EGCC Newsletter twenty
seven
Lazy Summer Days
The trip list said Peaks Limestone so we headed up to
Froggatt to do some grit climbing, who believes the trip
list anyway? Froggatt is in my opinion the best gritstone
crag in Derbyshire, full of nice routes with just the
right amount of difficulty. We arrived about midday ,
made the usual wrong turning on the way to the crag and
did the usual stumble through the under growth to reach
the bottom of the climbs. Both Steve Harris and I where
looking for some nice easy climbs to sort out our various
"head" problems, Steve's caused by a run of bad
luck and mine stemming from seeing Dave take a dive at
the Dewarstone. Angela on the other hand fancied a nice
weekend away and Flo's mind was probably filled with
thoughts of food.
We started on Grey Slab, a nice straight forward climb
with cracks that swallowed protection and held on to it
for dear life, nothing hard just a pad up perfect grit
and a little thought about surmounting the finial wide
crack. After a spot of lunch we did my favourite climb of
the crag, Allan's Slab, with its long traverse on small
but solid holds, and then onto Stickle buttress, yet
another climb that I'd never noticed before. And so the
day went on with Steve and I picking out the easier
climbs. We ended the day on Green Gut a demanding crack
which forced you to find every hold.
All day we had been expecting Sarah, Laura and Trevor
to arrive and finally at 8:00pm they arrived. Steve and I
went to find a campsite leaving the others to make the
best of the perfect weather with a little bit of evening
bouldering. It was then that we found that Derbyshire was
full! The only nearby campsite that had places was the
Eric Bryne light weight campsite which was a very long
walk from the car (no cars are allowed on the site).
After many trips to the car we set up camp at dusk.
Laura, Sarah's three year old, had a wail of a time
running in and out of our four Wendy Houses whilst we ate
our meals and planned the next day.
The plans we made where not to be. On Sunday in true
Derbyshire fashion we had showers followed by rain and
then drizzle. There was only one thing for it, retail
therapy. We wandered off to outside to watch Trev select
a new pair of boots for his up and coming Alps trip.
After two hours the novelty of this experience had worn
very thin. The rain had dwindled to light drizzle so
Angela, Steve and I we for a walk. Needless to say we got
very wet and gently steamed all the way home.
Pete
Wind Your Neck In Buckle
A weekend of abuse in the direction of
our very own Derek.
What a great weekend, I can only speak for myself but
Steve Humphries, John Temple, Derek and Jenny Buckle all
seemed to enjoy themselves.
The abuse came from Jenny, who under no circumstances
seemed willing to bow down to her long suffering father
(all together now aaahhh) after much torment by him, her
reply was clear and for all to hear, "Wind you neck
in Buckle". I must state that we did not laugh at
this or make it a key phrase for the entire weekend.
Limestone is not my favourite rock, I prefer Lemon,
but we had a guide with local knowledge who took us to
Gordale Scar were Derek and Steve seemed to be working
though all the routes in the guide book whilst John and I
climbed the routes that weren't. We climbed the lower
left wing which has several starred routes of which the
most enjoyable was The Eliminate 26m VS 4c. There is a
route here worth looking at - Rebel 47m E5 6b ***
completed in 1962 but first attempted in 1958 by some one
in the club. John didn't fancy a repeat today though.
On Sunday after a chorus of "Wind your neck in
Buckle" it was off to Crummackdale, a very worthy
crag. Eventually John and I started climbing routes which
where in the guide. Steve seemed unstoppable, so Jenny
liking life joined in with John and I. All the climbing
here was good especially in the VS grades.
Monday, all together now - "Wind your neck in
Buckle". Pen y Ghent a Yorkshire
"mountain" with a gritstone (yes Pete,
Gritstone) crag just off it's summit. A good walk in but
we had the crag to our selves. A handful of classics all
graded low in Johns book but much higher in a later book.
All where well protected apart from one that John lead
(graded HS in Johns book, probably E silly quite
technical now) which was exposed and steep with rounded
holds only two gear placements one of which was marginal.
The rest of the route where much better which was good as
I lead it.
Stuart Worsfold
Living in fear of Derek
Cafe, Climbing and Beer
I had never been to Pembroke before, I know that
everybody raves about it, I know that all the climbs
should have stars, its just that I'd never been. The
place is amazing. A coastline packed full of Limestone
cliffs and perfect views out to sea. It made me wonder
why I'd not made the journey before.
We had arranged to meet Eddie and Catherine in the
cafe. No one had ever mentioned the cafe before. It was
like stepping into someone's living room. There were
pictures of the family round the walls, odd bits of
furniture spread about and it was all run by an old lady
who would let you order any drink as long as it was tea.
Bruce and I went mad at Saddle head. There was just so
much to climb and we where going to climb every route.
Every route was special, different and unique, we climbed
non stop in case we missed another gem. Eddie, Rupert and
Catherine went to Huntsman's Leap to collect E-points by
the bagfull. The only way to end the day was in the only
pub drinking far too much beer, well it would have been
rude not to! At sometime during the evening Rupert told
us about the sports climber they had met in the Leap who
thought it was high time to try trad climbing. By the end
of the day he had done an HVS, E1, E2, E3, E4 and E5. Now
that's what I call an introduction!
For some strange reason the next day started very
slowly, possibly because we where drained from the
previous day climbing? After a lot of dedicated milling
about, wandering around cliff tops, waiting for the tide
to go out and sleeping Bruce and I went back to Saddle
Head to "Finish off" whilst Eddie, Rupert and
Catherine went off add to their collection of E-points.
Nice place, shame it's so far away
Pete
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