Home time...

Well after I returned from South Wales I had 2 days to unpack and then repack in order to return home to Scotland for a week. Well 1 day as I worked the other.

So here is another very short blog about my time spent back home.
During the week I spent home I managed to get out in the hills and get another 4 quality mountain days logged.

Here is a view of the mountain days including mapped images from ukhillwalking.com.

Ben Arthur via Succoth car park - with mum.

Ben Vane via Inveruglas - With Leo.

Beinn Dubhchraig via Tyndrum - Solo.

Beinn Narnain and Beinn Ime via Succoth car park - Solo.

All in all an enjoyable week. Bagged 5 summits, 4 of which were Munros. I have now registered for the Mountain Leader award so will be out very soon in order to bag some more quality mountain days.

Until next time...

The Gower...

Well now that I have returned from a climbing trip to South Wales I thought it would be best to scribble down a quick passage of how the trip went. More of a quick recollection than a blog!

I teamed up with good friend Jamie during the 4 day trip which saw the group climbing at a number of destinations along the coast of the Gower Peninsula.

Myself and Sam running to 'Three Cliffs Bay'...

The list of climbs I managed to tick off:

Transit - HS 4b - Lead on-site.

The Nose - HS 4a - Second on-site.

Jamie following myself up 'Scavenger VS 4c'

Legge - Severe 4a - Lead on-site.

Pistas Canute - VS 4b - Lead on-site.

Great Deidre II - VS 4c - Lead on-site.

Forgotten Elephant - HS 4b - Second on-site.

Curving Crack - HS 4b - Lead on-site.

First Deidre - Diff - Second on-site.

The Fin End of the Wedge - 5 - Lead on-site.

Atomic Wedgie - 6a - Lead on-site.

Slab and Rib - V-diff - Second on-site.

Groove - V-diff - Lead on-site.

Scavenger - VS 4c - Lead on-site.

Initiation Flake - Severe - Second on-site.

Left Edge - HS 4b - Lead on-site.

Perseverance HS 4b - Lead on-site.

Spouse Crack - Severe - Lead on-site.

Arch Slab - VS 4c - Lead on-site.

Wall Climb II - Diff - Solo on-site.

Dulfer - Severe 4a - Lead on-site.

'Three Cliffs Bay' rising up from the sand...

Recently returned from a trip back home to Scotland so another blog post will be on its way shortly.

Land of the Orcadians..

For the past fortnight I have been working far North on Orkney for the Orkney Islands Council on behalf of Adelong Outdoor. During the 2 weeks I was there I was part of the outdoor education staff team in place to run a variety of sessions for their summer schools programme.

School group bottom roping at Yesnaby...

The first 3 days I was there I was working alongside Alice and Kristian delivering the outdoor ed programme to the Northern Isles Schools. This involved me taking half of the school group climbing on the Monday and the other half of the school group climbing and abseiling on Tuesday. The venue used for these sessions was a small quarried sandstone crag called Yesnaby.

Canoe sailing at Boardhouse Loch...

On the Wednesday I ran a morning and an afternoon canoe session at boardhouse Loch for the same 2 school groups and even managed to set up a diamond raft for each group in order to canoe sail back down the loch to reach the get out! Both groups, and myself included, thoroughly enjoyed the canoe sailing with some of the group saying it was 'epic'. Job well done. On the Wednesday evening it was time to say goodbye to the Northern Isles Schools groups. Receiving a mass hug from all the kids was enough feedback to know that the 3 days spent teaching and instructing them was a job well done!

After saying our goodbyes myself and Alice packed up all the equipment and caught the last ferry of the day to reach Hoy and meet up with Nigel. After having dinner for the evening at Nigel's house down in Racwick I packed my daysack and made a solo walk up to see the Old Man of Hoy. I got there late in the evening and managed to get some superb silhouette shots as the sun was setting behind Britain's highest sea stack. The glow of the setting sun turning all the Western facing sea cliffs a burning orange

Myself beside the Old Man and the orange burnt sea cliffs of Hoy...

On the Thursday morning myself, Alice, Nigel and Karen all met up at the Hoy centre to check in with the group whom Nige and Karen took Gorge Walking on the previous day. The group were from Stromness Academy and were in the process of packing their personal equipment including food, tents, clothes etc for the day and night ahead. Once the group were all packed myself, Alice and Karen walked with the group through the Rackwick valley and had a lunch stop at the beautiful Sandy Loch before we made our way to the Rackwick bothy and camping site. Once at the site we helped the group pitch their tents and stay occupied until the evenings activity. During the evening Karen and Alice took part of the group canoeing whilst I took a few members of the group on an evening walk to the Old Man of Hoy.. This time it was quite foggy and much more of the detail was captured in the atmospheric photos.

The Old Man it all its glory...

The next morning was an early start for myself and Nigel. We were down at the camp to greet the group and take some volunteers who were up early on a quick canoe up the burn. This was partly done as it was easier to paddle the canoes rather than walk them up to the car park! Once this was done we rounded up all of the group and headed back to the Hoy centre where all of the kit was sorted and aired out. Another goodbye was said and some unhappy faces from the group as they had to board the ferry and head back to the main island. Now that the working week was over we all said our goodbyes to Karen as she left Orkney and made the long journey south back to Devon.

Alice on top of 'Richy's Step' pitch...

Now that we were free until Monday morning myself and Alice went on an exploration of a nearby gorge and made some good progress. We made some first ascents in the gorge and even made it right to the top of the gorges main source. After making the first ascent of a steep waterfall pitch I set up the electron ladder and passed it down to Alice to make the second ascent. This pitch has now been named 'Richy's Step'. 

On the Saturday I didn't want to waste any time on the island so I made an early start and went on a solo walk on the hills of Hoy and managed to bag 3 summits and claim a good mountain day. 

On the Sunday myself and Alice met up with Kristian and Orkney kayaking club on the mainland and done a long journey from Dingyshowe Bay to Lamb Holm. On the journey we explored some fascinating caves and tunnels. One tunnel in particular was superb, running under the cliffs and was at least 35 metres long!

Sea kayaking journey - image above left. Walking journey - Above right...

On the following Monday I was working on the mainland once again. I ran a further 2 climbing sessions for another school group down at Yesnaby where the sun was out and I managed to bag 12 solos, all on on-sight. 8 in the morning before the 1st group turned up and a further 4 inbetween the 1st and 2nd group. 

The list of climbs was:

Quarryman - 5+

Up the Middle - 6a

The Stretch - 6a+

The Prow - 4+

Daddy Long Legs - 6a

Sunset Slab - 5+

Mr Ian - 6a+

Mr Chris - 6a

Mr Tim - 5+

Wet Feet - 5+

Olive Oil - 6b

Running 2 climbing sessions and bagging some brilliant routes, not a bad day!

The next day I was down at Yesnaby again to run another 2 climbing sessions, this time with Shapinsay school. The group enjoyed the climbing and the weather was enough to ensure that everyone went back to the centre red faced and tired!

On the Wednesday I was down at boardhouse loch with Shapinsay school where I ran a raft building session for each group and played 'distressed civilian' with each group. Unfortunately only one civilian was saved and the second group all took the plunge before they made it back to safe shores!

Scapa Arete - S 4a. First ever first ascent...

On the Wednesday evening myself and Ron headed down to Scapa Beach Quarry to reccy the abseil site where I would be working on the Thursday running sessions for both Orphir and Stenness school. The quarry looked to be virgin territory in a climbing sense and looks as though it has never had a climber on its walls. With this in mind I mad my first ever climbing first ascent on one of the very crumbly arêtes, done a horrendous mantle to top out and then got spewed on by an angry fulmar. What a story to tell the kids.

On the Thursday morning I headed down to the quarry early in order to rig up the abseil which would be used throughout the day. In total I got no less than 14 of the kids from both schools to brave the abseil down in to the quarry. Abseiling from a cliff top walkway to a beach is not a bad day out for a school trip I suppose. 

After the abseiling sessions had been run I made my way back to Hoy for the night and met up with Nigel and Alice to do some more exploring! Nigel had convinced myself and Alice that he had spotted a tomb which was situated on a band of sandstone perched high up on a cliff. After a week of talking and scouting from the road with the binoculars the time had come to check it out. The 3 of us slogged it up the hill for the best part of an hour, stopping to briefly rest and enjoy the views. Once we had all reached the 'Tomb' we discovered that it was merely a small cave that had been weathered out from years of savage weather on the island. However if we had all went home for the summer and not explored the area we would surely have regretted it. 

The view from the 'Tomb'. Haist in the foreground with Ward Hill in the distance...

All was not lost though. Whilst up at the 'Tomb' I managed to climb another 2 first ascents bringing my total to 3!

Making the first ascent of  'Richy's Chimney ' Hs 4b... (Photo courtesy of Alice Hewson).

Making the first ascent of 'Tomb Raider' Hs 4b... (Photo courtesy of Alice Hewson).

All in all a brilliant fortnight with great company. The groups were great to work with and I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent there. I will be back to Hoy one day to climb the Old Man, that's for sure!

In the process of packing for a trip to the Gower peninsula tomorrow to get some climbing done! Take care all...

Train, Bike, Swim...

Its been almost 2 weeks now since I returned from my last climbing trip to Portland, time flies eh..?

Training on the college bouldering wall...

Since I have been back I have kept myself busy in preparation for my next climbing trip to the Gower peninsula, which will be going ahead next month.

In order to avoid the same disappointment I had in Portland of climbing very few routes and very easy grades, I have made a conscious effort to get as much time on the bouldering and climbing wall as possible in the last few weeks. I have been training solo on the college bouldering wall as often as possible working on strength endurance by doing circuits on the vertical and overhanging sections of the wall. I have managed to fit in 4 sessions at the college wall lasting roughly an hour and a half each time. As with training on the boulder wall myself and Sean managed to make it to Exeter for a day where we had a full session bouldering and leading at the Quay climbing centre. Whilst there myself and Sean managed to get a good 15 leads in each on the leading routes climbing grades up to 6b+ and roughly V3 - V4ish in the boulder rooms...still have some strength work to do!! Alongside the climbing training I have been on the exercise bike during the days where I have not been on the wall, which has been quite a lot considering I have massed around 60km this week alone!

Quay Climbing Centre...

Myself mid air down at Anstey's...

Alongside the training, I have managed to get out and do some coasteering sessions with some friends. Myself, Adam and Stan enjoyed a good 3 hour session on the weekend down at Anstey's cove with perfect blue skies and a warm air temperature, bliss. Today also marked a long awaited occasion...the last day of Uni for the year!! I handed in my last piece of work this morning and enjoyed another coasteering session at Anstey's with a handful of the 1st and 2nd degree guys. Perfect way to end the academic year!

One more coasteering session on Thursday before I head off to Hoy on Friday for a week of freelancing work. Until then, Adios...

Sportland Climbing Weekend...

Now that University lectures and assignments are tapering to an end for the year, thankfully, I managed to squeeze a weekend of sport climbing in on a recent trip to Portland.

By the time we arrived in Teignmouth on Sunday morning, to pick Briony up, the car and roof box was already packed with climbing kit, food, cider and a tent big enough for the entire camp site. So it was less than comical when we had to attach Briony's boulder mats to the top of the roof box in order for us all to get a comfy enough seat in the car!

Joel and Sean (Notice boulder mats on roof box)

After a fairly short drive we arrived in Dorset and pitched the tent just as the sky was clearing and the sun was shining down on the Isle of Portland, beautiful. After a quick game of ultimate frisbee Myself, Briony, Joel and Sean headed to the West side of the island to ensure that we were climbing in the sun from midday through to the late evening.

The first crag we visited was Blacknor North. A popular crag which has some very interesting climbs on flowstone formations, intricate arêtes and classic crack climbs. As Briony cruised up Slings Shot followed by myself, Joel and Sean were nearby attempting another route named Apfel Strudel. Once we had ticked these routes and a few others we moved further South to the crag of Blacknor Central where my self and Briony had a quick attempt at Monsoon Malabar, a very intricate and photogenic arête climb.

Briony and myself on 'Monsoon Malabar'

Once we had climbed at this crag we noticed that the tide was now going out so we all headed even further South to Blacknor Beach where Joel, Briony and myself quickly ticked off another photogenic climb named Fallen Slab Arête.

Briony cruising 'fallen Slab Arête'

Once we had ticked this route off we picked up another friend, Stan, headed back towards the camp site where we had a quick shower and another game of frisbee before we headed to the pub for our meal reservation and a deserved pint.

The next morning we awoke at the agreed 6am to find that outside the visibility was less than 15 metres in any direction, great! However, after we all crawled out of our pits, sorted equipment and dropped the tent the sun was beginning to shine through and reveal yet another beautiful sunny day, perfect climbing conditions. Once we had a quick bite to eat in the camp site restaurant the 5 of us headed to the East side of the island to grab the morning sun.

Upon arrival at Beeston Cliff we spotted that the abseil ledge was less than 2 metres above the sea which gave the climbs we were intending on doing a very atmospheric feeling. Myself, Briony, Sean and Stan all abseiled down to the ledge and quickly ticked off Etna and Krakatoa before having a quick bite to eat and a discussion about the next route. 

Briony belaying myself on the atmospheric 'Etna' at Beeston Cliff

Next up was Stan's route. A left to right traverse under a huge roof just 2 metres above the sea. Myself and Briony watched on as Stan cruised along Belly Button Traverse and arrived at the belay with little difficulty. Next up was Briony who dropped down from the ledge and got midway along the traverse before peeling off the route and narrowly avoided taking a plunge in to the sea. When Briony got the guns back she made her way along to the belay for a well deserves rest. I then followed the line towards Briony and Stan and managed to reach the belay with only a pumped left arm.

Briony starting the traverse with Stan at the belay in the background

Once we had finished at Beeston Cliff we headed North towards the The Cuttings in order to get some more routes ticked off whilst the sun was still shining.

Between us we managed to tick off Two Fingers, Three fingers and Opus before I had a very interesting time falling off The Sod before I read that it was 'a little tougher for the short' (Rockfax).

Briony eyeing up the last mantel move on 'The Sod'

Now that it was getting late we decided that we would head round to the West side of the island in order to bag a few more routes in the dark with head torches on. When we arrived we descended in to the quarry where Briony unfortunately twisted her ankle and had to be carried back to the car by myself and Joel. A visit to Weymouth A & E ensued where 2 Dr's agreed that Briony had broken her fibula and required an X-Ray at Exeter hospital for confirmation.  A quick drive to Exeter where the X-Ray showed no break but more of a badly twisted ankle, thank god. 6 hours later and we finally arrived back in Torbay in one piece.

Don't worry Briony, you'll be back climbing in no time.

Off to Hoy working at the end of the month and away to South Wales for another climbing eXped so I'm sure there will be more blog posts in the coming weeks,

Richy.

Time Management...

Well the first year of University is nearly out of the way and with coursework assessments becomming increasingly thinner I have had the chance to get back out on the water.

Assessments that have been underway in the last few weeks have consisted of assignments and reports in modules including Adventure Sports, Sports Coaching and Exercise Science.

For the Adventure Sports module I have been writing a personal reflection which has involved myself choosing three personal incidents in an outdoor education context and critically reviewing each incident and analysing why each of the three incidents will benefit myself as an outdoor practitioner.
For the sports coaching module I have been writing an assignment on the moral and social issues in which sport coaches should have an indepth knowledge. Along with this I have included the legal requirements and legislative factors in which sport coaches should adhere to.

For the Exercise Science module I have written a report on the ways in which we can assess human performance. This has included myself taking part in exercise testing and comparing my results with normative data. The report also includes test protocols and ethical issues which coaches must adhere to when testing clients.

Boring coursework talk aside I managed to get out on the weekend with friends and run the river Erme from Harford bridge down through the Erme gorge. Video below...

 

 

Video curtesy of Ben Lomax...

North Wales...

Following on from my last blog post about the Dagger Mamba 7.6 I am pleased to write that I have now used this boat in a few new locations.

During the half term week I headed to North Wales with friends Tori and Sam in order to run some different rivers in a beautiful location. However, and very unfortanetely, there was no rain forecast the whole week, brilliant...

We arrived in Llangollen Monday afternoon and were very surprised to see that the River Dee was running with some good flows and a good level. We instantly got kitted up, paddled along the seemingly endless canal and finally reached the get in. After a few minutes of paddling we reached the 'Serpents Tail' rapid, a class 3/4 wave train leading to a sharp drop in to a winding rapid. After 3 runs on this rapid we carrid on down the river playing on waves and holes before taking the boof line on the class 4 rapid that is 'Town Falls'.

 

 

Me running the 'Serpents Tail' rapid...

 



As there was no rain and the only river that was running was the Dee we decided to have a day of surf kayaking. We haded North towards Anglesey in order to find a beach with a good surf forecast and after speaking to a few local shops we were pointed in the direction of Rhosneiger where broadsand beach had the best surf forecast. 3-5 foot every 12ish seconds. We spent the next few hours in the sunshine carving clean waves in yet another beautiful location.

Broadsand beach, Rhosneiger...

 

 

After a day on the surf we headed back towards Llanberis to have a bite to eat at Petes Eats cafe and discuss our options for the following day. It was just our luck that the following day both the dam released River Tryweryn and Cardiff  White Water Centre were both not releasing any water. We headed towards Llangollen the following morning and had another run on the River Dee, which had a surprisingly good amount of water in it. We nailed the 'Serpents Tail' and 'Town Falls' rapids head on before finishing for the day and heading back down South to Devon.

 

 

 

Petes Eats Cafe, Llanberis... 

 

 



So after a 3 day trip with no rain there is still many positives to be taken away. Paddling on a different river, surf kayaking at a new location and being in a beautiful location...

 

Due to there still being no water once we had returned from North Wales, me and friends Joel and Sam decided to head North once again and enjoyed a very quiet day, but full on, day at Cardiff White Water Centre on a release of 8 cumecs.

 

All in all an enjoyable half term...