Not as good as the 1st time but still flippin' great! Return to Kalymnos.

It seemed a good idea to go to Kalymnos. According to the topo there should have been a strong northerly wind blowing (called the Meltemi) to keep the humidity down and make climbing in September reasonable.

In reality there was no wind and most of the time the crags were damp and suffering from the Gogarth/LPT soap. Temps were around 32 degrees C and the humidity was up around 80% which made it pretty unpleasant for climbing, lathered in sweat, red faced and panting like a dog each time we tied into the rope!

The outcome was far different from Easter last year. Unfortunately it wasn't possible to do many of the harder routes on my rather long hit list. Still it wasn't a waste of time either. During the 3 weeks we visited lots of different secteurs and climbed lots of amazing steep tufas. Which is what people go to Kalymnos for. We made lots of new friends and even met up with friends we'd not seen for many years.

Despite the heat, the humidity, lots of polished footholds and the crowds I still believe Kalymnos is one of the best places I have climbed at. Where else, for example, can you go and climb amazing 6c's on blobby tufas, like at Ghost Kitchen and Secret Garden? Or have an entire crag to yourselves covered in quality routes, like at Galatiani or Sikati Cave? Or eat fantastic Greek food for 8 Euros per person, like at Noufaro's?

What a pity though that we had to drive to Milan Bergamo again to catch the Ryanair flight and have to suffer the crazy Italian drivers on the autopista around Milan!

Arriving on Kalymnos

Our accomodation (shame about the Swedish witch above!)

Tools of the trade

There's beer!

And good food too!

Our wheels below Ghost Kitchen

Andy Chambers on the brilliant Frapogalo (6c) at Secret Garden

Elaine on the tricky Dafni (6c+) at Ghost Kitchen

Spot the climber on Morgan (7b+) in Sikati Cave

Surreal landscape in the bottom of Sikati Cave

French climber on the mega Calcite Star Plus (7b+) at Galatiani

The same French climber on Feuerdorn (7a honest!) at Galatiani

Look at those incredible tufas on Armata Sikati (7b) in Sikati Cave

Austrian climber sending one of the best 7c+'s anywhere: Marci Marc in a Force 7 (one of the few days there was actually some wind!). Elaine looks cold!

Yours truly at the knee bar rest above all the hard climbing on the mega Gegoune (7c) at Galatiani

Sunrise whilst leaving Kalymnos

The view from Ghost Kitchen

Telendos from our apartment

RIP Scamp

Whilst we were on Kalymnos our lovely Scamp died!

Since January we had known that she had a heart murmur and the vet said we might need to take it a bit easier with Scamp. In fact he went as far as to say that she may even have a heart attack at any moment or maybe not. We just assumed that she'd keep going at her usual max speed for several more years.

Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. We received the awful news on Kalymnos. We were absolutely devastated. However, it must have been equally upsetting for poor Caren who was looking after her and found her. 

Scamp was 2 months short of being 12 years old. She was always very stressed out by thunder storms, fireworks, hunters and anything noisy. Interestingly, she did die on the first day of this year's hunting season (i.e. 14th Sept). It appears that she had a heart attack and went peacefully in her sleep on our terrace. 

We picked up Scamp's ashes from the vets yesterday and walked up the hill behind our house. We spread them on "Smerl's Rock" (named after our 1st border collie Merlin) at the summit, which was one of her favourite places and has a beautiful view of the Gorges du Loup. She is now "scamping" in paradise.

Thank you Scamp for making us smile and laugh every day for so many years. We will miss you so much.

Scamp with her favourite toy

Scamp had her own chair!

Scamp (far left) with some of  her brothers and sisters at the farm.

Scamp was already used to playing in the snow at the farm.

Scamp on "Smerl's Rock" where we spread her ashes yesterday.

Herve Gourdel, climber and ordinary citizen

One of the most moving things Elaine and I have ever seen was the silent march in Nice today, to pay respect to our friend Herve Gourdel. There were several thousand people walking the route from the port to la Theatre Verdure. Most of us were carrying large colour portraits of Herve and white roses, provided specially by the city of Nice for this special occasion. The culmination was a very moving speech by one of the mountain guides he worked with.

The barbaric murder of Herve has led to widespread condemnation throughout France and it is not just the climbing community that is in shock and in mourning. It seems everybody has been stunned by the wicked act of the terrorists in Algeria. Francois Hollande has declared 3 days of mourning and there are marches being held throughout France to show how the nation feels.

I was lucky enough to have worked with Herve a few times over the years, on outdoor activity trips with students here on the Cote d'Azur. I shall always remember his calm approach to his work, his amazing attitude towards life and the environment and of course his wonderful smile. Also, it was always a pleasure to bump into him at the crag and trade tales (like climbers do). 

Herve will be missed by so many and my thoughts are with his family. Goodbye dear friend. RIP.

The rain in Spain .... Climbing in Rumenes.

We know that we've returned to the Mediterranean because the sky is blue. We've missed the sun so much during the past few weeks.

The main objective was to visit Cantabria and Asturias in northern Spain as a result of buying Richie Patterson's excellent new topo "Roca Verde". However the forecast was bad so we stuck to the sunny side of Spain to begin with.

The view from our doss spot high above La Hermida, Cantabria

First destination was a fairly new cliff called Culla about an hour north of Valencia. Thanks to Dave and Rhian Cross for the excellent info. However it was very tough on the Scali getting down the 2.5km track to a perfect doss spot overlooking the crag. The crag was in the shade with plenty of wind, we had the place to ourselves and the routes were on fantastic colonettes. Due to the uncertainty of not being able to get the Scali back up the track we decided to drive back up that evening (after doing Mojo Pican, a really nice 7a+, Mojita Matata, a great 7b+ and working a really long 7c). It was touch and go and needed some rally driving to make it back up. We made the long walk the following day instead which was an uphill killer at the end of the day in the full sun. (That day I did one of the best 7c's I've ever done called El Poder del Keler but I couldn't hang on the slopey crux of Generacion del Silencio, 7b+!) After that we decided to go somewhere else with a much shorter walk in.

Tufa paradise

El Fronton at Culla from the end of the track (photo by Elaine Owen)

Somewhere we'd never been to was Onati in the Basque. After only 2 minutes walk in I was motivated to do the 2 great looking tufa climbs where you arrive at the crag (Sonata, 7c and Mamba, 8a). However with very high humidity the climbing was hard work and it took me so long to do Sonata (completely pumped and covered in sweat) that I didn't bother even trying Mamba. It was great to make new friends, Gaizka and Sergio were really helpful and always good fun at the crag. Unfortunately, we never saw the sun during the 3 days we were there and we got fed up of the humidity and the rain.

It was finally time to drive on to Asturias at last. Driving along the autopista the scenery reminded us of North Wales. The mountains rise very steeply just a couple of km inland from the Atlantic in much the same way that the Carneddau rise above the villages of Penmaenmawr and Llanfairfechan. There was another similarity in that they were very often hidden by dark clouds and rain!

From the topo we sussed out the places that would keep us entertained: Poo de Cabrales and Rumenes. Both crags have plenty of colos and enough shade for summer cragging. The lower sector at Poo has great short routes from 6b+ to 7a which are super warm ups. The upper "Chorreras" crag is great for onsighting from 7a to 7b+ (the harder routes are not as good). The best routes we did were Mociviellos (6b+), Cencerrada (7a), Alanvista (7a+), Entremedusas (7b) and Kalima (7b+). Richie says that the 7c+ at El Corralito is very good and the 8a+ looks brilliant (though has probably only had one ascent apparently).

Dave and Rhian Cross on the 7a+ part of El dia del arquero at Rumenes

Ahhhh, Rumenes. What wonderful climbs there are to do there, long colonettes and not too steep. The canyon is so impressive and there is so much rock everywhere. It is an equippers paradise, if you're prepared to walk some. There will be a lot of development in the coming years. DON'T FORGET TO BUY THE TOPO BECAUSE RICHIE IS DONATING 20% FOR EQUIPPING. PLEASE DON'T PHOTOCOPY.

Sindrome de Stendhal, 50m of tufa heaven makes a great 8a (photo by Richie Patterson)

Jan from Czech Republic on the brilliant Rumenes power y al vino, 7a+

Asia from Poland flashing the excellent Cinderella Man, 7c

All the climbs at sector Chorreras are well worth doing, especially Rumenes power y al vino (one of the best 7a+'s anywhere) and the 50m 8a classic Sindrome de Stendhal. There are plenty of places to park up in the camper van in peace. On rest days the food and beer is very cheap in the climbers bar in La Hermida (Posada la Cuadrona) and there is a hot spring under the bridge.

We didn't get to Teverga which is the other must go to destination, though much more sunnier. That'll be at the top of the list for next time. The region is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to, the climbing is fantastic and the topo is amazing and so inspiring. I can't wait to go back.

CLIMB NOW WORK LATER

It's so long since I last wrote in my blog, but we've been ticking over in the Gorges du Loup. There have been some fine additions at Mesa Verde, for example Beer Fest (a short, powerful 7b+ equipped by Julien Bouquignaud), Pas de chocolat pour les Nicois font du ski (a long 7c equipped by Guillaume Ciais) and 3 hard test pieces between 8a and 8b equipped by the super prolific local legend Axel Franco.

2 views of Beer Fest. Hardin at the start and Yannick at the end (thanks to Marie-Jo Centofanti/Voyages a le Verticale).

At last we've finally reached the end of the school year and are ready to set off on our travels. First destination was Britain for a long weekend, visiting family and friends. Ewan and Brenna McCallum were as generous as ever putting us up in fine style in Liverpool again. It was lovely meeting up with my little sis Jessica, for Sunday roast at the The Walton Arms in Warrington, where Elaine and I had our wedding reception nearly 33 years ago. Also it was great to see Nige Hunt, who popped down with Jenny and his two boys, to have a beer with us. Pete Chadwick impressed us with his baby sitting skills, though we quickly made our excuses and left when he started singing "Old McDonald had a farm" to Naz's baby Sam.

We all live in a .......

Where we had our wedding reception in 1981!

Of course a trip to Liverpool wouldn't be complete without visiting the Hangar. We love that place! I'm sure if it was down here we wouldn't go climbing outdoors as much. It is brilliant to go and do new circuits every time we go there. Well done to Ged and his staff for making so many great problems and being so friendly. Elaine's finger was still swollen after straining it the week before at Mesa Verde, so she decided not to climb (which was probably the sensible thing to do, but I know she was very disappointed and frustrated).

We also went down to Wales. No we didn't get to climb the classics on the Cromlech again, as it was raining steadily all day, but we did get to call in at DMM (makers of the best climbing gear in the cosmos and owners of the coolest logo ever - "Climb now work later"). We chatted for ages with a youthful and fit looking Paul Simkiss. It was just like old times, with lots of banter and plenty of Politically inCorrect jokes thrown in for good measure!

OK so now we are back in France and should be heading off in the camper van tomorrow or Friday towards Asturias. Richie Patterson has produced an ace looking topo for this area in northern Spain. Between now and September 2015 we're going to Climb Now and Work Later. Bring it on!

Only 20 more gets ups!

It's a busy day today. I've been to the dentist for a check up (still no improvement with my paralyzed jaw after over 2 years), then I had to get the Control Technique (MOT) done on my van. This afternoon, I need to get 2 new tyres (as it failed the CT) and then I will be going to see Patrick, the kine (physiotherapist), who is nicely sorting out my stiff back. So, no chance of doing any climbing today.

I haven't been out with the Tuesday Club since before Easter. Most of them are now busy working and I've not been very motivated to climb locally. On a positive note, there are only 20 more times that I will have to get out of bed to go to work, before we go off on our travels.

So far, we are going to be visiting the following places during our 14 months off work:

Spain in Jul/Aug;
Kalymnos in Sept;
Iceland in Oct;
China in Nov/Dec;
Sicily in Jan;
skiing in Tignes in early Feb;
Misja Pec in Feb/Mar;
Spain for a few months.
Maybe, even look for a new place to live, as well.

Meanwhile, we have been ticking over at Jurassic Park, Cayenne and Mesa Verde. All the crags in Les Gorges du Loup are now dry and conditions are perfect. Last Sunday, it was nice to do something I hadn't done before. About 10 years ago, I had a brief look at a new 7b+ at Mesa Verde, called Ca va merder. I backed off it, because it was dirty and snappy. Now it is clean and provides great, tricky climbing. Nico did the Projet PHP/Arrowhead connection (a nice 7c). Elaine didn't climb as her finger was quite sore after working Cayenne on Saturday, but she took some nice photos: