Pembroke

Took a trip down to Pembroke with a friend this previous weekend. The idea was to go down early on the friday, get a few routes in. We managed to get down reasonably unscathed (so long as 3 unfair points and a £60 fine isn't the end of the world for Doyle) but the weather was seriously against us. Had a walk around, and what a place! Some of the formations like Huntsmans leap and Stennis Ford gave me the willies without me even climbing in them. That, and the area is used as a military firing zone!

We decided to save a bit of money by camping in the car:

Luxury!

Psyched!

Super Psyched!

Wasn't the best sleep I've ever had. Better that than shelling out £100 on a hotel room.

It carried on raining until the early hours of the morning, and once we woke we were greeted by sun beaming in through the condensation soaked windows. Had a quick breakfast and set out to the cliffs. When we got there the signs were promising. A few walls were already drying fast in the increasingly warm sun. We walked over to Bosherton Head which turned out to be dry, and decided to start off on an HVS called Hercules. Ioan led, avoiding the gopping crack that the route usually went up, opting for an easier line up the arete on the left. I was seconding, and we had put the bags on this ledge, away from the unbelievably rough seas:

The 'almost ruined our trip' ledge

As I was halfway up the route, a freak wave hit the shelf and started dragging our bags back into the murky depths! Ioans bag stopped well short of the edge, whereas mine was washed far too close to the edge for comfort. Cue a series of screams of desperation from the both of us, a quick descent off the route and a dive onto my bag to stop gear, phone, keys, clothes etc being lost. Then set up a winch system to save the bags from another unexpected trip. Managed to finally finish the route, still couldn't believe how close we'd been to completely ruining the trip.

We decided to head further north to try and escape the rough seas and do a top 50 climb. We had to abseil in, and the sea was just as bad, worse even. We wanted to do Strike Lucky/Lucky Strike E1, but the high waves forced us to make a higher than usual hanging belay to stop us drowning. Ioan led off again, as the route was wet and we were in a very exposed position. We had already been scared silly as the waves were just about hitting us on the belay 20ish metres up, and looked like there were bigger swells on the way. Ioan finished the route, only getting hit by a bit of spray near the top of the route (35-40m high!!) and I had escaped with wet feet. As he was setting up the belay, a massive 20+ ft wave was coming towards me. I had just enough time to roll off a few choice expletives before the wave was crashing above me. I got drenched. My chalk bag was even full to the brim with salt water. Despite being cold and wet, I completed the route fine, minus my dignity of course. Another epic to go with the first! Ioan also said " I've been less scared climbing E7's" which summed it up perfectly

Look at the height of the waves!!

After I'd dried off and picked through the ruin that was the inside of my bag, we went to trevallen. A lot of it was wet, but Ioan spotted an E3, the name of which escapes me, that looked dry. He set up this and was struggling a bit near the crux. It became apparent to me why, when I stuck my fingers in the crack, cammed my fingers in, and subsequently slipped straight out. Somehow he'd managed to frig his way up this gopping crack, good effort! I had a few problems going up it, and realised I seriously need to work on my climbing.
That turned out to be the last route of the day, as we decided to make our way to Cardiff for a wee drinkie poos. It turned out to be a small drink for Ioan with me compensating for his sobriety by having about 8. Needless to say I felt rough the next day. We chose to just drive back, as it was probably dry up in Tremadog or the Pass.
We stopped off in Tremadog, had a quick chat with Eric and we thought it would be a good idea to try the crack pitch of Neb Direct. Went up to the top to ab down, the walk purging me of the toxins from the night before in the form of profusive sweating. Views and weather were stunning. The crack itself wasn't. A birds nest and lots of water made us rethink our tactics. In the end we opted for home.

Well, that was a very eventful and enjoyable trip. Shame I didn't manage to lead anything but that should come in time. It great to climb with someone as good as Ioan though. He's put a lot of effort in and he has incredible natural talent and is keen to share his invaluable knowledge. We're off to Sheffield on Friday for the CWIF bouldering competiton. I've been talked into entering for some reason. A V4 climber doesn't belong in there, amongst the best and strongest climbers doing the rounds. Ah well, I might learn something. Don't get talked into entering the CWIF's, probably?