Sherri packed in work (for good this time), left school at little early any by 5:00 we were in Hull ready to board the Pride of York. Considering it was the middle of December, the crossing was as calm as you could have wished for - though Zeebrugge was a shock, foggy, -5 degrees and everything covered in hoar-frost. Things went well enough until Sally SatNav blotted her previously good record and took us towards Paris; by the time I realised what the game was - it was too late! The three hours spent crawling around the Periferique were a lesson never to be forgotten - Hell on Earth. Eventually we got on the E6 and 530 miles from Zebrugge, and several hours late we booked into a hotel in Chanas - knackered!
The next day went better and by 2:30 we were in St Rafael having passed some fine looking cliffs on the way down - the most interesting of which (consulting Jingo Wobbly) were at Orgon, looked well worth a visit some time soon.
In a re-run of last year the rain started when we were about an hour from the pad - never mind though - a couple of days rest are what we need for starters.

Then the sun came out - which was nice!

The only half-decent day of the week prompted Alan and myself to go a do a little bit more checking for the Northern England guide. We were a bit tardy at actually biting the bullet and getting away from Sheffield and by the time we got to Caley it was almost midday. Conditions were not too bad though and we galloped round the boulders, sketching, checking and photographing a variety of bits and pieces.

Heading back towards the car it was obvious from the thunderous black clouds rolling down Wharfedale that Almscliff (Destination II) was going to be wet! We tooled up to the parking and it was already hammering down, though brighter skies to the north tempted us onwards to Brimham where the sun came out for the 1st time. As anyone who knows the place well will testify (though not as strongly as those who don’t) this is one crag that will tax any guidebook writer’s skills to the max - suffice to say we are working on it! After a complete tour of the place we joined the queuing traffic on the A1 heading for home

A chance to visit Gran Canaria was too good to miss - I am working on the Lofoten guidebook with local mountain guide Thorbjørn Enevold, and he ‘winters’ down in the Canaries, it was either he came to Sheffield or we headed south - so no contest really! The journey from Sheffield to Manchester airport was pretty grim - pity the poor sods who commute daily - and the plane was full of screaming kids - though as we approached the island the view out of the window of the sunset over Gran Canaria and Tenerife made it worthwhile.

Beers on the terrace at midnight (22 degrees) and an air conditioned room was followed by a late start and a ride up into the hills. The roads are extremely tortuous as they climb through the huge areas scorched by last year’s fires. By the time we reached 5000′ feet it had cooled markedly so we hiked up to the foot of the Roque Nubio - a huge monolith of volcanic rock that was certainly living up to its name, it disappeared into the mist on occasions - at sixteen degrees and even some spots of rain, it almost felt like the Peak. There are some decent looking routes up there though much of the rock is a bit suspect - mind you to make up for it many of the bolts are pretty beefy!  The easiest looking way up is the German Route up the right-hand arete in the photo, which is fully bolted with big glue-ins but looks a bit like an aid route.

We zigzagged back down to the coast, had a quick trip to the Super Market and then back for a late tea - it had certainly been a change from the usual Friday set-up.

I was up at the Wainstones at the weekend (and glorious it was too) doing a bit of finally checking for my new Northern England guide, due out in January. Ambling back down the hill at the end of the day my mind rolled back down the years, to my first visit to the North York Moors. Back in 1966 I persuaded my long suffering father to take three of us (all mid-teenages and mad keen for it!) over to Scugdale so we could bivi there for a couple of nights and do lots (and lots) of climbing.We humped our gear up to the crag (mostly consisting of tinned food) and set up home in a small cave. After an afternoon cracking routes off the rain started, and continued all night - by mid-morning things had turned squalid, and eventually we had to admit defeat, I trekked to the farm to ask if I could use the phone (and got a bollocking for ‘camping’ at the crag) - and my father duly turned up and carted us off home.

It didn’t take long to dry out (though most of the tins had lost their labels) and by early evening the sun was out and it was glorious. From our house I could see the distant hills bathed in sunshine - it all seemed so unfair!

It was a lesson learnt though - on a recent visit to Northumberland with Alan we drove through pouring rain heading for Callerhues, we were pretty close to sacking it when I retold this tale, we pressed on just a little further - and almost inevitably the sun came out and we spent a glorious day.

Photo: Colin on Tom’s Peeping VS 5a (or E1 6a?).

Deadlines, the weather, partners, home-life, other jobs - some juggling was needed as the autumn rapidly approaches and so does the printing date for Northern England.
A cast of thousands was assembled to get the final few shots and do some last minute checking.
In the event (and as ever) it fell to myself, Alan and Colin to spend a couple of frantic days. Day 1 was Scugdale, Park Nab and the Wainstones, completed just as the cloud motored in and the temperature plummeted. We bumped into a Cleveland MC meet and discussed the guide/photos/which cliffs were in an out etc, all in an amicable fashion, which was nice.
Day 2 and we drove through heavy rain to emerge in bright sunshine just south of Bellingham (the Craggs’ weather genie was at work), the day was spent on Callerhues getting trashed - the grades were as anomalous as we expected - and more so in some cases - all will be revealed in the new guide.
Then it was off to Causey Quarry to catch the last rays of the sun at the lads zipped up The Mauler (HVS 5b - or Severe 4a on Callerhues!) before heading for home - straight back into the rain!

Well it looks like we brought the summer back with us! I spent a hot sunny and sweaty day tramping around the Staffordshire gritstone area taking crag shots for the next version of Western Grit, it will be a while yet though!
Ramshaw and Hen Cloud were deserted, but as ever the Roaches was busy, despite it being a mid-week Thursday - there was the obligatory group of school kids polishing Chalk Storm and its nearby routes, and as to the lady who suggested that I should ask before taking photographs - well excuse me - I will ensure that you are digitised out of the crag-shot!
Three hours and 185 shots later I headed for home!

With the forecast a bit unsettled we decided on a day out in western Lofoten yesterday and took the ferry (only one a day - climbing in here would need a bit of planning) for a quick trip round Rienefjord to get photographs for the new guide. There are some amazing peaks in there, the sort of things a child would draw for a picture of ‘a mountain’.
The most impressive is probably the charmingly name Brieflogtind (Wide Slab Peak apparently) - it is only 750 metres high (just a little higher than Kinder!) - but what a peak!
We also sailed past the huge shark’s fin of Seiltind (730m), of which the current guide simple says “first ascent unknown”. That presumably means the soaring faces are unclimbed!
Merraflestind (the third photo) is obviously so insignificant is isn’t worth of a mention in the guidebook or a spot height on the map! Despite this it is probably only a 15 minute walk from the pier and has some rather fine lines and currently at least ONE route!

Colin’s three weeks went quite slowly - but then suddenly it was time to deliver him to the the tiny airport at Svolvaer for his return trip (which will include spending the night at Bodo airport because of the connections).
We decided to visit Eggum out on the north coast on the last day, a recently developed sport crag with about 20 routes - mostly in the harder grades. Colin cracked of three of the easier ones - up to Norwegian 7+ (about F7a) in good style, then we had a wander out to view a sculpture (a strangely intriguing head on a plinth) on a foggy headland before heading for home. The shot is a montage of the sculpture from two different directions told you it was intruiging!

A couple of cool showery days came and went then it was back to hot (22 degrees) and sunny. We decided to head up to Glamtinden, I nice little peak we climb every year, and have a look at Eagle Ridge. The route was worth the effort, though some of the rock was a bit soft and crumbly. Despite this the positions are quite superb, making up somewhat fot the sections of ‘iffy’ rock. The views from the summit are magnificent.

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