Wales Trip

So for the last few weeks I have been training for a climbing trip with my school. Originally we were going to go up to the peaks for a few days climbing there. Then it was changed to climbing in the Portland and Swanage area; then it was changed to going to Wales which was brilliant as I have only been there climbing for a few hours previously.

We arrived at Llangattock in the afternoon and got straight in. I didn't much fancy top-roping some of the 4's and 5's that were set up and instead I did some traversing. I quickly did one which I think was around V4 or V5 although I'm not too sure. Then, at the far left hand end of the crag I found an awesome looking boulder! It was a really interesting style on slopers and crimps, nearly all sidepulls as well which led to some odd movements. I spent about an hour, maybe a bit more, trying to do it. I worked out all the moves fairly quickly and there was only one I couldn't do. It was then that we had to leave for the day; this was uber frustrating!! I was so close!! I reckon I only needed a few more goes before I sent it but we had to go. This might have been for the better though as now I have a project for next time I come back. Also, the boulder was situated in a slightly damp hollow and the midges were shit!

The next day we went to Llangorse climbing centre which was interesting. It was a centre more designed for the activity side of things rather than the climbing. This meant a lot of easy routes and most were fairly poorly graded which wasn't too good. However there was some half-decent bouldering in a couple of caves and the sheer amount of climbing there was awesome though!!

On the Wednesday we had to go back. However, before we did, we managed to fit in several hours at the classic limestone crag Symonds Yat. I've been there once before although it was raining then and we barely did anything. I started on a decent looking route which involved climbing a technical (and very slimy!!) slab up to an overhang, however over the overhang, there were no decent holds to be able to get round so I moved on feeling a bit annoyed. I then did a couple of decent looking corner climbs, one very reachy and another pretty bare and technical. After this we then had to go as we couldn't get back too late in the evening.

In all it was a sick trip with some decent climbing! It was also just fun to explore some new places and gave me a decent experience of some of the Welsh limestone.

Thanks for reading