southern sandstone

got down to the closest proper bouldering to london, the sandstone around tunbridge wells. a handy free online guide had photos of effectively every line but no topo. went to eridge green (high rocks apparently charge £10 to park). was initially very excited by the rock which seemed pretty much a corner of font. unfortunately the rock was a generally softer version of font, with some seriously sandy holds. despite this there seemed plenty to do if i had had a pad, which i probably won't get to bring over here until christmas. i'm now a member of a bouldering wall in the middle of town which i've been using quite a bit. have to had to lower my expectations of what i can currently get up, but now that i have, i have started enjoying it all again.

branson's back garden

got up to the art blocs today and was pleasantly surprised at their size and quality. it would have been better if both boulders were in the same field and not 3 miles apart but such are the complexities of modern art. as quarried granite there were occasional hints of dalkey shit friction but it was very sunny, other times it was a pretty sharp crimpfest closer to the scalp. the boulders were both high enough that you only want to top out if you're sure there's a feasible way down and the larger boreholes lower down had been filled in, i assume to stop kids getting out of their depth. One line caught my imagination on each boulder, both having foot faggotry as key. On the shoreditch boulder it was an arete/face line using a toe hook to stop a barn door from which you reach to the heinously smooth sloping rail of a bisected borehole. on the mabley boulder it was an overhanging corner involving more boreholes and a heelhook. i failed to top out either line which is a result really, considering its the only outdoor bouldering within cycling distance. skin pinked up very quickly.

both pics of mabley boulder. didn't want to leave my camera down at the shoreditch boulder, a couple of toothless drunks on bikes seemed far too keen on me getting to the top.

Mostly indoors

Fresh off the boat and currently contentedly unemployed, I've already visited the Arch, similar to dublin's own under a railway arch. Better though, obviously. Well organised with clear circuits to try. Found i could do most of the "hard" circuit when they were vertical or slab-like, with some lovely feature use that appealed to the contortionist in me. Anything steeper left me totally mat-bound reflecting my quiet/cave-less summer. Nice to know there is some baseline ability in there somewhere which does not fade with expanding waistline. Going to visit these http://www.peeruk.org/projects/frankland/john-frankland.html so i don't become a total wall rat.

so i have climbed since my grand announcement that I was back on the horse, but not much. various wanderings during the thesis but little enough climbing, getting out was the order of the day. did my first proper multi-pitches over in italy, 5 -6 pitches on lovely granite slabs, with some nice exposure near the top of one to keep me honest. this was mostly bolted so also served as my introduction to sport climbing. on other days did some single pitch stuff which was harder technically but the bolts tended to be generously spread. managed a 6b steep ( ie. between slab and vertical) crack on the last day which was a hard as I could do in my current dough boy state. really enjoyed the alpine stuff, found my headspace generally came very easily and enjoyed the sense of prolonged movement over rock which ireland can rarely offer. gina kept offering to go bouldering but i had no interest in going out and feeling weak as shit on 5s. also had an echo of how we felt at the fairhead meet pissing around on the boulders at the foot of such impressive cliffs. london offers neither cliffs nor boulders, so i'll see where my eyes go when i get there.

back on the horse

missed having a car but found the weather irresistible so cycled as far up 3 rock as i could get without dying. climbed for a bit just to start the long road back to fitness, then realised i'd a flat tyre so walked/ran down from 3 rock to the house, something of a triathlon of an evening. friction was pretty shit but i didn't help by having very little chalk. few midge about, no breeze, lot of bikers.

scalp

Got up to the scalp for an early session. Found my mp3 player which I had forgotten up there on sunday and it was still in perfect working order, shows how good the weather's been. Started on dark angle, found the sitter less painful on my finger, pleased to get the first move but then barned off, then was greasing off after that. Up to ldf, i'm still in wax mode for that line, but was a little frustrated that i can flash it as then i'm done there. Did a little perusing and realised there's a leftwards line which goes out through a relatively narrow gap. I found it a problem in the true sense of the word, slightly awkward and needs right sequence to unlock the bottom and then a lovely top out, Manhole, 6b+ maybe harder. Cleaned the wall behind/left of it also, there might be a short arse line there. Up to beside Ahab's, did Paul's thing then tried the other line, its bulky as fuck and i wasn't getting past previous point.

scalp

after a day of overeating at the state's expense i felt obliged to do something this evening and decided on the scalp principally for the cycle. got there earlier than dave and did dark angle while i was waiting. tried sitter and my finger told me in no uncertain terms to stand up and walk away. went up to the arete line and seems like it might be a non starter. then headed up to one of many low balls and found a thrutchy, short arse scrubby little line which was great fun on good rock and put up enough of a fight to require a return visit. every visit to the scalp is a kick to nothing for me so i'm pleased the last couple of times its come good.