Might and Main

Mid December saw cool, dry and sunny conditions for about a week, allowing us to eagerly embark on a flurry of climbing activity over at Anstey's Cove, Torquay. 

On the first day there, myself and climbing partner Simon Kitchin found a nice warm up route called 'End of an Era', which is a F6a. After that we placed the quickdraws on an adjacent route called 'Time Bandits', F6c+, and I managed to flash the route on my second attempt (after a small fall on the first metre of climbing on the first attempt). Then it was onto 'Cocytus', E3 6a, (about F6c), which I led ground up on my second attempt. The first attempt didn't go too well, with one fall, and on reaching the second clip I realised I had no quickdraws on my harness, so I had to down-climb and jump, and then be lowered off again. On the successful lead, I found out that you were supposed to place some gear for protection in the upper part. The only problem was; I didn't have any with me, so I had to basically solo the last part of the route - meaning a fall from the last move at 40' would have probably resulted in me hitting the ground. But I didn't worry, because I knew I wasn't going to fall. 

A few days later I returned with my partner Elisabeth, where we had a pleasant afternoon in the sunshine climbing a couple of lovely Trad' routes. During a snack break we chatted to local climbing legend - Ken Palmer, and admired the stunning view from our elevated position, out across the beautiful cove below. 

The next route on my list was 'Might and Main', a 70' F6c+ up the stunning arete between the Empire Wall and the Mitre Buttress. I returned early the following morning with climbing partner Simon, and managed to send the route ground-up on my first proper attempt (after a half-hearted go at the first few moves, followed by a jump off). I really enjoyed this climb, and it seemed to suit my style of climbing; involving lots of steep, powerful, bouldery and technical moves, that were broken up by good rests in between. Perfect! I wouldn't say it was an easy climb, but I led it more easily than I have other's at this grade, and did it smoothly and in good style. It felt good; darn good! Loved it! Woohoo! Happy Days! :) 

Looks like it's onto F7a's next then?!?!?!?!? :O

Photo courtesy of Simon Kitchin. Climber: James Mitchelmore lowering off 'Might and Main'.

November's Activities

Well, the weather in November wasn't the best with some wet weather to start, followed by much colder conditions to finish. We managed to get some white water kayaking in on the River Dart whilst the levels were up, which was nice. Then, on a brief warm and sunny day in the middle of the month, we managed to get to Chudleigh for a bit of lead climbing. I'd wanted to climb a route called 'The Spider', an E1 5b, for some time now, and finally decided to give it a go. The first pitch was great, if a little run-out on the final slab. Pitch two contained an exposed crux near the top of the 100 foot route. When I reached this point, I discovered that there was quite a lot of water seepage - not ideal!  The climbing was hard enough here, being overhanging on small-ish holds, without the rock being all wet! After placing some protection I gave the last portion of the route a go, managing to make it up and over to, and across the delicate slab, to the safety of an old tree stump - though not without a remarkable struggle! It was one hell of a battle, but I finally emerged triumphant onto the top of the crag in glorious sunshine! Yahoo! Fantastic! :) During the latter part of November, much of our climbing activities took place within the warmth and dry of the DartRock Climbing Centre, near Buckfastleigh. This is a superb venue to train in, work on your technique, strength and climbing skills, and bang out some great routes with your friends. And they have nice tea and cakes too! Ideal! :) Can't wait for my next session!

White Water Course October 2010

Pure Liquid Kayaking ran a super-successful white water course this October, based on the River Dart in Devon. I couldn't have asked for a better group of paddlers to coach on the river, with every single one of them super-keen and enthusiastic, hungry for new challenges and to improve their skills, and up for every task I set them. It was a total pleasure paddling with; Rob Tew, Ben Hipwell, Nick Richards and Jon Roberts. The course ran over a series of four Saturdays during October, with week one covering the fundamentals and basic skills on the Lower Dart. Progression was rapid to say the least (excuse the pun), especially for Ben who had never paddled on moving water before, and by week two we were on the Loop in low-ish flows utilizing the abundance of quality features there. A successful trip was had by all; running every section, including boofing 'Washing Machine' and eddy-hopping 'Triple Falls'. Week three saw higher water levels, with it lapping the ledge on the 'Loop put-in', so a perfect progression onto stronger flows - we even ran the last Km or so of the Upper Dart to start the day off with more excitement and the new challenge of running drops. The faster flowing water allowed the students to charge harder into and out of eddies, and further improve their river running skills. Right at the end of the day we did a safety and rescue session involving swimming down rapids and using throwlines for rescues. For the final week of the course the levels were slightly low again, but this didn't mean that we weren't going to have fun and further push our skill levels on the river. First up, we found a great little spot for having a go at flat-spinning our kayaks, before embarking on the main focus of the day - hitting as many eddies as we could on every rapid on the river. The guys discovered eddies they never knew existed before as we eddy-hopped our way down even the more challenging sections of water such as 'Lovers Leap' and 'Triple Falls'. We also found plenty of surf waves to play on, and in between all that we looked at leadership - with everyone having a go at leading the rest of the group down. Some of the more exciting elements of the day included a 'boof-fest' at the 'Washing Machine', (where we discovered Ben was a boof-a-holic), and trying our hand at some super-exhilarating pop-outs in the first drop of 'Triple Falls'. All in all, a fantastic day was had by everyone, and at the take-out we had a super-positive debrief and feed back session. From my point of view; I'd had a great month of paddling with and coaching a superb group of paddlers, and their progression throughout the course was phenomenal - with all of them looking super-comfy on the 'Loop' and paddling really smooth and strongly by the end. Well done Guys! Keep at it! And maybe not long before we get you on the 'Upper Dart' eh?! ;) 

Photos courtesy of Rob Tew.

October Climbing Update

For the last few years I have had the aim of one day climbing the classic Berry Head HVS route; Moonraker. After pushing my climbing grades this year and spending a good part of the summer Deep Water Soloing, I finally got to the point where I felt ready to tackle this famous route. On October 17th the conditions came together, and Elisabeth and myself made the decision to turn that dream into a reality. Moonraker is 200 feet of serious and committing climbing, accessed by a traverse in through a huge cave which naturally adds to the excitement and adventure of the route. With swell crashing about in the cave, we ended up with wet feet before we'd even started the climb. The first pitch went well, and I managed to avoid getting too pumped by blasting through the steeper sections. Pitch two was easier climbing, and we stopped on the belay for a small snack while we soaked up the beautiful view in such a unique and awesome setting. There was no turning back now that the tide was coming in - it was a one way ticket! The third pitch was much longer than the other two, but much straighter due to it following a natural crack system. By now I was pretty relaxed and accustomed to being on the route in that environment, and as a result I cruised the final pitch to the top, emerging from the shade into glorious sunshine. I'd finally done it! Woohoo! Fantastic! I was so happy! Elisabeth made it to the top easily too, and we celebrated our achievement together whilst admiring the glorious vista from the summit, and sharing the experiences we'd had on the route. We both agreed it had been a superb day, such an adventure, and much easier than we'd been led to believe. Wicked!

Three days later, and full of confidence from the successful ascent of Moonraker, we headed over to Torquay to climb another classic route; Gargantua, which is graded E1, so a little harder. This line is super-exposed; following a 140 foot arete up the main cliff at Daddyhole, but I was feeling on-form and super relaxed about the whole thing so it didn't really phase me too much. Abseiling into the base of the route gave me a sneaky peak at what was in store, unlike on Moonraker. I led pitches one and two straight through to the second belay in the exposed and bottomless niche, and found the climbing to be absolutely superb with some amazing movements and holds. The first part of the last pitch was a little tricky with delicate moves on small holds, while also being very exposed. Thankfully I reached better holds for the final few overhangs to the top, and I let out a woop of satisfaction on reaching the grassy belay at the summit. The thing with this route was that I enjoyed it much more than Moonraker, mainly because the climbing was much nicer, but also because I enjoyed the actual 'in-the-moment' climbing more than the satisfaction of actually completing it. This could have been because I was so much more relaxed and focused on my climbing?!? At any rate, it was super-fantastic and I loved every minute of it. As a reward we had a rather nice sunset to boot. Magic!

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.

Deep Water Soloing

The deep water soloing (DWS) season is now in full swing, and we have been out regularly the last few months in the fabulous weather, climbing some of the classic routes locally around Berry Head and Torquay. By far, the most favourite spot at the moment is Berry Head, with superb rock, excellent climbing, and such a variety of great routes packed into one spot. Along with the classic lines of Magical Mystery Tour and Rainbow Bridge, we have been sampling some of the amazing straight-up routes too, and taking a few falls into the sea in the process. All part of the fun! Fantastic! Loving it! And we still have over two months of DWS action before it gets too cold. Awesome! 

Portland Climbing weekend

The weekend of 10/11th July saw us visiting Portland to sample some of the fantastic sport climbing the place has to offer.  There are literally thousands of routes there, and we almost couldn't decide where to start.  We spent the first day climbing some great routes at Blacknor in the fabulous sunny weather, though it did get a bit too hot as the sun came round in the afternoon. The place was very popular and very busy, so an early start was made on Sunday to climb some of the more popular routes without all the crowds.  A thoroughly enjoyable morning was had, and in the afternoon we moved over to the east coast to climb in Dungecroft Quarry, and avoid the main heat of the day. We ended the trip here climbing the short powerful routes on strange flowstone rock. Only two hours drive away, the next climbing trip here will be very imminent indeed!  Loved it!

Cornwall Climbing

The weekend of 3rd and 4th of July was spent climbing some superb routes down in Cornwall with good friend Jeremy van Riemsdyke.  Saturday was dry and sunny with good conditions and dry rock, allowing us to climb some classic lines on the beautiful granite crags of Sennen. Sunday was overcast with periods of light rain, so we drove up to Bossigran and climbed the classic 700' Commando Ridge.  Graded VD, we climbed it Alpine style, and had a super fun day out despite the far from perfect conditions.  All in all, a fantastic few days climbing in a stunning location. Definitely planning to head back down for more of the same in the near future. 

Lundy Kayaking Trip

Sunday 6th June saw us paddling out from Lee Bay heading to Lundy Island in slightly misty conditions.  Almost three hours out to sea we finally caught our first glimpse of the island, much to our relief!  The mist did clear, but then a head wind picked up - reaching up to force 5, making the crossing hard work.  After six and a half hours we finally made it!  Lugging our camping kit up to the campsite was almost as much hard work as the crossing!  Lundy is an amazing little island, teeming with wildlife - particularly sea birds and seals, that feast on the abundance of fish there.  The next day we paddled around the island, seeing loads of guillemots, razorbills, manx shearwaters, seals, and other sea birds, including puffins - which we were really chuffed about.  That evening we frequented the local tavern, where we ate a superb meal and added our names to the sea kayaking book they have there.  The weather had been wet and overcast all that afternoon and evening, and we went to bed praying for good conditions for the journey home the following day.  Our prayers were answered, and we had perfect sea conditions for the crossing home with no wind and good visibility too.  After another long haul, we arrived that afternoon back in Lee Bay in beautiful sunny conditions - what a great ending to a fantastic paddling trip!

North Cornwall Sea Kayaking Trip

Having already paddled the entire coastline from St. Ives, round Lands End, The Lizard, and back to our home base in Brixham, our plan to kayak the rest of the North Coast of Cornwall finally came together over the last week in May.  With a good weather window forecast for the next few days ahead, we set off from St. Ives on Monday 24th on a beautiful sunny and calm day.  The water was a beautiful turquoise colour and glassy smooth, allowing us to cover the 6km to Godrevy Island in just one hour.  Throughout the day we saw an abundance of wild life, including colonies of seals, flocks of guillemots, cormorants, oyster catchers and guls, as well as some jellyfish too.  The cliffs around St. Agnes were stunning; with multi-coloured streaks, different rock types, colours and textures.  At Penhale Point a thick mist came down, and we had to hand-rail it to Hollywell Bay where we set up camp for the night in the dunes.  Tuesday was a little breezier, but still sunny and warm.  The surf was only a couple of foot and easy to get out through, so landing at Newquay to check the weather forecast, and stop later for lunch at the stunning Bedruthan Steps was not a problem.  At Trevose Head we encountered some large 'Overfalls', with relentless breaking waves up to six foot high.  Fortunately, after a few minutes of bashing through the waves we were able to paddle off to the side and make for calmer waters.  The headwind was tiring us out, and by the time we made it to Polzeath were pretty worn out.  We realised that if we were to make Clovelly, as planned, by Thursday afternoon, we would have to put in some longer days, which meant only one thing - we would have to set off earlier each morning from now on.  So, Wednesday saw us paddling out on the high tide at 0545!  It was a little overcast this day, which actually made for better paddling conditions - a bit cooler.  After a quick stop at the idillic Port Issac Bay, it was on to Trebarwith Strand for a spot of lunch.  Tintagel was very pretty, and there was plenty of wildlife about too, including hoards of strange jellyfish.  We covered over 45km this day, but the last long stretch up to Widemouth Bay was the slowest, or at least it seemed to take forever to get to the beach we could see for miles off.  We slept well that night!  Thursday saw another early start - on the water for 0630!  However, we had the tide and a force 4 to 5 wind against us all morning, which slowed our paddling speed down to 4kph.  The coastline north of Bude was really rocky with no places to land, and we ended up paddling for seven hours without a stop until we reached a small bay just round from Hartland Point.  Here, in sight of Lundy Island, we devoured lunch, before heading onto our final destination - Clovelly.  With the wind (which had changed), tide, and swell now in our favor, we sped rapidly and easily to the finish.  What a perfect end to a perfect sea kayaking trip!  Next - Lundy!  :)

3* Sea Kayak Assessment

Pure Liquid Kayaking ran a BCU Three Star Sea Kayak Assessment on Sunday 16th May, paddling along the beautiful stretch of coastline from Brixham to Kingswear.  The candidates were put through their paces in the rough and windy conditions, providing some challenging rock-hopping and open stretches of water for them to demonstrate their kayak handling skills in.  Navigation, towing, and rescues were also completed before the last rough water leg up into the Dart Estuary, where we finally had some calmer conditions and a pushing tide aiding a speedy return to the finish in Waterhead Creek.  Both candidates performed well throughout the whole assessment - fulfilling the criteria set out in the BCU syllabus, and were very pleased to receive a pass at the end of the day for all their efforts.  We all agreed that it was a great paddling trip too, and the sun finally showing its face by the end of the day, was the icing on the cake.  

Climbing Activities

Due to the superb sunny weather this month climbing has been the main focus, with plenty of bouldering on the moor going down, as well as some sea cliff lead climbing over Torquay way.  Also, some time was spent un-earthing and re-equipping some of the sport routes down in the Churston Quarries locally.  The best aspect of this was finding the route 'Monet for Old Rope', a 40 foot E2 5c that was probably last climbed over twenty years ago.  It is a fantastic route, and super varied for its length.  What a find, I love it!

Isle of Wight Circumnavigation

Over-sleeping and setting off 2hrs late was not the best start to the trip.  This meant that we had to battle the fierce tides across the entrance to the Solent and at the Needles.  However, the journey along the south coast was much easier, if a little dull on the scenery front.  We found a great little camping spot just past St. Catherine's Point for the night though.  An early start was made on the second day so as to make best use of the strong tides, helping us make a speedy leg up to Bembridge.  After a leisurely lunch and a tea from a local cafe, we hopped onto the pushing tide once more and sped our way up to Cowes.  The tides here were really fast, maybe over four knots, and after breaking out behind a port maker buoy to let a speed ferry pass, we utilised the three and a half knot tide flowing down the Solent to make an amazingly fast final leg down to Yarmouth and then across to Keyhaven - in just two and a half hours.  Our average speed worked out at eight kilometers per hour, or 4.5 knots!  Not only were the tides in our favour, but the weather during the trip was fantastic too - lovely sunshine, and not too hot.  Perfect!  

March Activities

With the mixed weather we had during March, it wasn't the best for outdoor activities.  Much of the time was spent indoor climbing at Dart Rock Climbing Centre at Buckfastleigh.  This is a fantastic venue to come and try climbing, or to train on the harder routes over the winter months, suiting both beginners and experts alike.  On the drier days some superb bouldering was had down at the local cove, as well as a fantastic sea paddle from Salcombe to Start Point and back to Lannacombe.

Sea Kayaking

February 13th saw the acquisition of a Tiderace Xcite hardcore Sea Kayak from Waterborne Porthleven in Cornwall.  That same afternoon it was put through its paces in some rough and windy conditions in Torbay, plus a half hour of surfing at Broadsands Beach.  The performance was phenomenal, and it handled the conditions superbly.

The following day it was paddled from Brixham to Kingswear in a rather speedy 2hrs 20mins, including stops for food and photos!  The Xcite covered the distance with ease, and paddled so well in the choppy and swelly conditions that control of the boat didn't need thinking about! Fantastic!  Plans for some sea kayak expeditions are now underway.  Watch this space!

White Water Course '09

The Pure Liquid Kayaking 'Introduction to WhiteWater' course went really well this winter season, with the paddlers rapidly progressing to run the 'Loop' section of the River Dart by day four out of six.  Considering some of the paddlers had never been on a river before, and had only started paddling in summer '09, that is a considerable achievement.  In fact, the two paddlers pictured here on the last day of the course, (Rob and Andy) had done so well that they were able to get their BCU Three Star Training signed off too.  Bonus!  Well done guys!  And yes, it was a bit chilly that day, but that didn't stop them running the 'Loop', including boofing the 'Washing Machine', and eddy-hopping down Triple Drop!  Awesome!