A grim day in prospect and angry swirls on the rain radar coming up from the Bay of Biscay prompted a relocation to South Wales, more in hope than expectation. We’d be passing nearby Sirhowy, just north of Cardiff, which came to my attention in the recent BMC crowdfunding campaign, and decided to pop in. There’s a stunning shot of steep, hard sandstone, juggy holds, glistening bolts and bright sunshine in the accompanying story linked below.

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/sirhowy-crag-fundraiser-update

All those ingredients were in evidence – apart from the latter. We’d failed to shake off the rain on the drive north and it was gently but determinedly drizzling. Happily, the 2mins approach made for an easy recce and the main wall was largely dry despite the rain.

Helen heroically offered a damp YECTOYD belay and I duly struggled to cover the ground on Strange Little Girl – the 3* 6c route-of-the-crag.

Tough for a warm up, and fiercely steep (hence avoiding the worst of rain), I think I’d have found it hard even in decent condition in my current state of fitness. Worth a revisit sometime and a great stop-off from the M4.

Grey on Gower too – the stunning Rhossili Beach (scene of many happy childhood memories) was completely deserted. As the downhearted campsite owner declared: “More like March than July, and that’s the weather and the numbers” We had the place to ourselves for the whole week!

On the plus side, we were finally in sync with the tides, so could enjoy the whole expanse of the myriad bolted routes along the length of the wall bounding the east side of the beach

– bagging a quick warm up in Castaway Cove, The Clot Thickens, 6a+, before splashing further out to Mermaid Wall.

Good, well bolted routes, although you are starting to get into territory where the barnacle-encrusted tidal chunk is almost half the route height. Here’s Helen on the Top 50 Fistfull of Tenners, 4c

Plenty of caves to sit out the intermittent showers…

Working our way back up the beach, closely pursued by the rapidly incoming tide, we stopped in at the centrepiece Shipwreck Cove to sit out another heavy shower. Not that it stopped a couple of strong lads working their perma-dry 8a project (just visible in the top right of the shot below).

Dryer, but still grey the following day, we headed to Fox Hole, only to find another couple of teams in situ. A reminder that whilst the weather might not have been great on Gower, it was still probably the best of a bad job across the whole of the UK.

Here’s Helen on Easter Rising, 5a.

I did Unholy Alliance 6a+, and No Epoxy, 6b+, but beyond that you’re mostly into steep 7s, so we relocated a few hundred metres further west along the coastline to Watch House.

The narrow path through the gorse isn’t obvious (and the instructions on the Rockfax app are duplicates of the Fox Hole ones) so here’s a GPS track.

Jaded Locals, 6b+, is a genuinely good route, and Anonymous Bosch, 6b and Tread Gently, 6b+ are also worth seeking out (though you might want to avoid shorts).

By coincidence, we bumped into Mark Glaister the following day, putting the final touches to the latest Rockfax guide to the area. Rest assured that the approach paths are all really well indicated on drone photos in the new version, so you won’t need the above map soon. We went to recce Free Luncher’s Zawn on what was supposed to be a rest day for Helen, but the scramble approach looked anything but restful…

… so instead we took Mark’s advice to check out Tooth Fairy – a newly developed sector a bit further west, overlooking The Knave. Only half a dozen routes, but the three I did were excellent Dentist’s Chair, 6b+, Open Wide Please, 6c+ and Silver Sixpence, 7a (and beyond me!)

Our final Gower day was supposed to be a washout, but surprised us and the forecasters with a brief glimpse of sunshine instead. There’s a cluster of crags around the first and second sisters, passing Rams Grove on the way down (worth a future visit)…

… we did a few routes on 2nd Sister including Holy Sister (Helen led a 4c-5b combo)

… and the very good Jubilee Step Sister and Scissor Sister, both 6a+

… before finishing off with a few routes on Sister 2.5. Not the finest week of weather in this enchanting corner of Wales, but we certainly made the most of it, and it served as a reminder of the huge amount of ongoing developments.

Worth a final plug for the excellent South Wales Wiki which has up to date topos and great access details:

https://swcw.org.uk/wiki/Category:Gower