It’s raining everywhere apart from Holyhead (as always),  the bird ban is over for the year and Stan’s out – we’re off to Red Wall (of course!) 

Trying to find a route that Stan hasn’t done is becoming increasingly difficult, but we managed two! 

Red Haze – after the usual faff to access the Red Wall belay (double ab and grassy traverse)… 

… we pick hands for the “rock of destiny” and I get the fun first pitch. Sandy climbing up quartz features in a chimney 

Brings you to the 2-bolt belay 

And then Stan launches out up and leftwards into more “don’t fall off” territory – tricky 5c climbing and far from reassuring gear. Great lead! The book says E3/4 and I’d certainly endorse the “4”!

Then down for more fun – this time on The Cree, a single pitch with quite a BIG feel 

This gets E3 6a which is a pretty unusual grade for Gogarth let alone Red Wall. Sure enough, there’s only one hard section and there’s decent gear (which I tested when my foot slipped on the crux), but it’s a genuinely hard move and maybe worth E4.

Having survived a double dose of The Red Stuff we settled down on the top of Castle Helen to enjoy the sunset, bask in the wellbeing and watch a couple of teams on Electrification (which shares The Cree crux – golden wall on RHS) and TV Route (just to the right), scene of some excitement with Jake and Andy a few years ago.