Climbing at Pleasley Vale, near Mansfield, with the mountaineering club today and I took no photos at all. Luckily Richard took a couple when I wasn't looking, one of me leading this HVD, having climbed round the corner through the tree, and the other of me bringing my second up.

Fi led a route when we got there this morning, but said she didn't feel like leading anything else as she still felt below par from drinking on friday. I knew just how she felt because it's happened to me quite often. You just can't go scaling rock without a rope above you if your head's not in the right place. Luckily, on my 34th day without alcohol my head was fine, so I took over the leading. Four routes, finishing with a Severe, it's done my confidence the world of good!

Pleasley is a small crag under mature trees, lovely on a hot day, but it seems to have gone downhill since we last climbed here. There was a lot of litter, including a disposable barbecue, shards of broken glass both at the bottom and on some of the ledges, and the routes were more overgrown than we remembered. We collected up and took away a lot of the rubbish, but it may be the last time we climb there :-(