Focus!

10 days in:

Echo
Guadalest
Crag X
Castellets
Toix West
Toix East
Olta
Abdet
Aventador
Bernia
Wild Side
Toix TV

I need a vacation - three months in Ariege should do!


Left: Sherri the Rope Girl at Aventador

Back to the Blanca

A very easy journey and we were back where it all began (Christmas 1987) - the Costa Blanca. It is so easy to forget what a glorious part of the world this is, a stunning climate, superb scenery and of course, great climbing.
The flight down only took 2 hrs 8 minutes (tail-wind) and the car cost the princely sum of £69 for two weeks hire. After a couple of weeks under the grey grizzly skies of the UK, the warm sunshine and blue skies were a tonic (it was worth the cost of the fare just to sit in the sun according to DG - who hasn't climbed outdoors since the end of September!).

Left: Chris on Neu ne Marc (5) Guadalest

We kicked of with a couple of gentle days climbing at Echo and Guadalest - the dozen routes were did were easy (up to 6a) but so much better than just another day down the climbing wall!

Update: Thursday saw a sprinkling of snow on the highest mountains and Friday night the puddles froze around the pad! Still sunny enough to climb on sheltered crags though.

Right: Almond blossom and snow

Winter-Land

Left: Dan on Suspect Intellect HVS

The UK in January - the 1st time we have been here at this time of year for about seven years - and it has been a bit of a shocker. The Monday after we arrived it was back on the Grit with the usual suspects, a lovely crisp day, but the climbing was hard work: no holds and no bolts - very strange!
A visit to Whirlow Park was cold, muddy and raw, but it was good to be out. The mid-week forecast was better so we decided on a leg stretch around the Redmires Reservoirs behind Sheffield. In the event the forecast was wrong, (why does that surprise me) - it was blowing a gale out of the north-west and it rained much of the time. Added into the mix was some stinging hail as well - luckily we found an old abandoned shooters lodge to escape the worst of the weather. The sandwiches and hot soup were a treat.
Then there was the inevitable visit to the climbing wall, on the plus side it was less arduous than I was expecting and it was very sociable.
Anyway it was good to be home for a fortnight, but that is enough - Costa Blanca on Monday - sweet!

Right: Sherri catching another lung-full of moisture-ladened air

Job Done!

Left: Route Number 246
A quarter of a year we have been on the island (16 weeks or thereabouts), 246 routes ticked (exactly) and tomorrow we catch the dawn ferry to Kos, fly to Athens then after a rapid transit head north to Manchester. If things go well (some 'if') we could be back in Sheffield by early evening. Can't say we are really looking forward to it but it has to be done, projects are simmering and books don't write themselves.

We will miss the weather, the climbing, breakfast and tea on opposite terraces, the cats, the peace and quiet, the sunshine. Also a small but very select band of friends and acquaintances - this side of the island really is pretty quiet.

Right: Paddling in the sea in January

Yesterday we caught the taxi-boat over to Telendos and went for a wander, around the southern tip of the island, we even had a paddle - and the sea felt lovely and warm. Today was a last few routes, pack the big boxes for the cellar and the rucksacks for the journey.

Sherri fancies popping over and see the place in the summer - in the hot and busy time - sounds like a plan to me!

Happy New Year Indeed

2012 - where does the time go? I guess it flies when you keep busy - we only spent 12 weeks in the UK in 2011, the rest of the year we spread ourselves out from the Greek Islands to Arctic Norway with time spent in Spain and Switzerland too.
Wintering in Kalymnos has been great again - well over 200 routes climbed, lots of superb weather, friendly locals and a host of cats to keep Sherri busy! Today was pretty typical, we slept with the door wide open all night listening to the sound of the waves (cool mind!), had breakfast on the terrace in the morning sun, did five superb 30m+ routes at Kreisaal. Then it was back home for a hot shower and tea on the balcony, watching the sun go down.
I have started to listen to 'Drive Time' on BBC 2, via the internet each evening, the traffic jams and weather back home make time spent here that much sweeter! I sometimes wonder why we are headed home in 12 days!

Merry Christmas to all My Readers

Twenty one years (starting with Costa Blanca Rock 1990) - approaching twenty guidebooks (must do a count one day) around 80,000 books sold over the years. Cheers and a Very Merry Christmas to anyone who has ever bought one of my books, and all those who have said positive things down the years too.
I aim to get three books out this year, which will be a record if it happens, lets see what we can do.

In the Bleak Mid-Winter

Left: Arhi parking - where is everybody?

21st of December - tomorrow is the winter solstice, and the shortest day. The forecast for this week was pretty unsettled, and we made the usual mistake of looking it it through English eyes. In the event it has been a little breezy and there has been some showers, though always at night - the days have been warm and sunny with a pleasant breeze, like good summer days back home, though without the humidity. It sounds particularly unpleasant back there; several weeks of sleet, freezing rain and a lot of greyness - yeuk!

The are a tiny number of climbers here, possibly less than a dozen at a guess, though it may well busy-up over Christmas. The settled weather means that the cliffs are as dry as I have ever seen them in December - which is great. My route tally for the trip is in the low 200s and I am approach a little target I set myself of 500 individual ticks on Kalymnos.

We had a Swiss couple stopping next door for 10 days and they were stunned at how quiet the place was and how good the climbing was too. Turns out they are great fans of RockFax and the guidebooks which was nice. The were interested in the publishing schedule including the new Costa Blanca guide and especially the one to Ariege - an area they had never heard of - not for long though!

Right: Kantouni beach - heavy rain forecast!