Sleepy squirrels in Siurana...

Less wind today meant we could head up to Siurana, and despite a frosty start it was another sunny blue-sky day. We opted for a new 'village' sector - both new to me and also one of the most recently developed areas in Siurana - Can Sumera.

The sector was in a really nice location, underneath Corral Nou - very quiet and sheltered from the breeze so it was a perfect suntrap. The only noise all day was from the woodpeckers in the trees around us!

My active 'rest' day yesterday obviously wasn't as restful as I'd hoped, because I felt really tired from the start today. This, added to the fact that the routes were quite dirty and unchalked, meant that all the routes felt tough! I did a 7a and two 7a+s, which were fairly similar, but with nice technical climbing, typical of Siurana. I then tried a 7b starting through a steep roof, but disintegrating holds put a stop to my efforts! It seemed like one of those routes that had been bolted just for the sake of it - it was literally falling apart as I was climbing it :-( But the highlight of the day was an amazing 30m 7b called 'Can Fanga', which went straight up the middle of the highest bit of cliff on totally solid rock, with an amazing pumpy crux right at the end following a steep undercut flake then pulling over the lip of the roof - awesome!

The right-hand side of sector Can Sumera at Siurana.
'Can Fanga' (F7b) goes up the middle of this beautiful red wall following the obvious flakes and finishes pulling over the left end of the straight grey roof (on the far right of the crag)

Sleepy red squirrel

Tash had a bit of surprise while she was leading a really nice 6b - the crack that the route followed had this little fella in it!!!!

She thought at first that it was just sleeping or hibernating, but it turns out they don't hibernate! Which explains why it didn't attack her as she climbed past it, as she thought it would! So it must have been nesting or sheltering here and died from the cold or starvation. Poor little guy :-( I only hope he died happy in the knowledge that he'd got halfway up a 6b!!

Anyway, after five straight days climbing this week I'm looking forward to a proper rest day tomorrow and trying out coffee maker number two. Hopefully with more success than the last one!....