A Taste of the North

Friday night and all day Saturday a gale (up to Force 9) has roared out out of the north - battering everything in its way. Trees toppled, a few roofs gone AWOL and this morning our windows were encrusted with salt blown up from the sea. I bet not many ferries have been running round these parts!
The contrast to the last month was extreme; last night the temperature fell to 6C (and 9C indoors, these places are not designed to stay warm) - I think in the middle of the day it may actually have been colder here than in the UK.
I ended up having to work in bed, wrapped in a sleeping-bag whilst nursing a hot water bottle - so not all bad then! Work on Peak Limestone continues well despite the adversity.

December!

The news stories from the UK of knee-deep snow, traffic jams and sub-zero temperatures keep filtering through - it sounds really grim! Yesterday we were due a bit of downtime at the superb little harbour of Vathy and today - 8th of December we visited Arhi again. It has become my favourite crag on the Island; it was 22C and there was one other team on the whole cliff - that is about as good as it gets. I led the superb Komak (36m - 16 clips -6a+) amongst others - brilliant.
The forecast for the weekend here looks pretty unsettled but as it hasn't rained for a month now it would be churlish to complain - it is December after all!

Goat Rescue Mission

December has started pretty much the same as November ended, mild and windy, but totally pleasant, and very quite. Our neighbours at Babis Bar are a couple of Canadians and Nancy had heard about two goats 'stuck' in Sikati Cave and wanted to rescue them. We had never been there, so thought it would make a good objective for a day out.
We caught them easy enough with bread for bait (a mother and kid) and then manhandled them up to the base of the descent route - they weren't too keen!
We had some idea about hauling them out, but Nancy's one (the big one!) sat down and refused to move so we wrapped it in a rope-sheet and squeezed it into a rucksack then carried it up the fixed rope - there was lot of goat hanging out the top. The kid was easier to handle a fitted the rucksack a treat - see photo. They seemed unphased by their journey, nibbled a few bushes and wandered of. The question remains - how the Hell did they get in there in the 1st place!

The Snow has Arrived Early!

In the UK that is - and it is only November. Eight weeks in Kaly and we have had one and a half days of rain - not too shoddy - and lowest temerature so far has been 12c - I think we will stop a while longer.
I went to renew the car hire today (good exchange rate at the mo) - and Mike asked me if I wanted to actually buy a car - he a good deal on a Matiz. Trouble is we need to be in the Blanca in February, 'suppose we could buy it drive it round there!
Big fat local oranges €3 for four kilos from a harbour front seller - superb!

"It's all gone Quiet Over Here, Over Here"

The 'season' is about just about done, our team of five has departed for damp and distant shores along with most other folks. We have set our clocks two hours ahead of Greek time to make the most of sunny evening on the terrace (yeah, weird I know!) and the glorious sunsets continue to dazzle.
I have started working in earnest on Peak Limestone which is a bit weird, day-time climbing superb 35m pitches on perfect Kalymnian limestone and evenings scrutinising pictures of Horseshoe Quarry and Water-cum-Jolly.
A hot couple of hours on Arhi, (four routes, 12 stars) and an early evening dinner courtesy of Babis and Diana - a great way to spend a Friday!

Wham, bam, thank you Maam!

Colin, Dave and Mark have been here three weeks today (five in a Panda - no probs!), Graham and Helen a fortnight - and it has been pretty much perfect; warm, sunny and dry, with the number of climbers continuing to dwindle. Tomorrow they all set off for Blighty and we settle into our winter routine. We have done some fantastic routes, the big pitches on Arhi being especially notable. Colin and Mark have done (well) in excess of a hundred routes again and Graham has been as impressed as we were 1st time - "I'll be back" was all he had to say on the matter.
We had the compulsory thunderstorm a couple of days ago - with associated power-cuts and floods - it was a real cracker, flashing and rumbling away for most of the night. We were climbing on Kastelli when it arrived, I made it back to the car with seconds to spare - Mark and Colin didn't quite! The drive back through Massouri was spectacular as the water gushed off the hillsides, levels rose by the second and the wipers couldn't cope with the volume of rain - Kalymnos doesn't do anything by halves!

Remember, Remember

November has long been my least favourite month, invariably grey, cold and miserable, with precious little to look forward as the winter grinds on. This is our 3rd November on Kalymnos, and I am warming to it, as usual the crowds have gone, it has cooled down nicely and the weather has been brilliant. Monday 1st Nov we took the boat round to Irox and it crossed my mind we could easily have been stuck in traffic, in the drizzle back home on the way to start the long and dreary autumn term. A couple of days ago we went snorkelling (loads of fish) round at Emporios and since then we have done some great routes - unbeatable.
Graham and Helen Parkes arrived a few days ago, and they soon slipped into Island Life - it doesn't take long!