Back to Britain and on to Brittany

Our 10 days back in the UK have been very pleasant, there has been a taste of 'real summer' which has been great, allowing be to get some cragshots of a few out of the way places. On top of that I have been out climbing with the 'usual suspects' a couple of times and we have been up north for a few days to our parents, all of whom a chugging on in the same old fashion.

Left - the Victorian water-powered funicular at Saltburn by the Sea


With the whole of the summer to go at we have decided to try somewhere a bit different so we are Brittany bound next week to sample a part of the world we have never visited. We will pack the camping/fishing/climbing gear into the big black car and head south west - someone  once said Variety is the Spice of Life - I think they had a point.

Iceland to A Hot Land

Left: Haifoss - Iceland's 2nd tallest waterfall

Iceland was really rather good, nice to be somewhere different and break out of the usual circuit, it was getting busy as July and their high season arrived so we headed south briefly. Six days in the UK and a bit of work on Eastern Grit 3 then back to the Ariège - possibly our favourite spot of all.
Colin was in tow and the plan wass to get a bit of climbing done so we started on the superb granite of Auzat - a quick half-a-dozen fitted the bill perfectly. Despite our worries it wasn't too hot though 30C is forecast for the weekend - very different from Iceland's average of around 12C!

It gradually warmed up to a steamy 36C towards the end of the trip, but we had six great days on the rock - an equal mix of limestone and granite - and did a bunch of routes that I hadn't done before which is always a bonus. We also bumped into long-time friend Andy Nicholson who was on a three week motorbiking tour of France - rather him than me!

Right: Colin steaming up a stiff F6a at Ax les Thermes 

In the event we had to move out of Chez Arran as they were full, so the four of us booked into a Gite in Les Cabannes for a couple of nights which was perfect, tales were told, we climbed, did a bit of reminiscing and drank plenty of cold beer - a good result all round.