Lockdown - Two Months and Counting

Chez Arran - summer on the way.

Down some lazy river

 We thought we might be held in the Ariege for a month or so with the Covid 19 lockdown across the whole of France. In the event, the lockdown was extended and then extend again as the disease raced through Europe and on round the world - eight weeks+ so far, though Monday the restrictions are to be eased.

Sinsat chapel and mountain

We were allowed out for shopping and exercise - once a day, for one hour, within a kilometre of home, and avoiding parks and footpaths. With a little bending of the rules, we stretched the time and distance limits a little to enable us to make a decent walk on a daily basis. There are three basic directions we can head from Chez Arran - uphill, downhill and left by the river and downhill and right through the park - with a little imagination we manage to do something a little different every day for the past 50+ days.
Monday will be different - we can return to 'normal' activities and travel up to 100km without needing a form explaining what we are doing.
Climbing might be nice though as might be expected the forecast is terrible - lets see what happens.

Lockdown

Andorra - just before it shut

We headed north from the Blanca for a few days climbing at Collbato/Montserrat before nipping back over the border to the Ariege and the Pyrenees. We had been following the Coronavirus developing over the globe, but were almost caught out by the speed with which it swept across Europe. We were still making travel plans a couple of weeks before country after country went into lockdown.
In France it quickly developed from 'avoid people' too don't drive except to the shops. We are fortunate at Chez Arran in that we have a big garden and there are several local walks easily accessible without using the footpaths that are all closed now.

Self Isolating - easy!

At least I have huge amount of work backed-up, photo editing and cataloguing, articles to write and of course the new Costa Blanca guidebook to get stuck into. It looks like we will be here for at least another month - but as we have always said, there could be (much) worse places to be stuck.

Blanca Business Trip

One of the occupants of the Cat Village

Six weeks since we left Chez Arran - not too much climbing done which is disappointing but a lot of photography sorted - both regular and with the drone. We had a couple of weeks in Villajoyosa, then move south to La Matta/Torrevieja - which was hot and busy though we did stop in a superb modern pad there, with the added attraction of the 'Cat Village' - a protected area for feral cats right next door. That gave Sherri a few mouths to feed, and we even got the occasional visitor (Sox) which was nice. The nearby salt lagoons were also an interesting spot, with some great birding on offer.

The Penon from Calpe

Lonely on the beach

Then it was north to Denia, the area we stopped on our first visit to the Costa Blanca in 1987. It was windy there, which rather restricted the drone flying, though we still got plenty of crag-shots 'in the can'. We aim to be back in the area in the autumn to continue to work towards the new book, due out in a couple of years.
Next it is northwards to Montserrat - I haven't climbed there for many years - time to rectify that if possible.

The Rain in Spain.....

Overflowing dam at Margalef

Me on Lluis (5b) at Margalef

We headed south again, Blanca-bound, but decided to break the journey with a week in Margalef - an area renown for its hard climbing. There was loads evidence of the chaos created by Storm Gloria that had dumped three days of rain on the area after giving the Costa Blanca a pasting previously. Fallen rocks, flood damage, seepage, the overflowing dam - all very impressive. I managed to amuse myself on the cliffs mostly developed for 'beginners and children' - they forgot to add - 'and old folks'.
The town of Margalef is an interesting spot, ancient houses, narrow alleyways and all built into the cliffs.

Alan droning on again

Then it was onto the Blanca to a tower-block in Margalef overlooking the blue Mediterranean. Alan James arrived for a five day flier with the intention of getting a few routes in, but more importantly starting work on the next Costa Blanca book, due out in a couple of years, and training me up with drone flying to get pictures of the more inaccessible crags. It was a hectic few days, with up to four cliffs a day visited - but he is back in stormy Blighty now and peace has returned.

Pyrenees - Peace and Quiet

Athens to Carcasonne via Brussels was a different way to get back to the car and despite another General Strike in France we made it back to Chez Arran in good order. And a month later we are still here enjoying the peace and serenity of this quiet corner of the Pyrenees, hiking, climbing, working and chilling.
I have made good progress on an App version of a guide to the climbing on Tenerife and Colin has been over for a week so we have managed to climb every day. About another 10 days here then we need to head to the Costa Blanca to continue work on the revised/updated version of the book, due out in a couple of years.
The only other plan in the pipeline is hopefully to visit Istria - a peninsula on the borders of Italy, Slovenia and Croatia in the spring, it certainly looks like a great spot.

Out of Season

Roussos (5c)Dolphin Bay, early December

We have been visiting Kalymnos for 11 years now - our very first trip was in October 2008. It was so good that we let our return flight go without us and stayed for six weeks rather than the planned month.
BUT (and it was quite a big but) for most of our visit it was both very hot and very busy. Annoyingly by the time we left at the start of November the temperature was dropping nicely and the number of climbers had thinned out by around 90%.
So a plan was hatched and we have pretty much stuck to it ever since - in the autumn we usually arrive late October, enjoy prime conditions and quiet crags and leave around Christmas time when the weather often turns a bit unsettled. Springtime is another option (early March onwards) with the greenery and the flowers offering an amazing contrast to the scorched desert of the autumn. The weather is usually excellent, with highs up to around 20C and lows of about 10C. A cool northerly often blows creating ideal conditions for visiting all the cliffs around Arginonta which are normally furnaces in the high season.

Springtime in Kalymnos

Just another Kalymnos sunset

So why doesn't everybody do that? Well I guess a lot of people enjoy the melee and hub-bub of Masouri in the high season - and come for a hot-rock climbing holiday. Plus there are complications, most places (accommodation, shops and restaurants) on the western coastal strip are shut. We stop at Babis Bar in Myrties - that bit of the coast gets more winter sun than Masouri plus there is Stalas supermarket just over the road that stays open all winter. For eating out it is only a three minute drive over the hill to Elias square where the trio of restaurants - Kitsos, Il Posto and Merinos, stay open all year, offering a friendly welcome, great Greek food and free wifi.
Getting to Kalymnos out of season is a little trickier once the holiday companies stop flying direct to Kos, but there are two or three flights a day from Athens to Kos (Aegean or Sky Express) so with a little planning you can still get here from the UK in a day. There are also fights straight into Kalymnos from Athens several days a week (Sky Express) which is a great way to arrive. If you do have to spend a night in Athens, Tina's Apartments come recommended,  only 10 minutes from the airport and they offer a free shuttle both ways.
So there it is - if you fancy escaping the crowds and having these magnificent cliffs pretty much to yourself it is easier than you might have imagined - maybe see you there next year.
.

Turkish Delights

Stormy skies over Karaöz

Great climbing at Olympos

For somewhere a little different we thought we would invite Colin out to Antalya for a couple of weeks climbing, being quite impressed with the area when visited it briefly 18 months ago. The chance to visit Sherri's mum in Marmaris and call in to Kalymnos once the 'silly season' was done made a decent job of a plan.

Always a kitten or two

Four hours with Jet2 Manchester to Antalya was easy, finding and collecting the hire car less so, a battle through cross-town traffic and we booked into our pad on the outskirts of Konyaalti just after dusk.
We had 10 days climbing at Geyikbayiri - a great spot, though much of the climbing is pretty hard and temperatures of up to 31C didn't help.
Then we move down the coast to the tiny village of Karaöz so we would have access to the climbing at Olympos.
The main crag of interest is the shady gorge of Dershane - quite a popular little spot with a great set of routes on lovely fluted limestone.  Most of the 50+ routes are sub-6b, well bolted and on high quality rock.
I once asked a travelling Yank what the climbing at Antalya was like - "just like Kalymnos" was his reply. I can confirm that apart from being sport routes on limestone, it is nothing like Kalymnos, quite a remote feeling area, friendly locals, and cheap too. Being 'different' isn't a bad thing, variety is the spice of life and this is certainly a very different part of the world, and one I would strongly recommend visiting.