Why the Forth Bridge Abseil?

I don’t really do New Years resolutions anymore but I did promise myself that in 2019 I would do more things that scare me. And well, nothing scares me more than the Forth Bridges. Or at the very least, heights.

I still vividly remember when I discovered my fear of heights. I was a young child, visiting the National Museum of Scotland for the first time. All was going well until we went up the stairs and I completely lost it. I screamed, I panicked, I clung to my Dads legs and crawled along the floor, terrified by how high up I was (this was only on the first floor too!) and I was convinced the whole floor was going to collapse beneath me.

This fear of heights never got better. In fact if anything, it’s steadily got worse. I won’t cross footbridges over roads, even if it means having to redirect my entire route. I avoid going to Ocean Terminal as I freak out at the thought of having to go upstairs, especially to the open path into the cinema. I can’t watch any of these videos you see of people at the top of buildings. I hate going into soft play frames with my kids as they can get really high. We need to carefully consider seating when it comes to concerts/theatre tickets as I can’t be sat upstairs. I hold my breath and cling to my seat whenever I cross the Forth Bridges...there’s just something extra scary about them.

I  even went as far as applying to This Morning to have The Speakmans help me with my fear but I was too chicken to even face facing my fear, when they called me to say they’d like me to take part.

So with my fear of heights ruling my life (to a degree - it’s something I’ve become an expert at avoiding) it seemed like the obvious thing to do this year that would scare me.

Why Alzheimer’s Scotland?

In memory of my Papa George. I will write a full update on my reasons but that’s proving harder to put into words than I expected.

“Boom-boom.”