North Men

Graham was pleased we were home, he hoped the UK might get a bit of sun at long last - and true to form we did! It was a bit cool and blowy which had the advantage of keeping the midges at bay; they have been particularly bad this year.

Left: Dan on The Link, put up 40 years ago by me

We have a couple of months before we head off to Kalymnos, a break in the UK might not be too bad!
A year ago yesterday we climbed Hamaroyskraftet - Stanage was steeper but not as enjoyable.
We went up north for a few days to visit the parents and finally make contact with Colin after his heart surgery - a few pleasant days in a nice part of the world. Sherri's mum has a nice new pad in Saltburn and Colin was looking well, fresh from a few days in Scotland.

Right: Sherri finds a quiet corner in Paddock Farm

Homeward - but slowly

We finally bailed out out of Chez Arran after 17 weeks - the holiday season is about to arrive and it has been warming up so we headed for the seaside.
We have a ferry booked Bilbao to Portsmouth for the weekend but decided a few days on the coast might be recompense for having to leave the mountains.

Photo: Bouldering on the remains of the Atlantic Wall.

Follow-up: we stopped at Ondres, just north of Biarritz for four days, and it was pretty pleasant, some fantastic beaches, plus an interesting area of lagoons and reedbeds inland where we did a bit of 'birding'. It sounds like life at Chez Arran is trundling along perfectly well without us - even the cats are coping. We drove to Bilbao to catch the ferry and had some more beach-time - it was incredibly busy there probably because it was the weekend - I had forgotten what a noisy rabble the Spanish could be! The crossing was smooth and on time, a rapid exit and by 11:30 I was sat in the big chair with a scotch - job done.

What to do with the rest of the summer is the real question?

Photo: A man lost!

Not Long Now

Just a bit of tidying up now before we think about heading home, which is a strange turn of phrase - we feel like nomads.
We have checked out the last few crags, including the superb bouldering at Laramade, had a hike up an 8600' bump in Andorra and even been in the pool. Summer has arrived in the Ariège though the area is still quite. I think the French school holidays start at the week-end, so we are braced for the crowds!
We have booked a few days over on the Atlantic Coast, close to Biarritz and a ferry home from Bilbao, though we have tentatively booked a return in the winter - could be interesting.
The other news; after chest pains and a minor op, Binky went into hospital last week and had a double heart bypass operation on Friday. According to Janet he has bounced back and will be coming home today - 5 days after the surgery. They sure breed them tough up North!

The Cat's Whiskers

We arrived here in February with snow on the ground and everywhere deserted. Now it is the Summer Solstice and the holiday period is just around the corner - it is doubtless going to get very busy here over the next few weeks.
It has been great spending an extended period in the mountains, I know Sherri was a bit doubtful about being here for so long here, but in the event I can't drag her away ! A mixture of a super-tranquil setting, great weather (unlike the UK - what a season to be away!) plus the host of 'pets' to look after have persuaded her. She has also taught me to play wiff-waff - from being a complete div, I occasionally win the odd point now.
Currently work on the books has stalled a bit, motivation has plummeted which is an odd feeling - but who cares - all work and no play...............

Plodding On........

We have been back in the Ariège over a week now, and have settled back into the pleasant routine of checking, working and climbing in roughly equal amounts. It has been a bit showery, but not enough to affect what we are doing, whereas it sounds like it hasn't stopped raining in the UK since we left so that is a bonus - and of course this is June, usually the most reliable month of the year for weather.
We only have a couple of weeks left at Chez Arran now and there are still quite a few jobs that need sorting before we push off north - no rest for the productive! How to get home is the next thing to wonder about and whether to stop anywhere on the way.

To Travel Hopefully.....

10 days back home flew by then it was back on the road. The flight out of East Midlands was at 06:50 a.m. which required a pre-dawn taxi. On the up-side we expected to be established back in the Ariège by midday. In the event, we taxied down the runway, sat there for a while and then returned to the terminal - neither of the 'transponders' were working so we it was a no go. RyanAir flew an engineer and spare parts up from Stansted whilst we twiddled our thumbs in an information vacuum. Eight and a half hours (fuming - not me!) later we finally got on our way. Today was hot and sunny so we did one of our regular round-walks to blow the cobwebs away - it feels a bit like summer has arrived. The last few years we have been in Norway by now, lets hope it doesn't get too hot down here in the deep south!

A Day on the Grit

A hot Monday and a small team - Stanage far north was the chosen venue - it got it up to 29C in Sheffield, so shade was must. We wandered out beyond High Neb and settled on the Marble Wall area. After ticking a couple of of the popular classics I had a wander round and spotted a line or two that I was pretty sure hadn't been done. After the exceptionally wet spring, I was expecting the recessed area to be green but it wasn't too bad at all. A couple of hours later and we had six new (OK unrecorded) routes in the bag. The pick was Hidden Pleasures E2 5c (see photo) - a tricky little number. A bit of shoddy footwork and I was rewarded with the Gritstone Kiss, but it was worth it!
Further research has failed to find any mention of the routes so maybe they really are new - get in!