Happy New Year. Decided on half a day at Alcalali - it was hot and surprisingly busy, I thought all the holiday makers would have gone home by now but it appears not!

Did a trio of Richard Davies new routes with Colin on the sharp end - he (Colin, not Richard) managed to under-grade every one by a couple of notches which was nice, at least one of us is climbing well! All were excellent, good climbing and well bolted.

Then it was back to the pad to catch the last of the sunshine.

Colin’s flight was on time (after a 3:30am start), so it was the traditional approach of up to Sella to crack off a few routes, we did three for starters up to 6b. It was hot on the face, and the places was quite busy, sadly all the routes we did are suffering a bit from polished holds nowadays. Hardly surprising I guess, the place is so good.

After a buttie break we did Marion, its over 15 years since I first (and last) did this classic route, and I am pleased to say it remains as good as ever - at least it does once the first four metres have been done!

We topped out then abbed off and headed for home.

Better and better; firstly a pleasant day climbing at Gandia, the place was heaving with 40+ cars parked below the crag, and teams lined up side by side (I suppose we all know who to blame for that!) I was even spotted by some looking at the mug shot in the guide! Then it was time for a trip to the beach. Bizarrely we had that to ourselves a great contrast to the elbowing going on at the cliff.
At the beach I spotted some odd transparent quill-like shells, a web search later revealed them to be the shells of the fan mussel, quite rare apparently. The golden cloured threads that attach them to the sea bed are spun to make ’sea silk’, a skill that still survives in Sardina having been originally introduced into the area by the Phonecians!
Another day a bit of exploration of the local area turned up a Crag X or two. Mind you I am not sure if 300 foot high sea cliff, bristling with overhangs is quite the place to start a new routing campaign!

A marked improvement in the weather, and an unwinding from the journey came together, it looked like the hassle might have been worth it. There is a rare pleasure in actually having a bit of time to settle in, without the pressure of heading back home agian next week. Just need to get a bit of climbing done now.

Three days behind the wheel to escape the fog and frost of the UK. A reasonable drive (1370 miles) and typically the rain started just as we pulled off the motorway at Denia - three days later and its still spitting on, cold and windy.
Breaks in the weather allowed us to explore the local area - there are some impressive sea cliffs out there - and the weather will get better!