We conquered the biggest mountain on the Isle of Man (OK - the only mountain)...

Unfortunately the knee was still very swollen & painful at the beginning of the week. I doubt I would have been able to take part in the usual spinning session but was called up last minute to help coach the Juniors of Castletown Hockey Club.

Usually I just coach the seniors (13+) on a Thursday but every now help out our excellent Junior co-ordinators & coaches – it makes me realise that I definitely couldn’t be a teacher & that I have a lot of respect for the people who take those sessions week in, week out!

The rest of the week was a bit of a write off as squash was cancelled on Wednesday, the weather was atrocious on the Thursday so only 4 people turned up to hockey training & so there was just the usual usual Friday & re-arranged Tuesday gym sessions. It was probably a good thing in reflection as my knee is still sore now & less rest would probably have prolonged the healing process!

Thankfully the knee was feeling strong enough to let me play the hockey match on Saturday & get stuck in with a walk on Sunday. This time heading up Snaefell (the only mountain on the Isle of Man). After a few directional faux pas we ended up on the mountain road & decided to dump our car at one of the many small car parks / lay bys & head up the nearest & biggest looking hill that Dave thought was Snaefell. As the whole area was covered in mist & they all looked the same it was definitely a bit of a random guess & I must admit that I had my doubts when we were half way up the slope that we were walking in the wrong place!

We continued on however, & after reaching the top of each mound decided to keep going on in the mist until we might be able to glean where we were or what direction the actual mountain was. Much to my amazement as it turned out we’d actually stumbled into the correct place & had traversed the steeper side of the mountain (it's just how we roll). Lets hope that we don’t get as confused trying to find Kilimanjaro!

I also got to test out my new hiking boots that I’ll be taking with me on my Kili trip. They were extremely comfortable, in fact more so than my usual road walking trainers & think I’ve made a good buy there & definitely need to sort out some decent road walking shoes.

Mark