Big rain and big winds were forecast to sweep in from the west across Britain for much of the weekend. Soggy pretty much everywhere, but a couple of the more optimistic sources suggested that Pembroke might avoid the worst of the wet (and hopefully the 40mph gusts would dry off whatever made it through). Paul is just as susceptible to a “glass half full” interpretation of the weather as I am, so we set off after lunch on Friday.
Cruddy traffic made for a 7pm arrival at St Govans, and to make matters worse, a sea-fret had descended – annoying after unbroken sun for the drive! A YECTOYD lap of The Arrow improved the mood significantly…
… what a stunning route – never fails to deliver.
Sploshy at the bottom!
Now drizzling, and the cliff had all but vanished in the gloom, but we nipped down for Vice Is Nice anyway – slippery when wet!
The optimism bubble was well and truly popped the following morning, with overnight rain lasting until noon and thoughts of a wasted 500 mile round trip niggling. Happily things perked up and we hopped on Riders on the Storm – not quite as wild as when Jake and I did it a few years ago…
But quite a trip for supposedly a HVS!
The search for dry, sheltered rock, a respectable distance above the swell, took us to Bosherston Head for High Life, E1, the atmospheric traverse above the cave entry of Preposterous Tales.
Paul led the hidden gem of Lundy Road, E2 5b
… and we finished the day with yet another lap of Cool for Cats – never disappoints.
Sunday at least dawned bright but still blustery. Govans East offered the perfect combination of sun and shelter. First Blood is worthy of every one of its 3 or 4 stars.
… and the neighboring Calisto is almost as good.
Whispering Wind, up the towering arete is surely short-changed with only 1* – it’s an absolute belter:
… and an ascent of Europa, HVS, made the most of the sunshine.
Finished with Govans East, we weren’t done with the day, but shelter from the wind was still a priority – The Leap called! By now the sea was fully out, and the spring tide had the base of the Monster Face out of the briny. Sadly gopping wet. So was Shape Up, but it’s the easiest route out and I’d done it a few times before – how hard could it be? Turns out “really quite hard!” in the damp, and pretty runout for the first 20ft. How this is given only E1 in Rockfax is borderline irresponsible! Fab route after the gloop.
Great weekend – very much a trip down memory lane, harking back almost 30 years to a similar Friday after-work visit Paul and I made in the 90s. A few less E-points, and not a lot of new ground, but every bit as much fun 🙂
RockAroundTheWorld 