Keeping a Weather Eye Open

Colin arrived late Thursday and the weather has been pretty mixed, though we have managed to climb three days out of the four, and by keeping one eye on the sky we have managed to stay dry. The cliffs are varied but all share superb rock, fantastic settings and a high level of fixed gear. The forecast is superb so in a couple of days we are heading over towards Nissedal. The distant view from yesterday’s crag revealed plenty of snow up in them thar hills - might be interesting!

The weather has perked up it was 25C today (Friday 3 June) which was a bit of a shock. More great cliffs and brilliant routes!

Its a Breeze

Right that's it: the top-box is attached, car loaded to the gunwales with camping gear, climbing gear, fishing gear, tinned food, a couple of crates of booze plus all the kind of 'stuff' that a long trip to somewhere expensive requires. We are not sure where Colin is going to fit when he arrives. Peak Limestone is handed over, the past month has pretty much tidied it up.
Oddly for late May gales are forecast tomorrow (Harwich to Esbjerg) and Tuesday (Hirtshalls to Larvik) - oh bugger!

Home and Away

It is a month since we got back from Spain, which can only mean one thing; it is time to get back on the road. It has been very pleasant being back home, climbing on a regular basis with 'the team', a mixture of Grit, Lime and Indoors. Plus I have pressed on with Peak Limestone which is starting to look like a proper book - out for the summer hopefully.
We have manage to fit a top-box on the STi (the petrol heads at Halfords were amused) and we have Colin booked for three weeks (Newcastle to Oslo £10 return!!) so it is back to our 2nd (or is it 3rd) home - Norway. No return date fixed.

Back to My Routes

A few days on the grit were great and no harder than expected, which was pretty hard really! Condition were generally excellent and we managed to avoid the rather battering and chilly east wind by picking cliffs that faced away from it. Bamford was a brilliant as ever and quite busy too, there was a continuous stream of folks up the classics, and I was pleased to see that at least on of my routes (Reach VS 4c) was proving popular.
There were a couple of German climbers there - who were grabbing a few last route before getting the Hull to Rotterdam boat home that evening. It turned out we 'rescued' them in Lofoten a few years ago when their abseil rope got jammed. Small world!
Burbage South was another great day, the crag dry but just a bit crusty and skiddy in places. Graham Dragged me up Millwheel Wall (E1 5b) a route that used to be a regular solo of mine - that felt really tough. It brought to mind the 1st time I did it back in about 1975, Steve Warwick belayed be whilst I top-roped it a couple of times, then I soloed it. I looked back down the route from the final jugs to see him hot on my heels - "you made it look so easy" was his reason for the audacious solo!
By early evening I was in the clutches of the grimmest cold I have had for years, it has taken me a week to get over it - maybe that's why the routes felt so hard!

Peaking Too Soon

The journey home was a breeze; I am no fan of RyanAir, but they whisked us back to East Midlands for £35 each and bang on time, so we have no reason to complain.
We have been watching the UK weather for a while and were well aware of what a gorgeous spring the country has been having so it was a treat to get get out in the Peak to clean up a last few crag shots. The Manifold Valley was very quiet and resplendent in its spring green colours. I have new seen Thor's Cave looking so dry, and duly photoed it.
Later that day I was on the phone to Colin and he revealed that he has three weeks off some time soon - brilliant, so where shall we go this time?
Sunday was blue and windy, a jolly team assembled at Bamford and a bunch of classics were ticked in good order. Bank Holday Monday tomorrow; could be Burbage South.

Looks like I picked up a right snotty cold on the flight home - that's what you get for £35 - dirty bar-stewards!

Jobs a Good One

It has been a busy five and a half weeks, but the task is pretty much complete - apart from a trip up to Gandia. Well that and a few bit and bobs around the Calpe area. The weather has been great, a bit warm at times but fine, and generally the cliffs have been pretty quiet. The forecast for Easter is a bit unsettled, hopefully that means we will get a rest.
I have taken 23 gig of photos - and that excluding all the ones that have already been dumped, which totals just on 2000 images - good job I am organised!
We called in at the bookstore in Calpe today and picked up the new guide to Murcia. I looks great and includes quite an array of cliffs I have never heard of - great, one more place to add to the list!

Busy On the Blanca

I wasn't sure whether six weeks would be enough time to photograph all the cliffs on the Blanca, the last version took eight visits spread over a year and a half. In the event it has gone better than we could have hoped for, 10 days left and couple more trips needed to complete the job.
It is easy to get blasé about an area that we have been visiting for 25 years, but the fact is the climbing here is great and so is the climate; it remains a spot-on destination for a HotRock holiday - long may that continue.