Having been invited to a friends wedding in Falmouth, we decided to make the most of being in Cornwall and checking out the local crags.
The wedding was truly fabulous, very relaxed, delicious Cornish fayre, traditional music (Shanties?), thanks to Genevieve & John for having us, we wish you all the best.
With a reasonable forecast on the cards, Sunday began at Bosigran. This is a coastal crag with easy access on footpaths. We climbed 4 multi-pitches routes, all felt a little tougher than expected but then we were just settling in to Cornish Granite. Anvil Chorus proved to be the highlight of the day, the 4c crack pitch is stunning.
On Monday we were joined by friends and enjoyed an ascent of Commando ridge, also at Bosigran (also known as Bosigran ridge). I had wanted to climb this for a very long time, so am really chuffed to have now done it. The sea state was rough today so we had to climb an alternative initial pitch to access the ridge. This proved to be good fun and the whole day felt like a proper adventure. I climbed this with Jules, great company as always 🙂
For anyone thinking of climbing this route, my advice is 'Do it' and take plenty slings with you, it's an absolute blast. Leader and second need to be climbing confidently at v'diff as a minimum and the ability to set up an abseil is necessary.
For Tuesday we had planned to climb at Sennen cove. However the rough seas meant this wasn't possible, so instead we choose 'Lands end long climb' - an 8 pitch v'diff that is utterly brilliant. Whilst more difficult than Commando ridge, the situations were generally less serious and escape was often straightforward. The approach is also really easy, less than 10 minutes walk from the hotel at Lands end.
There were 3 guys already on the 1st pitch, 2 of them were making very hard work of it and much moaning and groaning was heard! It turns out the 1st pitch is actually really quite hard. It also set the tone for the rest of the route, all of it felt really tough, but still fantastic and another true adventure.
We finished off with drinks in St. Just - perfect.
On Wednesday me & Kate returned to Bosigran with our sights on the classic 'Doorpost'. However, some friends who were already at the crag mentioned there being a nesting bird on the 2nd pitch, so we decided to leave that route and the bird in peace. Instead we enjoyed 3 more multi-pitch climbs, all fantastic, the highlight being 'Ledge climb' - the flared chimney was a genuine puzzle for a non-chimney lover like me!
All that remained was an 8 hour drive back to Ambleside and lots of prep for Thursday's canyoning in Church beck. Cornwall you have been kind to us, thank you.
And big thanks too to: Genevieve & John, Edd, Nicola, Jules, Lauren, Ross, Sally, Eric, and Kate.
Mark
