Hawkcliffe

I had forgotten about Em's work thing this afternoon, so found myself with a few hours free before I had to do a learn to lead course at the local wall.  Having seen that someone had been to Hawkcliffe and climbed the route I fancied I thought that a 5th day out of 7 was called for.  It proved to be a great end to a weeks climbing.  I had walked into the crag a week ago to find it soaking.  This time it looked like a different crag altogether, and the lines looked amazing.  Ginny Greenteeth E5 6a*** was what I had come for, and was very pleased to see that there was still loads of chalk on it.  I abseiled down and cleaned off all the dry leaves and left a sling in place for the dodgy top out just in case (useful beta from UKC).  It was totally my kind of route, so I got straight on it.  It was really balancy and technical, but not physical.  I was soon at the top, which although scary, was all good.  Many thanks to Dave Warburton and Nik Jennings for cleaning this route up.

I noticed that The Blood on the Shamrock E6 6a*** had chalk on it as well, and really fancied this too.  I dropped the rope down and had a go.  The climbing on this was also outstanding.  A little more physical, but positive and again my thing.  The hardest thing about it was not falling off whilst belaying myself through the Gri Gri.  This at least meant that I had to be balaced and solid the whole way up.  After a good rest I soloed this as well.  The crux of the route is near the start, but still quite high.  It then eases considerably as good holds arrive.

This venue has some great routes, but needs a lot more attention to stop them all being reclaimed by nature.