More mixed weather and more fretting over weather apps – this time with Paul as partner in crime. The final coin toss came down to Caithness vs Pembroke, and we ended up heading northwards. I’ve had a few visits to this northeastern-most frontier of British mainland climbing…

Caithness Convalescence

… and had raved to Paul about the quality of the climbing and of the environment. As the hours of driving ticked by and the drizzle fell, I was really hoping I hadn’t over-sold it or jinxed the weather.

No fear on the latter front, at least on Day 1 as we headed to Sarclet

… and jumped straight on the modern classic: Sarclet Pimpernel, E1 5a

After nipping up The Adventures Of Baron Von Midgehousen, E1 5c, we switched sides to the sombre North East Face, abbing down the unappealing (in these conditions) Crypt Robber…

… to climb Edge Over The Sea, E1 5b, which takes the opposite side of the arete from Sarclet Pimpernel and is significantly tougher.

On two previous visits to Big Buttress I’d watched climbers on the stunning, fiercely overhanging arete of Northern Alliance, E3 5c.

Encouraged by the guidebook “not as hard as it looks” I ventured up. Pumpy but safe, and quite exhilarating!

Paul had a final guzzle at the trough of 4* routes with Groove Armada, VS, and we both agreed that the trip was already heading into credit on the faff-fun meter. The fantastic aurora display that evening served to nudge the dial further.

Back a couple of days later, the team was reinforced by Jim, escaping rain in Fort Bill to join us on the sunlit NE coast. Pudding Stone Buttress is further north from the more frequented areas, around the “L” shaped Oily Geo. Sun, surf, seabirds and a whiff of ozone are a feast for the senses.

I kicked us off with The Censor, E1 5a

and then Paul made an ascent of the much bolder adjacent Queen’s Mute Termination, E2 5c.

Further south, Silver Surfer Buttress was getting quite sploshy at the base – encouraging Jim to adopt the controversial “grip the rope in your teeth” alternative to the more conventional figure-of-eight or bowline attachment to the rope.

… before making smooth work of the eponymous HVS.

We couldn’t help admiring the brilliant steep wall taken by the abseil. I’d done what turned out to be Buoy Zone, E2, on a previous visit, and this time did Cubby Roo (or a close approximation) which gets HVS but maybe warrants E1 5a?

Paul (a.k.a. Captain Enthusiasm) is never one to down tools early, so we were back down the now-familiar Big Buttress abseil for “just one more”. The millpond from a few days earlier had been replaced by a frothing angry sea, and I watched from an improvised hanging belay as he calmly unlocked the puzzle of the bold The Flow, E2 5b.

Wandering back over the grassy tussocks, serenaded by Curlews and Lap Wings, and with the sound of the raging sea still ringing in our ears, Paul announced there was a new entrant in his all-time favourite crags list. We’d played the right domino.