Sintra – Penedo da Amizade
UNESCO-listed Sintra is set high on a hilltop overlooking the Cabo da Roca, and was the favourite summer retreat for the Portuguese Royal family when Lisbon became a bit sweaty. […]
Author Archives: Dominic
Casal Pianos and Cabo da Roca
Drizzling this morning – the first really crappie day we’ve had in a month, so unreasonable to whinge (he says, whinging!) We settled for a day of exploring new crags, […]
Farol da Guia, Cascais
Cascais, a seaside town just north of Lisbon, is where sports climbing started in Portugal about 50 years ago, and it couldn’t be much more convenient! The climbing is approached […]
Azoia – Cova Mijona & Poema Rocha
Another trip to Azoia was an excuse to stock up on our favourite bread rolls and the tiniest cheese ever at the very friendly village store … and to check […]
Meio Mango
Whilst it might sound like a dodgy sandwich filling, Meio Mango is actually the most happening crag in Arrabida. You park within a stone’s throw of the rather spectacular lighthouse […]
Arrabida – Fenda
The Arrabida Natural Park has protected the entire coast from the kind of development you might expect from similarly blessed landscape in Spain, with only a couple of stretches of […]
Azoia – Arrabida Natural Park
We took the scenic coastal road north towards Lisbon, tracing a route parallel to the edge of the Atlantic through the natural park that protects this wild and wooded landscape […]
Ponta de Balieera
Ponta de Balieera is the third and most eastern “lump” on the Sagres peninsula – marked by a small bustling port on its east side and topped with a rather […]
Foz de Fornas
Another breezy day at the end of the world – but with full-on sunshine to help offset the chill. Foz de Fornas is the landward end of a south facing […]
Sagres – Armacao Nova
Sagres is the southwesterly tip of Europe (if that’s even a thing), but regardless of the arguments about points of the compass, it undeniably sticks out into the Atlantic and […]
Rocha da Pena – heading into Portugal
The influence of the Atlantic was already becoming evident as we crossed Seville, with brown giving way to green as the predominant colour in the landscape, and cork oaks mingling […]
Cerro del Hierro
With a couple of damp days forecast around Malaga we pressed onwards into Seville, and stopped off to check out the climbing at El Puntal near the town of Estepa. […]
Pinares de San Antón
This impressive crag occupies a commanding spot above the coast, just east of Malaga. There’s a south east facing crag above a villa development, but we picked the west-facing crag […]
Back to Puerto Rico
We used a much needed rest day to retreat from the high inland plane around Granada and Jaén (over a thousand metres ASL) ahead of a weather front bringing freezing […]
Reguchillo revisited and so much more around Jaén
Reguchillo was one of the major “finds” from our Andalusia adventures last year, although we only had a short day there between downpours. It certainly ticked the “one to come […]
Los Cahorros
We’d tried to find Granada’s most traditional and spectacular climbing area on a trip about 23 years ago, and didn’t make it to the car park. Armed with GPS and […]
Alfacar and a Velex Rubio recce
Heading towards Granada we decided to recce a promising looking crag at Velex Rubio – just off the motorway and the perfect spot to break the journey… Ah, the wonders […]
Atalaya, Cieza
Hard to believe that almost exactly a year ago we were fleeing the Costa Blanca as howling winds and snow storms swept in! This year we’ve been consistently basking in […]
Cocentaina sector Balconet
The Mas de la Penya crag above Cocentaina is one of our favourite discoveries of the last few years; striking diagonal lines on flaming orange rock, but you soon exhaust […]
Busot – Cuevas de Canelobre
Another Busot crag, this time very handily located just above the entrance to this very well signposted tourist attraction, just a few minutes from the road (but resist the temptation […]
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