Classic Rock - a 30 year adventure

Gillercombe Buttress from Honister walk-in I’ve only just realised I’d not written up Gillercombe Buttress. It was tagged on to the end of the Scotland trip as we just wanted to squeeze every last bit of climbing out and as such is just sort of tagged onto the memories of that week. This is unfair, Gillercombe Buttress is a wonderful route in a stunning bit of the Lakes and although we just snapped up the one route on the way home, the crag would make a great full day out.   Happy face in happy place Gillercombe Buttress or Raven Crag on Grey Knott as it is shown on the map, was easily accessible from our car park home for the night and chosen for being in the lee of strong gales higher up. We paid a fiver to the slate mine for the pleasure of staying over and using the parking the next day, but also had to witness lots of late night maintenance getting the coffee bar up and running for the next busy day at Honister pass. Even after a relaxed brew while all around was abuzz with people

The initial garden pitch of Craig Dhu Wall Whenever we’ve travelled to North Wales for climbing, there’s been the idea that if the mountain weather ever turns against us, Tremadog will be there; where the sun always shines and even if it rains, you can take the 5 minute walk back to the car and sit it out, because this famous cliff dries again pretty much instantly. So, having never planned a visit, but with the drizzle putting us off the mountain VS routes of Idwal, we arrived at Craig y Castell, which had seemingly suffered an absolute soaking just minutes earlier. As I write this I’ve just read the blog from Anna Taylor, who was coming towards the end of her self-powered Classic Rock round at about the same time we were tackling the mighty Craig Dhu Wall. Congratulations Anna, an amazing feat to cycle between every route and climb them all in just 2 months. Seeing how much coverage you’ve received from mainstream sources as well as the climbing world makes me realise why we didn’t