A frustrating summer of illness has seen me rather silent on the ME blog, climbing trips have been limited by various combinations of fatigue, nausea and symptoms that I’ll spare you the details of. A few semi-successful trips to the wall and odd low intensity sessions on the bike in recent weeks had however done wonders for my confidence so, with some time off from my ME marketing responsibilities due, it was time to get out regardless. Having tried endless sleep, random pills, a lot of fruit and a colonoscopy that caused more questions from friends than any route I’ve ever done, could it be that sunny sea cliffs were actually the remedy? There was only one way to find out.Happily a contender for the world’s most reliable climbing partner was on hand. Soupy, aka Mark, is a paramedic and variously a mountaineering instructor, roped access technician, Antarctic veteran and coffee aficionado. Suitably reassured I loaded up the car and headed for Pembroke where the BBC had promised us it would be largely sunny and generally perfect for climbing.
After a late arrival at a sodden campsite we awoke to more dampness, a lot of grey clouds and very strong winds. At least the crags would dry quickly and despite the constant buffeting of the tent this was apparently less serious than it got ‘down South’. Some dozing and procrastinating over cups of tea later it was decided that we should at least approach the crag for a look. St. Govan’s seemed the least threatening option with the unhelpful tides and military firing and Soupy duly disappeared over the edge with the abseil rope making frequent attempts at escaping back over the top of the cliff. Climbing conditions were definitely sub-optimal as was proved further by a rapid and bracing ascent of Army Dreamers, a normally benign classic enlivened considerably by the almost Patagonian conditions. A retreat to the Café was required where we pooled our extensive collective experience and made the spectacularly poor decision to try Mowing Word where, if anything, it was windier. Some efficient, and briefly horizontal, jumaring above an impressively boiling sea later and we found ourselves at the rather less exciting Stennis Head. I led a final route with even less style than normal to finish an unproductive day.Day two started with the beginnings of a sadly familiar tiredness out of all proportion to the previous days activities but the wind had dropped considerably and it was time to get on with it. Soupy made short work of Calisto at St. Govan’s East before we headed back to the main crag for a few more routes. Halfway up the Arrow, a route I would expect to feel really steady, the wheels came off completely and my body let it be known that wellness couldn’t be forced, however good the climbing. After struggling up the fantastic flow stone and friendly holds I flopped uselessly onto the top and prepared myself for a long drive home to Kendal.
The following days were spent feeling less than well but just going climbing again made it all seem worthwhile. With a good winter in prospect it’s time to finally sort things out and get back to a normal diet of training and climbing, hopefully I will be blogging about some proper climbing adventures soon!Rich B
