I think it was 1987 we first went abroad for Christmas, to the Costa Blanca and that was a revelation. Previous years we had been to Scotland, Pembroke, Cornwall and done a lot of caving. We usually manage to get something done though it was always a battle - Spain changed all that! Twenty years on it remains one of the most eagerly anticipated trips of the year - well along with Easter, Whit and the long summer break!

This year we are headed down to the Nice area for something a little different, I have climbed there quite a bit over the years, but don’t know it anything like as well as the Blanca - and a change is a good as rest!

If you are headed to there Blanca here is a small update to the Alcalali section of the guide below (download it via the link at the bottom of the entry) - there has been a lot of development there including a superb crop of new routes. There have also been problems generated by the routes on the far right which overlook the gardens of the villas - avoiding these would be a positive step.

Enjoy your break!

Download the Alcalali MicroGUIDE

Colin arrived (and Graham was dropped of - seamless organisation!) at Carcasonne, and through sunny at the airport, in the hills it was still a bit unsettled. We checked into base then decided to head for a couple of hours sport at Arabaux, a small but pleasant limestone crag only fifteen minutes drive from the pad. Eight excellent routes later it was back for a wind-down and an evening meal.
As it turned out it was a good job we did the routes as the next two days were wet and cold, with temeratures around five degrees and snow well down the hillside.
Good Friday was better - a good Friday in fact, so we headed for Sinsat, where we did three fine routes, kicking of with the two pitch outing of ** (5b+, 6a+) quality rock. Then it was the the three pitch classic of Skull Groove (4c,5b,5c) with polished rock and a few damp streaks adding to the fun. The final route was th 35m pitch of ** a sustained and tough 6a+. There was only one other team on the cliff and the outward views were superb. We headed back to the car as big clouds towered overhead and hailstones bounced - time for home!

The steady eight hour drive from the Blanca wasn’t quite the chore we had feared, with clear roads and good weather. The Pyrenees were snowy and impressive, and by the time we arrived at Ariege the temperature had dropped to 7 degrees and there was drizzle in the air - we were in a new and different place! Despite the forecast it dawned bright and clear with a good covering of snow on the tops.

We headed into the hills and abandoned the car at the end of the cleared road, a steady hour and half plug through the snow led us to a couple of cabins in the woods.
We saw several skiers, a few snow-shoers, and most bizarrely a guy on a dog sled being pulled by six huskies - weird!

Looks like it might be time to head north - its warming up and starting to get busy - all very strange. A walk along the Denia sea front revealed families on the beach, people in the sea and even the ubiquitous beach umbrellas starting to go up - mind you it was the weekend!

Me and my big mouth - two days of cool cloudy weather with some heavy showers during the night - looks like our trip will end as it started.Hope we get acouple more days’ sunshine. Either way we are headed for Ariege at the weekend - bet its cool up there!

Another week and another Festival (only joking) - Falles is the big Valencian shindig, competing teams build statues, some on an amazing scale, they get judged by the Great and the Good then they all get burnt (falles = torches) right in the middle of town, in reverse order of merit.
The final torching takes place at two in the morning - with the fire brigade dousing the houses that surround the bonfire. Brass bands, loads of (very) loud fireworks, market stalls - a merry kind of mayhem!

Its been a while since I posted, but we have been busy. There are only a couple of weeks left now! Dave Gregory has been and gone again (for the second time) and I have been working flat-out on a new departure with RockFax, all too be revealed very soon.
We have been climbing again, back to Montesa (I was ’spotted’ again - have to stop putting my photo in the guides!) and at Alcalali (doubled up with a water-bottle filling trip). We hiked up to the Cova de Agua on the Montgo, a cave that has been used as a water supply since at least Roman times, there is even an original Latin inscription up there.

We have also spent some time exploring the coast around Javia, onshore winds have pumped up some big waves, there were even surfers out there. It looks like another potential DWS venue.

This week is the Fallas festival in Denia, it starts with fireworks, then competing factions build huge statues of wood, clay and papiermache judged by the local dignitaries. After various competitions (and more fireworks) they are burnt in reverse order - all accompanied by yet more fireworks, and concluding at two in the morning, sounds like it might be fun!

The last full moon of our visit (and the night of the lunar eclipse too) persuaded us to head out to the Cabo St Anonio to watch it rise out of the Mediterranean. We were not disappointed, the sun sank slowly behind the Montgo lighting the clouds from below in a spectacular fashion. Exactly as the sun set, the moon appeared out of the haze hovering above the sea. A warm wind blew from the west and the whole experience had a magical feel about it. We popped over to the other side of the headland to take a few shots of Xabia as the lights came on all around the bay and the western sky still held the afterglow. By the time we got back to the car, the lighthouse’s beam was tracking out an arc across the water, the moon hovered silver in a black sky and the sun had disappeared far below the horizon.

For years I have been meaning to have a look at the miles of impressive cliffs that run north from Moraira. Alan James sent me a chapter of the new Deep Water Soloing guide, and one of the cliffs is only 12 miles from where we are stopping it seemed like the time was right.
We tootled over to the urbanisation Cumbre de Sol then followed the road down to super-impressive Cala Moraig.
Poking around found a wonderland of deep water, steep rock and old fishermen’s ladders and little concrete ledges. I spent a happy (gripping!) hour down near seal level. When I got back and checked the manuscript two of the routes I had done weren’t even described - fame at last!

I have climbed at Guadalest a lot over the past 14 months - but this time Sherri wanted to show me the ‘other-side’ of the place. Two and half hours of wandering around the shops, cafes, museum, old houses, castle ramparts, the cemetery - and I have to admit it wasn’t an unpleasant experience. It must have been an amazingly isolated place to live back in the days of horse drawn transport and I bet the 1644 earthquake rattled the windows, that was when the huge blocks we climb on the west side of town were formed.
Quite a spot and busy for the middle of the week in the middle of winter - I bet the hoards who are bussed in from Bendorm enjoy it! Oddly when you are climbing here there is no indication of the melee on the hill top!

Had another walk along the never ending beaches to the north of Denia, as exhilarating as ever, there was even a small surf up. We returned just in time to catch the fishing fleet arriving home so called in for a look. There was quite a buzz on the quay as the 20 or so boats arrived in quick succession, and we joined the milling crowd of people out get their tea and interested tourists. There were a few bigger fish amongst the catch, but they were few and far between, the vast majority would best be described as tiddlers - quite a sad sight really. Maybe the Mediterranean and the North Sea have already gone the same way, though I suppose that as long as a living can be scraped, they will keep going out.