Monday 27 September 2010

Cornwall Climbing and Walking



Following the Scillies trip, we headed back down to Lands End for a week of Climbing and coastal walking. Having the van newly kitted-out with a bed and cooker meant we could park up anywhere for the night and have our accommodation already sorted. First stop was Roche Rock near Bodmin on the drive down. This is a superb and quiet little climbing venue, which has a good variety of routes, lovely rock, and even its own ancient chapel built into the rock itself. That evening we stopped off at Gwithian Sands to walk the dog among the dunes, and check the surf. The surf was small and wind-blown next morning, so we headed on down to Sennen Cove for a fantastic sea cliff walk, before nipping up to Zennor for an evening climb on the superb VS 4c of 'The Royal Forester'. The next few days were spent at Bosigran, walking the dog along the picturesque coast path, and climbing some of the fantastic routes that the crag has to offer. Bosigran is an impressive granite wall with loads of good well protected multi-pitch lines. It was the best venue of the trip by far. Just don't get caught 100 foot up in a torrential downpour like we did! On the last day of the trip we headed down to Cribba Head to climb a few granite corners in the sunshine before doing a beautiful coastal walk from Treen, out to the idyllic Penberth, over to the scenic Porthcurno and back via Logan Rock. We even went a bit 'touristy' - having a tour around the amazing Minack cliff-top Theatre and eating icecreams! Plans are already underway for another Bosigran climbing mission. Can't wait!

Isles of Scilly Sea Kayaking




The 9th to the 17th September was spent exploring the stunning Isles of Scilly by sea kayak. We were hoping to paddle the 28 miles out from Lands End, but in the end the weather window didn't appear so we took the ferry instead. A fantastic week was had paddling in this stunning location with my partner Elisabeth and good friend Jeremy van Reimsdyke, during which time we visited all the main islands and almost all the outer lying rocks and islands too. Jeremy even made it out to the Bishop's Rock Lighthouse. The main islands - Tresco, Bryher, St. Martins, St. Agnes and St. Mary's are sheltered from the worst of the Atlantic swells by the outer lying rocks, islands and reefs, so it was always calm and pleasant paddling between islands here. Further out at places like The Northern Rocks, and Men-a-vaur things were a little more spicy, with large swells, confused seas, and waves breaking over submerged reefs making for exciting sea kayaking conditions. The bird life and seal population on the Scillies is amazing, and we even managed to swim with some seals off the Eastern Isles, which was awesome. All in all, the Scillies are a superb sea kayaking destination and we will definitely be heading back there for more of the same.