Climbing the O2

23rd February. Today is Rotary Day, and the day I climb to the top of the O2 Arena to raise money  for the Rotary campaign End Polio Now. I was expecting a tough ordeal, especially as this morning’s weather forecast indicated snow on high ground.  The DG was to accompany me, so inevitably route planning was my first challenge. Fortunately the nearest tube station to the O2, North Greenwich, is wheelchair accessible, as is Waterloo, so the journey was actually very simple. We would not be travelling on London buses, so I did not need to top up my Oyster card, as my off peak travel card covered all travel that day.

                                                                 O2 Arena

We started off, as usual, by taking Daisy round to Linda’s, who will be looking after her until tomorrow morning. As a sweetener I also baked a Breton cake for Linda. I discovered a recipe for this cake recently, and it is without doubt the easiest cake in the world to make, and quite delicious. As my family name originated in Brittany, I like to think that in making this cake I am going back to my roots. Anyway, I hope Linda likes it.

                                                                 Breton Cake

Our train from Shepperton was a mere 5 minutes late and I was pleased that it went the direct route to Waterloo. The last time I travelled to London, the train took a very circuitous route and took an extra half an hour. I spoke to my nephew Jason, who is a driver for South West trains about this, and he said there were probably engineering works on the line that day which caused the train to be re-routed.  Anyway, we got to Waterloo in good time, and the train guard had phoned ahead for a ramp to be made available to unload the DG. The chap who came over with the ramp proved to be quite a character. He was an Irishman called Rod, and said that he had worked on the railways for 59 years, and was Waterloo’s oldest employee. He regaled us with some very entertaining stories of passengers he had met over the years. Whilst we generally find railway employees very helpful, this was the first time in many years that one of them had time to stop for a chat. As we went on our way, he asked when we would be travelling home. I said it would be about 5 p.m. ‘Oh’ he said, ‘By then, I will be getting wet indoors.’ I’m afraid I don’t know what he meant but didn’t like to say so. If anyone can enlighten me, please let me know.

                                                          Rod with ramp

From the mainline concourse, we took two lifts down to the Jubilee line, and before long we were aboard the train to Greenwich North. This section of the Jubilee line was built relatively recently, and every station between Waterloo and Stratford is fully wheelchair accessible. I was intrigued by an advert in the carriage from Transport for London, inviting passengers to write a poem about travelling on the Underground, which I might just have a go at. I just need to find a word that rhymes with ‘Consort’.

                                           O2 Arena seen from bus depot outside North Greenwich station

 From Greenwich North it is a two minute walk to the O2 Arena. At least it is if you leave by the correct door. We didn’t. We wasted a few minutes wandering around a bus depot, where we could see the O2 clearly, looming over everything else, but it wasn’t clear how we got to it. Eventually we followed a path around the side of the O2, and there we came across the station exit we should have used, which was a gentle stroll away from the main entrance to the Arena. It really is an impressive building when you see it close up. When it was built in 1999 and christened the Millennium Dome, it was widely derided as a white elephant and few commentators saw much of a future for it. But then a major sponsor, in the form of O2 came along, and its’ fortunes were transformed. It is now one of the leading music venues in the world, where you can see all the top bands perform, including Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones in recent years. The Brit Awards are being held there this week, and I noticed that Lionel Ritchie is appearing next month.

                                                                                I arrive at the O2

Just outside the entrance we came across a group of Rotarians which included Amanda Watkins, General Secretary of RIBI, Eve Conway, who will be RIBI President in 2016/17, Mukesh Malhotra, who was organising the event, John Fletcher and Lorna Thomas among others.  In all, 180 Rotarians were due to climb the O2 today for Rotary’s Polio campaign. They were going up, 30 at a time, at intervals from 12 noon until 5 p.m. My allotted time was 2 p.m. so I had time to see the first group set off. In fact, before setting off they went into a building adjacent to the O2, called ‘Base camp’ where they had some safety instructions and got kitted up for their ascent of the South face of the Arena.

At this juncture we went for some lunch, and didn’t find much choice in the area outside the Arena. We opted for Café Rouge, where we ordered from the Menu Rapide.  It was a pleasant enough meal, but ‘rapide’ it wasn’t. We were in there for just over an hour. The most memorable thing about the meal was a man sitting alone on an adjacent table, who nursed a coffee for the entire hour we were there, whilst making various loud mobile phone calls in French. 

                         The DG with, among others, Amanda Watkins, John Fletcher and Mukesh Malhotra

With an hour to spare we decided to wander around the inside of the O2 Arena , where we made a surprising discovery. It was full of food outlets! If only we had looked in here before deciding to have lunch, we could have chosen from every Restaurant imaginable, including two Brazilian ones. Before we went outside again, we stopped at Starbucks for a takeaway Hot Chocolate to warm us up before the climb. Something has changed recently regarding hot drinks in London – they don’t seem to be hot any more. This isn’t the first time we have stopped for coffees or hot chocolates and found them to be lukewarm at best, in some cases cool. My hot chocolate was pleasant enough, but I downed it in one go, and hardly felt any warmer as a result. Maybe it’s a ploy on behalf of the café chains to ensure customers don’t hang around for long, cluttering up their valuable tables. Whatever the reason behind it is, I don’t approve.

                                          Not-so-hot chocolates

 Eventually it was time to return to Base Camp, where my name was ticked off the list and in I went. As I sat with my fellow climbers, exchanging views on what lay ahead of us, our guides Liam and Sam introduced themselves to us, and asked if we had all remembered our waiver forms. My heart sank, as I realised I had forgotten to bring mine. Never mind, I thought, I expect I will be in good company with all the others who forgot to bring their form. Sadly that wasn’t the case. I turned out to be the only one to have forgotten it. To my relief I wasn’t escorted from the premises, but given another to complete, whilst a hilarious ‘safety’ film was shown to us. After that Liam took us through the equipment we would be taking with us, and how to use it. Firstly we were all told to empty our pockets, as it wouldn’t do to have items being dropped and sliding down the roof on to people below. 

The only things we could bring with us were one camera or mobile phone. We were given a waterproof jacket to wear over our existing clothing. The jacket had one small pocket for a camera.

                                                            The DG with fellow DG Jenny Muir

Over this jacket we wore a harness. Despite being carefully told how to put it on, I struggled to get into it correctly, much to the amusement of some of my fellow adventurers. Attached to the harness was a rather heavy gadget which dangled down from the waist, and would be used to connect the climber to the guide ropes on the walkway. Yes, there is a walkway, so my mountaineering equipment would not be required. The next thing was to put on some sturdy shoes to climb in. Although I felt my trainers would be adequate for the job, there was no negotiation, as everybody has to wear the same shoes. Apparently the organisers don’t want to risk mud and dirt from our own shoes being deposited on the roof. The shoes we were given were very good, Ecco Expedition, I think they were called. I was tempted to leave my own shoes behind and go home in these.

                                                         Fully kitted out

Finally, after our kit had been checked one last time by our guides, we set off. The beginning of the climb was a little disappointing, we just went up a staircase, and I resisted the temptation to clip myself to the banister as I went upstairs. We climbed the first 10 metres or so in this way before coming out into the open again on a platform, from where we saw the walkway stretching up over the building and out of sight. The guides took a lot of trouble ensuring we knew how to clip ourselves on to the guide rope, and how to move our dangling clip-on gadgets (I’m sure there is a proper name for these things but I don’t know it) through the junctions with upright posts. The system was very clever. As you got to one of the posts holding up the guide rope, you didn’t have to unclip yourself and then clip on again on the other side. You could just continue through the junction, provided you lined everything up correctly.

                                                       Final kit inspection from guide Liam

When you see it close up, you realise that the roof of O2 Arena is made of canvas, albeit very strong canvas. It is therefore more of a tent than a building. Our walkway was a couple of feet above the surface of the roof, but of a similar material, so it felt soft under foot and made the ascent somewhat more difficult than it would have been on a hard surface. The initial slope as we set off was, we were told, 30 degrees. This, said Liam, was equivalent to a red run on a ski slope. Not being a skier, this useful bit of information was lost on me. Other bits of information, however, were very interesting. Presumably because it was originally constructed to celebrate the new millennium, its dimensions are time-related. Its circumference is 365 metres (matching the days in a standard year. There are 12 yellow support struts holding it up (one for each month of the year), and its height is 52 metres (one for every week).

                                                         Going over the top - team 2.00

I was the sixth to set off in my group, and initially I was hanging on to the guide rope for dear life, until I learnt to trust my equipment to keep me safe, and I started to enjoy myself. There quickly developed a gap between the first three climbers and the rest of us because the lady in fourth place lost her nerve after the first few feet, and asked if she could go back down. The guides, to their credit, would not allow this and cajoled, encouraged and persuaded her every step of the way (there were also words of encouragement from the rest of us) until she made it to the top, for which she was most grateful.  As our journey was consequently slow, I had plenty of time to admire the view as it unfolded. I  saw the Excel across the river, the cable car crossing just downstream from us, and the Olympic stadium to the North of us. Things got a bit hairy about half way up, when we obviously emerged from shelter provided by surrounding buildings, into a howling gale. The guides put it well when they said ‘if it was too easy there would be no sense of achievement.’

                                                    Looking East towards the cable cars and the Thames barrier

It was a battle from that moment until we arrived at the top of the dome, where there is a circular viewing platform. Here we were able to unclip ourselves and wander around admiring the view. Being the most senior Rotarian present (not the oldest, I should add) I was given  a letter from R I General Secretary John Hewko to read out when we got to the summit.  I duly did this, shouting to make myself heard above the noise of the wind. In the letter, John Hewko  thanked all of us for our hard work and dedication, on this the 110^th anniversary of the Rotary’s founding, in the fight against Polio, and in providing clean water to those who badly need it.

                                                        Looking North towards the Olympic Park

The sun came out when we reached the summit,  and gave us superb views across North and East London. The Thames barrier could clearly be seen downstream, and looking between buildings I could even make out the arch of Wembley stadium, which Liam says is 22.5 miles distant. On the other hand, we could not see the City or the West End from our vantage point, because our view was obscured by the buildings of Canary Wharf immediately to our West. Looking up at the Barclays Bank Head Office building I was reminded of the many meetings I attended there during my career, when I looked out across the Millennium Dome towards the Thames Barrier and the London City airport. Those days seem a lifetime ago now.

                                                           On top of the Dome

The descent seemed steeper than the way up, and I struggled at times to keep on my feet. I tried to keep some distance between me and the chap in front so I didn’t take him out when I slipped.  However all was well and I didn’t slip and everyone got down exhilarated and in one piece. It had been a great experience, and I managed to raise a few hundred pounds in sponsorship towards Polio eradication. All that remained was to buy a T-shirt in the inevitable shop and head off home, reluctantly without my ECCO Expedition shoes.

                                        Team 2.00 descend the O2

As a last thought, it is not too late to sponsor me for this climb, even though it has now been completed. Just click on this link to make an online donation:                       https://www.justgiving.com/Mike-Gicquel/