We’re back in Spain for a boys break near Barcelona. Having finally arrived around 1am (thank you to the French air traffic control dispute ) we made a late arrival at the rifugio at Abella de la Conca. This is a recent “eco renovation” high up in the hills at about 1000m and surrounded by spectacular rock and scenery.

Our destination for the day, once I’d finally roused Jake from his pit, was Collegats. This is probably best known for its conglomerate climbing, but beneath this layer is more conventional limestone which is exposed either side of a steep gorge where a river has sliced through. Both sides look impressive, but it’s the west facing sector La Pedera which gets the afternoon sun – unfortunately this is on the wrong side of the river. Enterprising local climbers have rigged a pretty robust Tyrolean…..

The guide says you need a special pulley system, leather gloves and necessary know-how. We only had the latter, but it seemed to suffice.

Once across the river we were rewarded with some great climbing on very good rock – protected from overuse by the involved approach.