Allgäu (with feedback from a couple of nit-pickers I’ve even managed the umlaut over the second “a”) is the southernmost region in Bavaria, from about an hour’s drive south of Munich and stretching down to the Austrian border. It lays claim to the runner-up spot in the “most important climbing destination in Germany” behind Frankenjura and seemed worth a visit. Our last minute planning left just enough time for the express delivery of the guidebook before we set off from home (kudos to https://www.climb-europe.com/).

There are about 80 crags all within about an hour’s drive, with a good mix of orientation and elevation to cater for the weather, and unusually comprising four types of rock: Limestone, Sandstone, Conglomerate and “Calcareous Tufa” (if we find out what that is we’ll let you know!) The area is pretty rolling hills and farmland, fringed by mountains up to around 2,000m, with a backdrop of bigger Alps behind.

Our first foray was to Weihar, one of the venues warranting 4*s on the 0 to 4 scale used in the guide. The thermometer is pushing into the high 20s so the altitude at around 1,200m is welcome, as is the morning shade. Like most of the crags in these parts, it’s almost invisible from below – blanketed by trees.

Up close, it’s fairly impressive, with a central wall up to around 50m with routes of up to 3 pitches, with more modest single-pitch fare either side. Pippy Longstocking was a beguiling name for an absolute sandbag of a route, and a bit of a warning shot regarding the grading! Via Kunterbunt (I didn’t make it up!) was more amenable and Helen found Herr Nialson a walk in the park – all of them graded 6+ and with a few tens of metres of each other

Over on the main Ifenblick wall, I strung together the first two pitches of Verliebte Jungs for a taxing pitch of 7

Helen also enjoyed D’r Krumm, 5, and D’Grad, 4+,

whereas I picked another couple of fights with Fur Thia Verboten, 7+ and Extrabreit, 7.

Fab surroundings and nice to climb to the accompaniment of melodious cow bells.