This is a long post for a small crag owing to some spectacularly unusual routes and some great pics of them. The “magic” of Facebook (tongue in cheek, but it does have its uses) alerted us that Colin (last seen at the NMC Anniversary Celebration) and Andy were in town. A bit of web research threw up Busot as being a reasonable halfway house between Sax and Altea, and finally Steve’s inside scoop of a new (to us) crag had us arriving in the Tocayo parking area for a catch up.

L’Amagatall del Cabeçò is a small but perfectly formed crag: only about 30 routes, but a good range of grades (IV+ to 7b), up to 30m and arranged around a horseshoe for alternating sun or shade. It’s only 10mins from the parking area, heading along the approach for the Tocayo sector and trending up and leftwards where that approach drops down to cross the water course.

It’s fairly obvious from the parking, though obscured by trees.

The East-facing wall gets morning sun (unsurprisingly) and has a range of easier routes and warmups – here’s Colin on No E Toques El Flor, V

Most routes have a name and grade on a stuck-on rock plaque, but they’re quite stealthy so look carefully. There’s a list on UKC to fill in the blanks.

That’s all very well, but hardly newsworthy, but it’s the double through cave to the left of the warmup routes that provides the unique appeal of the crag, offering some 3D speleological excursions in, up, and through the caves.

Verineze, 6a, heads into the cave from the left…

… pops back out into daylight…

… before completing a corkscrew helix…

… to forge its way up the steep arete above.

Cementeri, 6b, enters the cave on the right (here’s Andy belaying and Helen spectating)…

… then zags up some steep 3D terrain…

… before a fierce overhanging layback bars the way to a romp to the top.

Both routes are a tonne of fun, with the extraordinary subterranean rock architecture and fun climbing making up for the occasionally so so rock.

The climbing on the west-facing side is more typical, but still worthwhile. Here’s a few pics courtesy of Andy (beats the usual bum shots!)

Helen on Gorilla Acrobata, V+

Me on La Gemma d’Ed, 6c+ (on some of the tiniest slivers of rock I’ve ever pulled on – climb it now because they won’t be there for long!)

… and the view back to the now-shady cave sector, and you can just about make out Colin on Take Me to Church, 6a+

Great to catch up with Colin and Andy, and something of a relief that we hadn’t dragged them away from the flesh pots of Altea to a duff crag.