Day 6 of the detox.  Thank goodness it is nearly over.  I had a shake first thing and a pear for breakfast.  We were heading out for the afternoon but had a simple vegetable soup before we went, made with parsnip, carrots and leeks.  Followed by some grapes.

4 months after the event, we held Harvey’s birthday party today.  We took 7 of his friends climbing at Harrison’s Rocks near Groombridge.  We were blessed with perfect weather for an outdoor event.

They climbed with Adam who works for Kent & Sussex Climbing and I highly recommend them.  We met Adam and the boys donned their helmets and listened to a safety talk.  Well, all the boys apart from mine of course!

First of all they did some bouldering.  Get me with the rock climbing lingo!

They all did so well and were soon scrambling up the rocks.

This was a great way to get them warmed up and ready for higher climbs.

Thirsty work all that walking and climbing.

So this is what they are going to climb!  Adam set up 2 ropes next to each other.

Ready for the first climb.  They worked in teams of 4.  The 3 in the cave hold the rope for the 4th person who does the climbing.  They all worked so well in little teams, taking it in turns to climb and holding the rope for each other for safety.

Go on Harvey, you can do it.  Climb over to the ledge,

wriggle along the ledge,

up a bit

he’s alive 🙂

on the top 🙂

The rope holders did a great job.

The second climb had them inching along a narrow and high ledge.  This involved a lot of communication between the climber and the rope holders because if they pulled the rope too tight the climber could have been pulled off the rock.  It was excellent watching them all working together.

On the way back they visited some caves.

8 happy boys heading home.

We all enjoyed our day out at Harrison’s rocks and I highly recommend it for a visit.  Whether you want to climb or not, it is a beautiful place to go for a walk.

Back at home we had sir fried vegetables and brown basmati rice for supper.

The vegetables were lightly fried with ginger and lemongrass in sesame oil.  I confess we did add some soy sauce.

Today’s detox was hard because the boys were eating lots of yummy goodies, including some chocolate caramel cup cakes Lara made in the morning.  There was so much to resist.  Despite often feeling hungry today, we stuck to the regime.  One more day and then this detox is over – can’t wait.