Walking on Water Monday, February 23, 2009

This weekend I walked on water for the first ( and probably last) time! I was visiting my friend Cheryl in the Lake District and went with her to 'have a ball' in Keswick. Cheryl is organising the 'Keswick Mountain Festival' this May, full of outdoor activities, speakers like Double Olympic champion James Cracknell, climber Leo Houlding, Doctor Mike Stroud, endurance athlete Jez Bragg, round the world runner Rosie Swale and round the world cyclist Mark Beaumont. This weekend she had to test out some giant inflatable balls which you climb into and which allow you to walk on water. I was only too happy to volunteer to be one of the testers! It was great fun, but amazingly tiring to try to make it go anywhere. And of course, it was really difficult to try to stand up, or to remain standing up. I found that kneeling down and trying to 'run' on it like that was a bit easier.

Al and Jase from 'Keswick Adventure Centre' will be manning the 'water wheels at the Keswick Mountain Festival and they blew up the balls using an electric pump. They then seal you in there with a huge 'dry suit' type zip. It's quite a strange feeling being 'locking in there' with only 5-10 minutes of breathable air but I soon forgot that as I tried to keep ( or get!) my balance in the ball. It's also a wierd feeling to fall into the water, but not actually to get wet! Not even my socks were wet inside the ball, which was pretty cool.

CHERYL INSIDE THE BALL, WITH AL AND JASE