Unfortunately the forecast for tomorrow heavy rain, although it looks like it will clear up in the east.

Report from Alec Naylor

Last Wednesday was not only the hottest day in the UK since the summer of 1976, but the hottest Summer Solstice on record. We had already decided to take a trip to Wintour’s Leap in the Wye Valley, which with hindsight was not the best of ideas given the temperature of 31°C, hotter than Cape Coast in Ghana. Peter and I ventured down and met up with Steve, Amber and Curon at Fly Wall but by this time of the day it felt like an oven so we moved on. We eventually decided to climb a multi pitch route with all our kit to the top and chill out with a nice cold beer in a pub. Curon and I chose Cement Groove (4 pitch, 75m D) whilst Steve, Peter and Amber went for Direct route (3 pitch, 60m D). It was the first time I had led a multi pitch climb but was eager to try. We planned to alternate leading, so Curon went up the first and I led the second. The last move was quite tricky but I managed to get a sling over the top ledge and weight it down with all the hexes I had before topping out and setting up my anchor. Meanwhile, Pete, on his first lead pitch in 2 years was having trouble finding the route, so followed a squirrel instead, then Amber chose to ignore Pete and go a completely different route to that which was led. Curon then had an interesting traverse at the beginning of the third pitch by climbing out diagonally to the right with his usual limited gear placement. Curon had to lead the last pitch with his head torch, as it started to get quite dark and the others had already finished. By the time we got to the top there was no time for a beer as it was pitch black and we had 5 minutes before last orders.

Report from Mike Sorensen:
On the longest day of the year, and with the tides against us, we headed to Upper Jacky’s Tor for a pleasant evening’s climbing. Vince led both Raindrops (HVS 5a), a Gwyn Evans route, and Thanksgiving (HVS 5a), allowing several other improving climbers to practice their moves on harder trad routes. Gethin showed us his Codpiece (HS 4a), finding it to be rather vegetated and loose, though aromatic (with rock samphire). The initial stunning vista across Mewslade Bay was slowly obscured by the descending sea mist and the increasingly damp descent route meant an early-ish retreat to the King Arthur for welcome refreshments and a discussion before the journey home.

Thoughts for Wednesday meet included venturing away from Gower to Dyffryn. However the weather forecast makes Dynamic Rock, at 6:30 pm, the likely venue. All comments and suggestions for future planned weekday meets (including from those who prefer to continue meeting at Mike Davies) are welcome on the relevant bulletin board threads.

Portland Trip

Photograph by Simon James, report from Matthew Dix