I stand, shaken, on a small ledge in a rarely climbed corner at the Ruckle. I try to grasp enough rope to tie a one-handed clove hitch to the small cam I’ve just nestled in the only truly solid looking crack available. My last pieces of protection are now ten metres away – two very…
Read more
The Cuttings Diary: Part 3 Three years ago, I wrote a post about The Cuttings Boulderfield and how although I had lived minutes away, I had never really given it much time. From that came ‘The Cuttings Diary: Part 1 and Part 2’ so why not part 3!? This day at The Cuttings started as…
Read more
Tarragona tapas In a week it was never going to be possible to even touch the surface of the climbing on offer in Tarragona, northern Spain, with historic sport venues such as Siurana and Margalef on offer. But, true to our host nation, we sampled the best of the region ‘tapas style’ – and it…
Read more
Finale Ligure While on my European road trip, I (Tom) was holed up in my van in the Italian Alps while torrential rain put an end to my hopes of climbing on the stunning Alpine granite and gneiss crags of the Aosta Valley. I needed to move on and in the midst of the cold…
Read more
Is it worth the drive? 2 hours North West of where we live in Dorset you enter the wonderful world of Wales. We spent a night and a day sport climbing in a sandstone quarry in South Wales and then hopped back in the car to drive for another 5 and a half hours north,…
Read more
A long weekend or a short holiday? Sam and I were definitely feeling the Fontaineblues after spending nearly 2 weeks in the magical forest. Returning home to early mornings, long commutes and living an hour away from any climbable rock was less than appealing. Luckily, there’s a bank holiday at the end of May that…
Read more
Back on the ‘Moor Sam had come back from his time on the road in Spain with a fresh desire to go out and place his own gear. And, following an accidental hiatus from climbing, I was itching to get back out too – my trad rack has been screaming at me from bags on…
Read more
After The Send: Spanish Road Trip (Costa Blanca) 1 week turned into 2 weeks and then to 3 weeks! The Orange House was our next base after El Chorro. Here we were joined by Emmie, Alex and Tom for a week. The Orange House is in the dead centre of the Costa Blanca and about…
Read more
‘9 and a half hours! Jeez, let’s find somewhere to eat and grab a beer.’ After we got a bite to eat, we went to the train station ‘bar’ (more like a cubical where they sell €1 cans) and before we could even order from the most hostile bar women in the world… ‘Hey, how’s…
Read more
Brrrrrrrrr…Waking up at the bottom of Entecampos in the purpose built climber’s car park was a very cold experience. January is considered a little late in the season up in Northern Spain but there was still tons of campers (all Spanish), with their minds set to send but their windscreens set to defrost. The car…
Read more
Most climbing trips start with seeing a picture or video of a crag, finding out who’s been there and asking them questions. That is usually followed up by buying a guidebook, booking flights and a last minute car hire. This trip was different… apart from the car hire.
