As planned...

Checking out the steep line of Dreaming of Red Rocks (7a+).

I spent the majority of my afternoon at St. Bees North Head, however the bolt's were not calling: the boulders were. I tried to silence the shout of the boulders, but after two rather poor, uninspiring leads on the bolted sandstone cliffs I packed away my harness, pulled out my bouldering bucket, and set to work on repeating some old problems and getting some new ones ticked off.

At the top of Problem 25 (V1, 5c) on Boulder 7 of the Apiary Wall Area.

I didn't actually repeat that many problems; I think I only sent two that I have sent on previous visits. The majority of my time was spent ticking off problems I had dismissed as too hard on my previous visits. Obviously all the training has paid dividends and I am now sending V4 and V5 problems after only working the moves for five or ten minutes.

Making the awkward moves to get off the floor on Problem 24 (V2) on Boulder 6 of the Apiary Wall Area.

Couple this with yesterday's session on the shunt at Reecastle, and ignoring the poor sport climbing performance from today, I am feeling really positive about my climbing and what I can hopefully achieve this summer. I suppose what would cap all of this off would be a holiday to a nice warm country, before knuckling down to my final year of my BA (Hons) in Outdoor Leadership.

Setting out on the elegant hanging ramp of Problem 21 (V5) on Boulder 6 of the Apiary Wall Area.

As it happens, that's what is on the cards. We've paid for the majority of a two week sport climbing break to the Greek island of Kalymnos and I bought the guidebook for the island yesterday. I spent all of last night flicking through the pages and I now wish the trip was not in September, but only a week away.

Looking out to sea on the walk up through the sandstone buttresses, to the cliff top path.

More pictures can be found here and before anything is said: yes, my hair is tied up; the wind was blowing it into my face and preventing me from seeing the holds. There could also be a video of the bouldering session put up if I can get the motivation to stitch the clips together into a half decent production.

Good lines, stay safe and see you on the wet stuff...
Iain