Herding cows with Johnny Dawes

Well technically they were bulls, but that doesn’t sound as good. And technically Jane did all the herding, we just watched. What fun that was. Pembroke was great. Big, steep, imposing limestone sea cliffs. A bit like the burren but bigger and steeper. I , rather stupidly, had not considered it a viable destination before. In reality it really easy to get to. 9pm ferry then a taxi from Pembroke dock to Bosherston and you’re in the campsite by half 2. You can easily be asleep by 3 if, unlike me, you’re not a complete tool and have actually erected your €36 argos tent before and don’t have to spend over an hour dicking about with instructions in the dark….oh well. Eventually got to sleep around 4 or so. Not too bad all things considered.

Anyway. The climbing there is amazing, and Jane spent the weekend dragging me round to loads of different crags and I seconded her on a classic E1 (B-Team Buttress) and an amazing E2 (Lucky Strike). Note to self: don’t ever second an E2 in the blazing sun wearing a down jacket again. Nearly had a bloody heat stroke! Amateur. I can’t even remember how many different crags we went to, and we didn’t do more than 2 routes on each crag. Place is immense! Some half-formed ideas and ambitions had been lurking in the back of my head when Jane said there were a lot of slab type routes there. Anyone who thinks they’re slabs obviously ain’t been to Dalkey! Its more like slightly off vertical wall climbing, and everything feels pretty steep. As usual with steep limestone I got smacked down. But as Pierre said, its very much to do with being out of one’s element. Didn’t get spanked quite as hard as on my last trip to Ailladie though, so there might actually be some improvement there. The plan is to keep plugging away at steeper stuff for the foreseeable future. Who knows, might actually be able to manage something cool by the end of the summer!

In accordance with the plan, I’m off to Fair Head next weekend with Steve, Jono and Matt. Steve’s the only one who’s been before, so it should be a pretty steep learning curve! I’m looking forward to getting acquainted with the place, as I’m moving to Coleraine in September for college, so it’ll essentially be my local crag. Fully prepared to get humbled though, place looks immense, steep and scary! :-)

Things are kind of interesting at the moment. Been getting out a lot over the past few months (pretty much every weekend since the middle of February I think) so I think the base level is slowly creeping upwards. Theres some money coming in from the last couple of months contract work, so I’m putting together the last bits of a decent rack and will finally have the independence (gear wise) to go places under my own steam. What I’m wondering is what to do over the second half of the summer when work is finished and I’ve got a bit of cash in the pocket. As I see it, the options are: 1) Don’t sign on when I finish work, and blow all the cash on a 3 or 4 week trip to the alps to do big rock routes. 2) Sign on, get a load of gear (half ropes are fast becoming a necessity), and spend the summer cragging all over Ireland. I’m thinking option 2 might be the way to go, as it’s a way to accumulate the gear I’m beginning to really need (ab rope, half ropes, cams, some caving stuff), as well as getting out to all the crags where my current ambitions lie (Dalkey, Luggala, Ailladie, Muckross, Cloonty, Lower Cove, rest of the mournes etc…). Theres also a load of spots that I’ve no even visited yet that are on the hitlist. Definitely veering towards option 2, but we’ll see how it goes. Shamefully enough, I had a brief philosophical dalliance with option 3, a big euro sport trip. Soon came to my senses though and started fantasising about onsighting E4’s and having a double rack of camalots. Moral crisis averted! :-P

So yeah, Fair Head this weekend. Possibly the Mournes the following one. Dec, if you’re reading this…GET BACK TO WORK….but before you do, giz a bell. Jono said you might be heading up?

That’s all for now.

Eace Pout