Next Event: Cornwall
The first club weekend of the year to Portland passed succesfully, and despite expectations of a wet and miserable weekend, those of us who hadn’t wimped out had a thoroughly enjoyable weekend, complete with unexpected climbing in the hot sun.
We left Swansea after the usual delays, and after a promising start, soon got bogged down in traffic jams. We eventually arrived at our Scout Hut in Weymouth a few hours later than expected, and after unpacking; went for some food in the only place open at that time – a kebab shop next to a lap dancing club in Weymouth! Once unpacked, we settled down to the usual habit of staying up late drinking, and after far too much alcohol (Tom P and myself cracking out some port...), we all went to bed.
Saturday morning proved to be wet as forecast, so we allowed ourselves a late morning. With plans of going climbing indoors for the afternoon, we went for a quick walk around ‘The Cuttings’ area, but while we were there the weather cleared up and the sun came out. With a surprise turn in the weather, we went and got the climbing gear, and had a good afternoon’s climbing at the cuttings. The crag lived up to its reputation of hard grades and not very nice rock, but everyone seemed to have a good time – despite the fact that there were loads of rowdy students there! As it got dark, we packed up and headed back to Weymouth, stopping for a take-away on the road back. Saturday night’s entertainment involved drinking (as usual) and a pretty competitive game of hockey. With the forecast for Sunday saying dry and sunny, we had an early night ready to get up for a day of climbing.
The forecast proved to be right for Sunday, so we got up early and headed down to Blacknor. After parking in Weston’s council estate, which felt bizarre as usual, we set off down to the crag. Coming on a drier day turned out to be a good idea, as the approach to the crag involved a bit of a ‘death scramble’ that everyone enjoyed! After finally negotiating around the boulders, brambles and drops, we started climbing at the Blacknor Central area. Ed, Rachel and myself headed to the lower grade climbs on the boulders with the beginners, and had great time climbing in the sun by the sea. [i]Fallen Slab Arete[/i] turned out to be a really good climb – easy climbing, but with some pretty wicked exposure above the waves. Everyone else seemed to have a good day, with Dom and James doing some nice looking routes on the main cliff, Tom Page and Ruben climbing a load of three star classics such as [i]Reptile Smile[/i] and Sam and Lloyd pushing themselves on some harder graded routes. We climbed until sunset and, a little windswept, we headed back to the scout hut to pack up. Unusually we got this done early, so were waiting for the owners to return the keys to. After a quick ‘chip shop stop’ we set off back for Swansea, arriving late in the evening.
Thanks to everyone who came, hope you all had a good weekend. Also thanks to Rachel, Tom Page and Ed for driving all weekend.