Sharp Shooting

A long dry spell, the lack of leaves on the trees and some days with high milky clouds has given us the perfect opportunity to start getting stuck into sourcing crag-shots for the new Peak Limestone guide. I knew there was a reason we came back from Kalymnos early.
It has given us an excuse - if one was needed - for some lovely walks through Cheedale and Water-cum-Jolly, there were even a few climbers about making the most of the dry (but cold!) conditions. I have to admit that paddling across the river below Chee Tor was certainly enervating enough for me!
Another week of the current kind of conditions should have the job largely sorted. The fact that the spring is a month late has been a bit of a blessing - we just need to make the most of it before we head off to France.

Blue Wales

After a great team outing to Stanage on a glorious Sunday (weird how those routes just keep getting harder as the years roll) the farming forecast for the week was so good, especially for the west, we decided to head over to Wales for a few days, a chance to revisit old haunts. It was as good as hoped for; -6C at night, but crisp blue days and hardly a soul anywhere. The tops are plastered and spring is just arriving in the valleys - fantastic.
A day wandering around the icy wastes of Cwm Idwal contrasted neatly with a day clipping bolts in the slate quarries, lovely stuff, and the forecast remains cracking.

Bizzy Boy

Two weeks at home and it is busy, busy, busy - my To Do List is growing much faster than I can get through it; the French Guide, a Kalymnos article, half-a-dozen book reviews (the Norwegian one has got my fingers itching), an El Chorro update, a Lofoten update and a Peak Limestone guide. And that is before helping to get the new North Wales Classics ready to fly the nest. Back to France in a month (UKC/RF jolly) then there is the summer to sort.
Beats being bored though.