Thrillseeker Marie Dorbin has taken up rock climbing… at the age of 93.
The great-gran scaled a 26ft-high indoor rock wall for the first time on her birthday.
She was the first nonagenarian to don a harness at the Craggy Island Indoor Climbing Gym – and she loved every second.
Marie, who is 4ft 9in, said: “It just felt so natural. I was cross I hadn’t done this before.
“I just kept thinking, ‘I’m going to wake up soon, this is too much fun to be real!’
“It was something inside of me just waiting to come out. I’m just glad I’ve finally found out before I was too old.”
Daughter Patricia, 71, said: “When Mum got down, there was this crowd standing around, unable to fully take in what they were seeing.
“Mum was beaming and claimed she hadn’t heard the call to come down earlier because of her hearing aid – then did three more climbs!”
Beth McFarlane, an instructor at the rock climbing centre in Guildford, said: “I wasn’t expecting Marie’s strength and speed.
She raced up the wall like someone half her age. It was staggering!”
Former secretary Marie, from Old Coulsdon, Surrey, did a follow-up climb at Christmas and has booked to go climbing again for her 94th birthday.
The ardent royalist is a bit of a daredevil, however. For her 90th birthday, Marie enjoyed a games day which was attended by her five children, 11 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
Patricia said: “Mum was firing guns, did archery, slack-lining, a coconut shy… she was the first in the Jacuzzi and we had a marquee representing Buckingham Palace, with a full-size Queen cutout.
“Later, Mum steered a barge up and down the Thames while singing Land of Hope and Glory.
“Mum’s always done things her way. In World War Two, she refused to go into bunkers, instead sitting under the kitchen table
with her dog.
“She’s always refused to act her age. We thought she’d grow out of it, but we’re glad she’s still behaving badly.”
