Apart from one tentative foray many years ago, I’d never climbed on the Llyn Peninsula. Nor had Andy. To have lived within three hours drive of such an iconic and extensive climbing area and not put in an appearance in forty years might seem inexplicable, bordering on rude, and there were probably a couple of reasons. Firstly, there’s competition – the endless attractions of the legendary land of sunshine and vertiginous peril that is Gogarth lie almost half an hour nearer, and it’s just more tempting and convenient to turn off over the Menai bridge than to press on through Caernarfon. Secondly, the climbing on the Llyn is wreathed in rumours of terror and looseness, which successive guides have done nothing to dispel, and indeed have perhaps cultivated.

If an August Bank Holiday Saturday seems a curious juncture to break a forty years taboo, then we were motivated by a great forecast out West, bird bans being lifted and an early start beating the traffic, but the real game changer has been the newly published Llyn guidebook.

A wealth of inspiring photos and clear topos, plus a host of more amenable developments, rendered a much postponed visit irresistible. Whilst there’s climbing scattered all over the peninsula, Cilan Head remains the epicentre, and The Path to Rome, E3 5c, seemed to be the natural choice of rite of passage. You park up at the Cilan Uchaf campsite, where two quid posted through a hole in the wall honesty box harks back to more trusting times of a bygone era.

Navigating any new seacliff area is always a bit of a challenge on first acquaintance, and I was initially a bit disappointed by only having six figure OS Map references to go by in the new guide (as someone who’s been accused of having a QR code fetish). However, closer reading of the text reveals numerous uses of /// What Three Words, and once you’ve realised this and worked out how to use them (took me a while), this is an absolute boon (install the app if you don’t already have it – invaluable for emergency situations regardless of finding crags).

Prior to sussing W3W we overshot the crag slightly, yielding this view back into Vatican Zawn. Impressive territory!

The view from the short ab is also a bit intimidating. The first pitch traverses almost the whole of the crag, a wild voyage of almost 50m to an airy belay just beneath the prominent roof in the centre of the picture below.

… and whilst the breakers weren’t actually wetting the route, they certainly added to the atmosphere. Things start fairly easily with some ledge shuffling until the angle and exposure both kick in as you traverse the lip of the cave to a guano-covered triangular ledge in the middle of the shot below. There are then some tricky moves up the groove and out left around a first bulge to a bit of a rest and a welcome bit of gear…

More leftwards shuffling brings you into a cramped position, with further progress blocked by a second bulge, at which point that last piece of gear is a few metres behind you, and your belayer is another 30m beyond that (with the inevitable loops of rope between you). It’s a committing stride down and across which prompted one of those internal dialogues: “no point dithering now Dom – you’ve put yourself in this position so you’d better get on and get yourself out of it!”

Things ease considerably thereafter and it’s plain sailing across and gently downwards to the lofty perch, beneath the roof and above the void. No sign of the peg but there are bomber wires. And relax!

Time to look back at a distant Andy and his equally committing lip trip…

Pitch two heads up and left from the belay for a stiff pull around the left hand side of the roof and up a juggy groove – fairly straightforward until the last few metres where the guidebook description of “the Hanging Gardens of Babylon” sums things up nicely. A gnarly top out in contrast to the clean and generally sound rock below. What a route!

The Path to Rome was well worth the “entry fee” alone, but hadn’t occupied us for that long, leaving the rest of a stunning afternoon to fill. We were now pretty much at high tide, limiting options somewhat. Acapulco Zawn was nearby and looked like it might lend itself to an abseil approach and hanging stance. Here’s the view across the end of the sector with Cilan Main in the background.

It took a bit of hunting to figure out what was where and what might make a decent anchor…

Suffice to say that we did manage to locate Acapulco Gold, E1 5b, and rap down to a hanging stance. Such was the state of the sea that we probably missed the crux but still managed to get splashed! Confirmation that there are plenty of routes to come back for, so watch this space for future posts!