Well, you can plan holidays, but you can't plan the weather. Due to strong winds and the forecast of wet weather, our planned sea kayaking trip to Scotland in May had to be abandoned. Instead, we loaded up the van and headed off over Dartmoor towards Cornwall. Fresh from some good local climbing at Churston, where I led a fantastic HVS 5a called 'Merlin Rocket' and an E3 5c called 'Satanic Traversities' along with some old favourites, I was keen to send a few more routes on our trip south. First stop was Sheepstor, where I made an early morning ascent of 'Wind Wall', HVS 5a, before spending the rest of the day at the Dewerstone climbing a few classics, including; 'Leviathan', VS 4c and 'Climber's Club Direct', HVS 5a. We had a superb day climbing in the sunshine. Next stop was Polzeath, via Bodmin Moor, where we found the surf was a bit blown out, so we spent a few days walking the coast path with the dog, before finally getting a nice surf for a few hours the next morning in three foot plus cleanish waves. I had some fun rides on my Longboard, and Elisabeth scored a few on her boogie board too. Stoked! ;) That afternoon we headed down to Rinsey Head in Cornwall where we camped up for the night. The following morning we hiked out to Trewavas Head for some more climbing, and found it to be a superb little single-pitch venue in an idyllic setting with old tin workings and stunning views along the coastline. We climbed a bunch of fantastic VS's and HVS's, but the highlight of the day for me was my on-sight lead of an awesome and wildly overhanging prow called 'West Wing', an E2 5c. The first half of the route was very delicate and balancy, while the upper half was severely overhanging and juggy. Once through the nail-biting lower part of the route, I reveled in the wild overhanging nature of the exposed upper half, and topped out with a massive grin on my face. :D Woohoo! The last day of the trip was spent walking the coast path down at The Lizard with our dog Guinness. We reflected on what a great holiday it had turned out to be, and how lucky we were to have dry and sunny weather all week given what the forecasts had said the week before. It was also agreed that we would be back to visit again soon, and especially to explore some of the other quality climbing venues in the area. Can't wait! :)
On our return from Cornwall the weather continued to be kind to us, allowing for a superb deep water soloing session over Torquay, and a fantastic day of climbing up on the moor where I led the classic 'three star' E1 5b route on Lowman, Haytor, called 'Aviation'. Superb! :)
