Day 15: Volcano boarding! (Leon)

One of the few things I knew I definitely wanted to do when I came to Nicaragua was volcano boarding.

Volcano boarding is exactly what it says on the tin - sliding down one of the country's 19 volcanoes on a wooden board in the hope you'll end up with all your limbs intact.

But what goes down must go up, and well, there was a lot of up! SO MUCH UP.

My trip was to Carro Negro (Black Hill), one of Central America's youngest and most active volcanoes - erupting roughly every 15 years since 1850. The last eruption was 1999 (that's some scary maths!).

Carro Negro stands at 2,388ft and to put it bluntly, is a bastard of a hill. My comfort zone is most definitely just where I am now, in a cafe, writing with a coffee, I love the outdoor stuff, but while the mind is willing, the body is, well, less cooperative.

On the bus to the volcano, my fellow boarders and I speculated on how they get the boards up the volcano, we found out when we were each handed one and told to carry it on our backs, slotted through our backpack straps.

If you imagine a miniature, chunkier, sweatier Angel of the North, that's what I looked like.

It started out so well, we scrambled over pretty big rocks at the bottom and slowly but surely started our ascent, but the further we went, the stronger the wind and the thinner the terrain. Did I mention it was 36 degrees?

We'd been going for about an hour, and had probably just another 10 minutes to the top when I decided Plan A would be to lie down and die.

Thankfully, lovely Jamie one of our guides persuaded me to go for Plan B, which was to not die, and for him to carry my board for the last little bit. I died inside at the suggestion, did I mention I was currently last in a group of 30?

However he tried to make me feel better by telling me he always ended up carrying a board for someone and usually earlier in the hike. I chose to believe him and gratefully handed over the board, with him agreeing to keep it a secret. Did I mention that by now everyone else was at the top and now watching my painfully slow and boardless ascent?

Finally, salvation, the top! I slumped down in the rock and poured (now boiling hot) water into my mouth as various well wishers came to check on me like an old grandma (thank you lovely Felix from Spain!).

I don't mind telling you my self esteem was not at it's highest. I was really annoyed with myself that I couldn't finish the climb with my board and I know it'll irk me for a while!

That being said, I'd done it, I was there at the top and more than ready to get boarding.

First we had to dress for the part; imagine a giant denim boiler suit with strings coming off at all angles and now imagine trying to put it on in a wind tunnel in constant terror it'll be snatched from you and you'll have to run back down the volcano to retrieve it.

Eventually, suit on, goggles on, gloves on, dignity gone, it was my turn.

I'm incredibly happy to share with you that despite being awful at climbing volcanoes, I'm pretty damn good at sliding down them!

The 30 seconds it took me to whizz down Carro Negro restored my spirits and my faith in myself as a human who can do things.

It was awesome! And I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who went 'Woooooooooooooooooo' the whole way down like parents do with their kids on a water slide.

So in conclusion, I'm pretty chuffed that I didn't go with Plan A and die on the side of Carro Negro (it would have been a lot of hassle for my family and they're busy landscaping the garden right now).

We all have our challenges, and this was definitely mine, but it's made me determined to keep pushing my boundaries so one day, things like this are no big deal.

Volcano boarding ended up being so much more than an adventure activity to tick off the list for me, and for that, I'll always remember it as an amazing experience.

Travel tips:

1 My trip was with the amazing Quetzaltrekkers, a fantastic company which donates all its surplus to fantastic local education projects for children and young people. It cost $30 and included transport, water, all equipment and lunch. The whole trip lasted from 9am to 3pm.