Thursday morning found me back in Liverpool for a day of paddling on the Mersey.

I collected Max and we headed into town for a late Brunch that became more of a long lunch.

We went to pay a surprises visit to our old housemates Robyn and Michael.

Linchpin was hilarious and before we knew it the afternoon was upon us! At this point We decided to actually get some paddling done.

We kitted up and got on the Water at MerseySport. As we paddled out from the shelter if the centre the wind hit us and started blowing us down the Dock.

This proved a challenging but fun reintroduction to open boating for me. After a while i got the gang of it and we headed back in ready for my Kayaking lesson.

After a quick change of board I spent the next 2 hours playing in. a kayak we perfected the rest of the 2* syllabus, including an impromptu capsize and roll by myself.

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable session!

Tuesday was a strange and mixed day in the travels of Calum.

The morning started with me getting kitted up in my wetsuit and getting back in a Kayak on flat water for the first time in what feels like a long while. It was the first time in a while as well, on flat water at least. 

After an hour on the water being coached on flat water techniques it was all over far too soon. As I got of the water LJMU Outdoor Ed Freshers were getting on the water for their intro to paddling. So I had a quick chat with the lecturers before heading off to join Jess and Sam at the Roaches. 

Grit stone and the Roaches is where I learned to climb so being back climbing in the peak was very comforting. It was like being home again. The rock has a certain feel about it. Rough like sandpaper but in a comforting way. I always feel that on grit, the rock is gripping you, it doesn't want you to come off. Well at least at the lower grades!

After meeting up with Jess, Sam, Clare and Kelsey we started climbing. Clare led up Maud's Garden a multi pitch VDiff, and then I led up Heather Slab (S 3c). By this time the Midges were out in force so we escaped to the campsite to have dinner. 

After dinner we headed back out to The Roaches for some night time bouldering. 

The final tally of climbs at 11:30 pm came to...

Climbs
Maud's Garden Vdiff multi pitch
Heather Slab S 3c

First boulder:
Pine Martin V0 5b
Pine Arete Right V0 5a

Second Boulder:
Blister Slab V1 5c
Blister Sister V0+ 5a
Slab 2 V0- 4a
Left Slab V0- 4c

An arête that wasn't in the guide book...

The the last route was: 
Classic Route V0 5a

We woke today to a glimmer of blue sky over Snowdonia so after a breakfast of toast and lots of tea we jumped in the car and headed to Tremadog. This was my first time to this legendary climbing venue!

We parked up at Eric's Caffe and happily paid the £1 parking fee. A pleasant change from the £4 in National Park car parks. Being so close to the climbs we decided to chuck everything in one bag and headed straight out

After a short walk along the road we dived into the undergrowth that shrouds Bwlch y Moch from view and fought our way along the bottom of the crag until we reached our first climb Boo Boo (Vdiff). This 2 pitch Vdiff was a nice reintroduction to trad climbing for me. 

Despite performance nerves I offered to climb the first pitch. which involved hugging a tree and clambering round it. Before belaying just above and to one side of it.

Jess swiftly followed me up before starting up the second pitch in her usual speedy way. What seamed like mere moments later the ropes pulled tight between us and I shot up a beautiful slab after her. Upon reaching the top we rigged a short abseil and we were soon back at the foot of the crag. We then retreated to Eric's for a bite of lunch.

After lunch we headed back out for our second route of the day. Oberion, S. I headed up the first pitch, a beautiful but nervey slab climb towards a tree belay above. Jess joined me and then headed up the second pitch, a terrifying overhanging chimney! I breathed a sigh of relief that Jess rather than I had that bit of technical climbing to do. She did it spectacularly and made it to the second belay speedily. Finally I let up the final pitch towards a steep but pleasant crack (shown above). 

After abseiling 51m back to the bottom we had an hour long epic retrieving the rope which had got stuck.

All in all a cracking day on the crag. Topped off by a shattering session at the Beacon climbing wall.

Its a pity that tomorrow looks like its going to be wet again. Oh well looks like it will be a wet mountain day.

Waking up this morning and getting out of bed was hard work. Particularly when I looked outside to see murky grey clouds low over the Snowdonian sky line.

However over breakfast Jess and I decided to man up enough to go out and scramble/walk the Nantlle Ridge. A classic welsh ridge line. 

The Nantlle ridge comprises 6 mountain summits joining Rhyd - Ddu to Talysarn.
The summits are:

Y Garn 634m
Mynydd Drws y coed 695m
Trum y Ddysgl 710m
Mynydd Tal y Mignedd 655m
Craig Cwm Silyn 734m
Garnedd Goch 701m

The East - West Traverse took us 4h 8min. 


We dropped Jess's car off at the finish point and drove to the car park at Rhyd - Ddu. We took a moment to gear up in the drizzle and I instantly regretted brining my light weight waterproofs for what looked set to be a day of constant drizzle and low cloud.

After an hours slog up the steep sides of Y Garn we made it to our first summit and the true start of the ridge. It was a hard start to the day and I have got to be honest, I felt very unfit. But we got to the top in the end.

By this point the cloud was well in and the rain was starting to lash down. After taking the obligatory summit photo we decided to press on and not waste time doing silly things like eating or putting on gloves. At this point the first of many scrambling sections began and we were temporarily distracted from the rain by the climbing. 

However a short while later we decided that maybe a pair of gloves might not go amiss so we had a little break and layered up. Which proved a problem for Jess who had to try and force wet hands into tight gloves.

The rest of the ridge came and went in a blur of cloud, scramble sections and fleeting views of the stunning surroundings we were traversing. The ridge is quite fantastic. To the east it drops away in a long slope that looks like you could rolly polly down it (it would be very fast though) but to the West the mountain just stops in a cliff face falling away hundreds of feet. 

We carried on over the summits and along the ridge line with some more scrambling and a fantastic causeway before a long decent back to the car. The final obstacle was a very boggy field that we stumbled our way through before reaching the safety of the car.

Despite being soaked to the skin it was a very enjoyable day. Hopefully next time I might even get some proper views from the tops!

So after driving from Cambridge to Llanberis overnight I woke this morning to a glorious sunrise over Llyn Padarn. Although the clouds didn't bode well for the days weather.

Over a leisurely breakfast at Peats Eats Jess and I discussed the options for a day of scattered showers. Jess suggested we play around in the Llanberis Slate Quarries and I agreed, sheepishly admitting that (due to work, Uni and injury) I hadn't climbed properly in 6 months or more. 

We jumped in the car and headed off to the quarry regardless. 

What a day it was too! Despite it being cold enough to remember that summer is now well and truly behind us, and with a few bits of drizzle to make us wonder if we should head back to the car the slate remained dry and we had some fantastic climbing.

We busted out 10 routes each before the cold got the better of us. 

We went to Australia Lower and started in the "Above the Rails" area. I surprised us both by speeding up Kinder Surprise F5 with Jess repeating it with a certain style. After which we popped up Surprise Surprise F6a and Steps of Glory F5b (photo above) before heading up to "The Sidings".

At The Sidings I struggled my way up 'N' Gauge F5c/6a I just couldn't get my head around it. We then carried along bosh up Sodor F5c, The Mallard F5c, Ivor the Engine F5a,Gordon F4a. We finished off with Choo Choo F5a/5b, which had an interesting middle section and steep finish and Hogwarts Express F5c which had a gnarly crux at the top which neither of us could manage.

Overall a cracking day getting back on rock.