Chamonix – Cragging with Altitude
I’ve always thought of Alpine climbing as a two weeks minimum trip, what with travel, acclimitisation and fickle weather, so I was a bit uncertain when Jake suggested a quick-hit […]
Pembroke quick hit
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 […]
Spring Catch Up
Wow – June already! A glance at the blog would suggest I’ve been slacking since our return from Italy, with only a couple of posts through April and May. Admittedly […]
Pabbay
Pabbay and it’s neighbour Mingulay have become part of the British climbing Hall of Fame over the last decade, jostling in amongst the established royalty of Gogarth, Cloggy, Scafell and […]
South Ridge Direct, Rosa Pinnacle, Arran – Hard Rock in the Bag
I started my Hard Rock journey in 1987, almost 40 years ago, with Helen on an ascent of Gimmer Crack. Here’s the entry from her climbing journal of 29 September… […]
Bourgogne Bonus
As the clock ticked down towards the end of our time away, it was looking like we might be beating an early retreat across the Channel. Thoughts of a side […]
Tuscany
The final stop on our Italian Job was Tuscany. Whilst we’d been bathing in largely unbroken sunshine in Sicily and southern Italy (ironically, as had much of Britain!) the north […]
Le Marche
The Le Marche region sits north of Abruzzo, with Ancona as its capital and best known city. The guidebook features over 60 crags, but we were only able to climb […]
Abruzzo – Apennine Arrampicata
Central Italy is a bit like northern Scotland (and no, I’m not talking about food, weather or personality traits!) It’s only a couple of hours from West to East and […]
Campania Climbing and a Stunning Sea Cliff
After our serendipitous Calabrian encounter we headed north into Campania, the region that contains Naples, Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast as some of its more renowned landmarks. For those who […]
Calabria Climbing and Serendipity
Heading north from Sicily, in the vague direction of Salerno (the next region with any significant climbing) we needed a stopover to break the journey. Helen is a campsite-finding genius, […]
Syracuse and Ragusa
Sicily is a pretty big island (it’s bigger than Wales and about 200x bigger than Kalymnos) so it’s not surprising that there’s a tonne of climbing! Whilst much of the […]
Palermo
I’ve never played any of those “Civilisation” style games, where you choose somewhere to found a settlement and then try to grow a metropolis. However, you can see what attracted […]
Around San Vito – Never Sleeping Wall and a Multi-Pitch Adventure
With the huge amount of climbing available along Scogliera Di Salinella, within a few minutes of the campsite, it would be easy to ignore the wealth of other crags within […]
San Vito Lo Capo – Scogliera Di Salinella. Part 2: South and Far South
If you missed Part 1, it’s worth checking here: Continuing our north to south traverse of Scogliera Di Salinella – next stop: South – heading right from the campsite (past […]
San Vito Lo Capo – Scogliera Di Salinella. Part 1: North to Campsite
Sicily is the logical and aesthetic end-point for an Italian climbing road trip. Not only is it the obvious objective, perched at the farthest extremity of the peninsula (a good […]
Statte – Climbing on Italy’s Instep
Our exploration of the foot of Italy has moved from the ankle to the instep. Statte is a small town, just inland from the sprawling industrial port of Taranto. Non-descript […]
Ciao e Benvenuti in Italia – First stop Puglia
Rockaroundtheworld is branching out from the usual Spanish and Greek winter haunts to spend the early part of 2025 in Italy, so Benvenuti! Why not buckle up and join us! […]
Climbing in a Winter Wonderland
Jake’s shift pattern threw up a bonus three-day window for the second weekend of 2025 and I signed up for a provisional Scottish winter climbing adventure, more in hope than […]
Red Rocks – It IS Red and there ARE Rocks in It!
Red Rocks is a justifiably world-renowned destination climbing area, and contrary to the quirky 1980s cider ad by Leslie Nielsen, it IS red and there ARE rocks in it! The […]
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