With the van’s newly welded chassis, and me out of my plastic boot, it was time to get us both back on the road. Baby steps for both of us, so a shortish trip to the Lakes for some easily accessible bolt clipping fitted the bill perfectly.

Costa del Silverdale

It doesn’t get much more accessible than Silverdale (or Costa del Silverdale according to its tongue-in-cheek nickname). Super handy and in a gorgeous location, what it lacks in stature is at least partly made up for by the outlook.

I started out in top-rope tough-guy mode, with Helen deployed as rope-gun.

… but with routes so short and well-bolted, I graduated to my first lead (even our short clip-stick gets you near to half height). I somewhat surprised myself by getting up Falange, 6a+ (a bit of a gift at that, but I’m not complaining!)

After a modest ration of three routes (pretty much the daily quota for the rest of the week) we headed to the pub for a catch up with Keefe and Tansy. No sense in over-doing things.

Showery the next day in the central Lakes, so it didn’t take much persuasion to spend another day on the Costa.

Scout Scar

Heading north to Kendal, we had a lovely catch up with Justin and Chris, and then headed to their new “local crag” of Scout Scar. The walk-in was much more of a test for my ankle, as was the climbing. There’s been quite a bit of development since I last visited (but that must be 20 years ago!) and we came away with a more favourable impression. Good Medicine, 6a, and Cross Loraine, 5c, felt like lung-busting enduro routes after Silverdale (over 15m!) so probably more meterage for our two-route haul! Certainly harder work. Time for tea!

With three days cragging under our belts and a drizzly forecast, we headed to Bassenthwaite (pub quiz favourite – the ONLY lake in the Lake District) for a bit of paddling…

Scawgill Bridge Quarry

This recently developed crag was another perfect suggestion for the short walk-in, amenable routes agenda. Just a 5mins stroll up from limited parking gives access to a couple of dozen routes, with a good spread of grades from 5b to 7a.

The outlook is stunning and the climbing is pretty decent too. A slate quarry with distinctive banded strata giving good, often incut holds. We did a bunch of routes, starting with the easiest but enjoyable Whinlatter Wall Direct, 5c

… and the highlight of which was Wilderness Edge, 6a (originally a bold HVS) which was the pick of the bunch.

The right wall contains some slightly steeper offerings which look worth a return visit with two working legs. We bumped into Joe, a friend of Jake’s, and here he is on Border Force, 6c.

Crag X

We also picked up rumours of a “work in progress” Crag X and were tipped off with a location on the strict understanding that we kept it under wraps until the topo was published. Kudos to the developers for the huge amount of effort involved. I’ll update this page once the embargo ends, but meanwhile a couple of teasers.

Efforts for a final flourish to the week were rained off, but not before Dave and I had dragged our bedragled bodies up to Runestone Quarry and sat out an hour of dreich before finally allowing common sense to intrude on our unwarranted optimism. That in itself was something of a triumph, representing the biggest walk of my post-op ankle.

Not a bad week – Little and often, and gently onwards and upwards… Next stop in the recuperation roadtrip: The Yorkshire Dales.