On Monday, the magic just wasn't flowing in team Di and for lots of reasons we never managed to set foot on a route, let alone climb one.
In summer, I call these my 'selling my rock shoes days'. In winter, it is just part of the game.
I suppose what makes it worse is that it was the first nice day for ages and it was a novelty to be able to have a conversation walking in.
Yesterday, we retraced our steps and were pretty confident that we would get a route under our belts. There are some things that you can get away with forgetting but a helmet probably isn't one of them :(
So, as Colin enjoyed (I use the word cautiously) his first taste of winter climbing, Derek learnt a very hard lesson.
Somehow, I don't think Derek will be forgetting his helmet again.