Some posts on notebooksandglasses.com may contain affiliate links. Click on my Disclosure page to read more.

I climbed, I conquered. This is the slogan in the frame that comes with the official Up at The O2 photo of Miss C and I doing the O2 climb in London. Well, technically, it was taken before we started climbing, but we won’t be picky about the details. It was an achievement, and it was bloody hot, and I’m so glad I did it.

This is my blog series in which I talk about the things I?m so glad that I?ve done despite my chronic pain.

Pin this??

Planning ahead

I knew my pain wouldn’t cause me too much bother whilst doing the actual O2 climb. It was all done standing up, whilst walking over what felt like a very bouncy trampoline. I knew I’d be in pain traveling to and from London and sitting around waiting for our climb to start. But what I didn’t think about what the safety harness we had to wear and the potential for this to aggravate my pain even though I didn’t sit down whilst wearing it. It has to be tight to keep you safe. So I grinned and bared that part and once I got going the adrenaline, endorphins, and sense of achievement took over.

Learn more about my chronic pain by reading these posts:

I have a sitting disability. Oh and a few other chronic pains

My chronic pain journey before surgery

My chronic pain journey after surgery

The o2 climb was harder than I thought

When you see the O2 from a distance, it doesn’t look very steep at all. It has a very gentle incline to it so it didn’t really phase me in any way at all. When you get close to it though, you can see the walkway, and the initial section looks pretty steep – we learnt in the safety briefing that it’s a 30 degree angle.

The O2 from a distance – it’s not steep at all, is it?!

The first section of the climb – a 30 degree angle!

The nearly 30 degree London heat also made it more challenging but thankfully a breeze kept things cooler. And whilst doing that initial section of the climb, you had to get used to:

• Using the safety equipment.
• Walking in such clunky safety footwear.
• The height above ground level.

I must admit, all of this took my breath away a few times, but like when I hired a canal boat the other week, my confidence soon started to grow once I got settled in to a rhythm and pushed myself to keep going.

Liam, our O2 climb group leader, was brilliant, and he encouraged us to take our time. The nearer we got to the platform at the top, the easier it got. You soon got used to using the safety harness and the clip that keeps you attached to the rope, and our group was quite spread out that it allowed us to have short breaks whenever we needed.

Celebrating at the summit

Our trip to London was part of Miss C’s delayed birthday celebrations. So as a surprise, I upgraded our ticket to have a glass of champagne at the top. Surprisingly, this is the only drink they offer; despite the heat we had on the day, there’s no water available. When we reached the top, we raised a glass ‘to us and our achievement’ and enjoyed some amazing views over London. We also took quite a few selfies.

Our champagne at the summit

Just one of many selfies!

Me in all the gear and with my champagne – looking quite proud!

Up at The O2 banner at the top

What an achievement – so I told the world (my followers) on my Instagram page

Have you read my recent blog posts?

I’m so glad I went for afternoon tea at Patisserie Valerie

Everyone with chronic pain must read this book

10 ways to use distraction as a pain relief

What I’m grateful for this week

I have a Pain Recovery Coach as my first ever Guest Blogger!

Here are a few other photos from our amazing weekend in London

We had a brilliant weekend in London. We didn’t plan to do too much else while we were there as we didn’t want to be charging around, especially in the heat. We spent quite bit of time taking in the amazing views of London from our hotel – we were on the 30th floor! And, as usual, we visited the local Jamie’s Italian – I’m a huge Jamie fan. We also had an amazing dinner at our hotel on the Sunday night.

The trip home was longer than planned due to the delays on the trains. And I had the worst seat ever on the train – see bottom photo!

Here’s me doing some ‘blogging with a view’

Dinner with a view

This was course number 5!

Our cocktails at Jamie’s Italian, Canary Wharf

The worst seat on the train home!

If you like my blog and posts, subscribe below and get notified every time I publish a new blog post.

[email-subscribers namefield=”YES” desc=”” group=”Public”]