Stunning South Wales Sea Cliffs

Tuesday & Wednesday 7/8th June.

With the weather exceptional and a few days to squeeze in some climbing I made my way to South Wales to meet up with South Welsh native Dan Bryan and on to climb on the sea cliffs of Pembrokshire and the Gower.

Tuesday - and after traveling down to Bosherton in Pembrokshire Monday evening we were up early to get some breakfast and get set up for a good day on the sea cliffs near the village, then there was a change of plan....!

 The area is used by the Ministry Of Defense as a live firing range and today they had put the red flags up, signalling they would be firing and we would be climbing else where.

 With Dan having local knowledge, and more importantly a guide book, we made our way to St David's, the smallest city in Britain, and on to climb at Craig Caerfai. The rock here is of sandstone slab and I found it good to climb on following small cracks and using the friction of the rock, though I found good gear placement spots were a little sparse on a couple of routes.

 I was pleased to clean 'Unknown Sentry' which was my first HVS lead climb before Dan made easy work of 'Armorican' which had been on his tick list.

Routes we climbed were Mildred Mindwarp(HS 4b*) Nameless(VS 4c*) Unknown Sentry(HVS 5a*), The Bryn(VS 4c*), Caerfai Crack(HS 4b*) White Corner(D*) and Armorican(VS 4c***).

  For the afternoon we made our way to Initiation Slabs for a couple of routes then demanded an abseil in to the start of the route and building a hanging belay. 

To be totally honest I wouldn't have comprehended being able to do a route like Aries even earlier this year! A poorly protected traverse from a hanging belay over a tidal rocky bay then climb a poorly protected arête, I would just about have looked at the photo! Dan telling me it had a sign of a 'fluttering heart' next to the title in the log book whilst I was mid traverse didn't help my shaky leg but I had enjoyed it when I got to the top (possibly!).

The routes we did were Aries(VS 4c**)and Capricorn(HS 4b*)

Wednesday and after spending the night in Bosherton, with the sounds of machine gun fire and the blazing sight of military flares in the sky, we drove to the Gower Peninsula and the beautiful Rhosilli where we met up with Andrew to climb on Kings Wall.

 The towering cliffs here are of limestone with 'wobbly' cracks, lose blocks and polished holds to think about whilst climbing. We started doing a couple of climbs from the terrace above the sea, with Andrew leading 'ISIS' which was on his tick list. Whilst we completed these climbs the tide was on its way out and we could then walk over the beach to the lower climbs..

 For some unknown reason I wasn't feeling it today, and it was annoying me that I wasn't feeling it! The weather was excellent, the setting was outstanding, I had been looking forward to the climbing and had led my highest grade to date just the day before but I felt as though I couldn't lift myself. It could possibly have been delayed shock from parting with £10 for a breakfast and a coffee earlier with me being a devout Yorkshireman!

 I seconded both Dan and Andrew before leading Frigg (VS4b) on King Wall and whilst I enjoyed the climbing and felt I was climbing comfortably within myself my mind wasn't there which resulted in me practically soloing the route and poor rope work when I made the occasional gear placement. I wasn't using my own rack which could have played a part but in the end I suppose I can put it down to experience and learn from it in the future.

Climbs we did were Gethsemane(S 4a**), Isis(HVS 5a***), Ragnorak(HS 4a**), Frigg(VS 4b*).

Summary - overall an excellent couple of days climbing on tidal sea cliffs. Like anything that holds a risk element, or is out of the normal comfort zone, the more you expose yourself to what's involved the less daunting it gets as you become accustomed to the risks and rationalise them. That's what I think and I'm hoping it's going to work!

Pembrokeshire and The Gower are stunningly beautiful areas and to be able to enjoy climbing there is straight from the top drawer of my 'best days out' and I will be returning before too long!

The Yorkshire 2 Peaks.... & Pub!

Wednesday 1st June and myself, Clare, Sam and Owen decided to do part of the Yorkshire 3 Peaks route.

 Nothing better than a stroll around the route of the Yorkshire Three Peaks to make us Yorkshire folk feel reet proud so I'm always up for a day out in the Yorkshire Dales (Clare is nearly Yorkshire due to her having completed the route twice before, starting to lose the ability of saying 'the' in a sentence and being notoriously shy when it's her round!).

Sam, Owen and Clare had all completed the route in the past but were up for another trip around the 24 mile route.

 Leaving the 'Old Hill Inn' at 08:30am we made good progress towards Ingleborough and up the dreaded 'Devils Staircase' before being enveloped in low cloud on the summit plateau.

 With gales force winds, low cloud and the constant threat of a shower it was a typical British summer day in the hills as we headed towards Horton In Ribblesdale and on to Pen y Ghent (aptly meaning 'Hill of the Wind'.

 Stopping at Horton for a short break I set the challenge of making to the summit of Pen y Ghent with in 1.5hrs, as it went we made it in 1hr 5mins without a murmer about the steepness of the seemingly never ending ascent, what a team! 😳

 With a bit of a breeze blowing through we didn't hesitate for long on the summit and made our way down and along the route towards Ribblehead.

 It's some 8miles approximately between Pen y Ghent and Whernside and this part can really sap the moral and see the start of aches and pains in the joints.

 As we neared Ribblehead an injury appeared in our merry group and the best solution was thought to stop at the 'Station Inn' and assess the situation.

As it turned out the ankle I had gone over on at the start of the day decided that the stop was the right time give me a painful reminder that me decision to wear 'approach shoes' rather than walking boots may have been a poor one. After the compulsory 'Station Inn' pork pie and with an eye on the dark clouds over Whernside it was decided the day was to be a training day and we had done enough!

 We WILL be returning to complete the further route later in the year.

Summary - with approximately 18miles and 2 peaks completed it was a shame not to finish the route on the day but with 20 completions of the route between us and safe in the knowledge we will be back to do it again it didn't take too much debate, the pub may have helped a bit.

A great outing in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales with good friends can be nothing but good! 

Well That Escalated Quickly!

Tuesday 17th & Wednesday 18th May and I joined up with Andrew, Dan and Josh for my first trad climbing of the year.

It soon escalated from modest plans!

Tuesday and with good weather forcast we met up in North Staffordshire with a view to climbing at 'Hen Cloud' and 'The Roaches'.

With my personal plans of just getting 'rock mileage' in over the next few months before working on increasing my grade I was happy enough to look at Severe and Hard Severe climbs, just get to the feeling of grit climbing back.

With lads together, the weather fine and the climbing good it soon escalated and I soon found myself clambering and hauling myself up 'Bachelor's Climb' (VS4c***). I like climbing on grit, I like the friction you can actually get off what look poor holds but I wasn't very keen on this to be honest. Early season nerves or whatever it may of been I don't mind saying that I struggled in a couple of places on this route and was delighted when I dragged myself over the top move and set up the belay!

Along with Bachelors Climb we also climbed Rainbow Crack, Great Chimney, Left Twin Crack and Right Twin Crack.

We then made our way over to 'Roaches Lower Tier' to catch up with an old friend 'Valkyrie'. Myself and Dan had had a look at climbing this famous route last year but in a moment of clarity had decided to abseil off after the first pitch, in hindsight it was probably one of the better decisions I've made in life.

 The route has a short down climb with very little in the way of holds before an extremely balancy traverse which is poorly protected, I would have struggled last year and without Andrews input.

 After watching Dan lead it and with Andrews beta of the route I was buzzing to successfully lead it this time with the help of Josh on a tricky belay. If you were to come off on the traverse it be one massive swing into fresh air, hopefully!

Wednesday and with the weather forecast to be wet in most places we made our way to Anglesey in North Wales.

 Full of confidence after completing what I personally saw as top end of my ability grades myself and Dan teamed up to lead what would be our first sea cliff lead at Gogarth.

 I have climbed on sea cliffs before but only as a second so this would be another step towards improvement.

 Just getting to the start of a sea cliff route can be a challenge and the descent down to the foot of Gogarth Main Cliff with the sea below and cliffs above is both awe inspiring and intimidating.

 We decided to link 'Imitator' and 'Bezel' routes together which would give us 5 pitches at VS5a, leading alternate pitches we would be leading above our previous top grades.

A bit of a mixed bag for myself. Some of the climbing I really enjoyed and some of not so much, hand jamming at the top of a 5 pitch route over the sea gave me severe 'Elvis leg' at one point and I had a brief moment to myself when I'd topped out and made the belay!

Summary - overall a top drawer climbing trip in my opinion. Completed Valkyrie, which I wanted, and thought I climbed harder than I had previously on Batchelor's Climb. A first sea cliff lead and higher than any previous grade is all good in my book.

In Gods Country

 Monday 16th of May I made a long overdue return to Wharfedale in the Yorkshire Dales.

 I have recently started taking friends and work mates out on hill/mountain routes as and when I have been available.

 Firstly it gives me an excuse to get out and do what I love but it also give people who I have known whilst I have been going through various Mountain Training schemes a chance to spend some time doing something they may not have otherwise tried to.

 Ryann had been 'peckering' me to take him out for years and Isabel had mentioned a couple of times that she would like to 'get outdoors', when the opportunity arose they jumped at it.

 I chose a route in Wharfedale in the magnificent Yorkshire Dales, we would leave Buckden village and head up to Buckden Pike before descending to Starbotton and making our way back to Buckden alongside the River Wharfe. The route would be manageable for my 'newbie' walkers whilst giving excellent views over the Dales due to the good weather.

 I also personally wanted to be in the Dales as it was here my love of the outdoors and the hills was first born. As I have progressed through training schemes and qualifications time has been spent away in other areas around the UK and foreign mountain ranges but, as I commented to Isabel and Ryann during the day, I was as happy to be walking in the Yorkshire Dales as I was to be walking in Patagonia - it's a 'Gods Own Country' thing!

They both seemed to be enjoying the day....

 Enjoying fine weather we made our way to Buckden Pike before climbing the 'broken stile' and passing the Polish War memorial to an aircrew that crashed on the hill in 1943, before heading to Starbotton.

 Isabel and Ryann were great company and having known them both for quite a few years the 'banter' was excellent.

 The route took us a little over 5hrs but seemed to go in a flash due in no small part to the excellent scenery, weather and the company!

Hope to see both Isabel and Ryann out on the hill again soon, thanks for making s great day X