mel, was great. I didn't even notice the height going up as I was facing the wall the whole time. As for coming down, also not an issue after we had practiced low down the wall.

Overhang section

First impression of the place wasn't so good, service was slack and they didn't let us know what would happen, who our instructor was, where to get our rental equipment - things you would need to know as beginners on a taster session. We figured it out, got our hire equipment, met Mel the instructor who turned around the whole experience into a good one.

Going up a grade 5 wall

With the Big Rock instructor

My climbing buddies

Best tip when you're using the rental climbing shoes, take a pair of pop socks - normal socks will take up too much space in the rental shoes. The taster session is pretty good value for money, twenty pounds gets you an hour and half with an instructor, time on the wall, equipment hire.