Spurned!

Rain was forecast to the west and clear blue skies to the east which gave a great excuse for abandoning the photography, scanning and guidebook writing and having a ride out to a place I had often heard about but never visited; Spurn Point.
It was further than I expected from Sheffield (98 miles) but at least the roads were quite - and the forecast was spot on. It turned out to be quite a weird spot - stuck out in the middle of nowhere, and home to the UK's only permanently staffed lifeboat station. A steady stream of ships chugged into the Humber as we circumnavigated the whole headland at beach level, photographed the groynes and lighthouses, then adjourned for a cream-tea to fortify us for the journey home!

Lancashire Hotchpotch

What with the state of the weather in recent weeks I have been rather slipping behind schedule with the crag shots for Western Grit. A better forecast seduced us over to the 'west' for three days, we stopped B & B in the heart of the area - Rossendale. I also wanted to have a quick look at a few of the crags we left out of Western Grit ver 1 - so in three hot and sweaty days I visited and photographed Helsby, Pex Hill, Frodsham, Witches' Quarry, Hoghton, Denham, Anglezarke, Brownstones, Wiltons 2 and 3 (I was in 1 last weekend) Egerton, Troy, Cadshaw, Shaw and Den Lane. That should put me back on target - all I have to do now is sort the 250 RAW files, choose which crags are going in and write them up!

Evening Snapping

I zipped over to Windgather early evening to meet Sarah who had come straight from work for a photo-shoot for the new Western Grit. It was hardly ideal - pretty grey, with a damp mist in the air and the place was amazingly busy, especially considering it was a Monday evening. We did a bit of soloing and got a few pics then doubled back to Castle Naze, which proved to be deserted.
Keep Arete (VS 4b) was dispatched in good style and I got some half decent pictures despite the poor light. I also introduced Sarah to the idea of abandoning her halfway up the crag then wandering off with the camera - she cope well!
The difference in our eras/back-grounds was interesting - I got told off for cleaning my shoes on the rock, coiling the rope the 'wrong' way and offering unwanted advice (beta) - I did my best to get up to speed on the modern approach!

The Shining

Work on Western Grit continues at a steady pace, though the thought of making the dark cliffs of Kinder and Bleaklow look as attractive as Lofoten's granite peaks is a bit of a daunting one. A 4:30 start from Sheffield caught Wimberry bathed in morning sunshine about a month ago, but Kinder North and especially Shining Clough have been preying on my mind!
Last night the forecast was to clear up before dark despite it having been a cloudy day to I took the weather lady at her word and tootled round to Longdendale at seven in the evening. The walk up seemed shorter than I remembered it, I even found a decent path all the way to the cliff this time. Right on cue the sun pierced the banks of cloud out west and illuminated the main face and that was it; job done. So I guess its Kinder next!