Seven days on, seven days off...

Due to a combination of poor weather, an elbow injury picked up in St Leger (probably due to seven days continuous climbing!), and associated low motivation, I didn't climb all last week. Instead, I spent the time doing a little planning for the summer, meaning that we now have a ferry booked from Santander, guidebooks in the post, and a rough itinerary through the Pyrenees. This takes in a combination of granite trad in Aiguestortes and the Midi d'Ossau, plus sport climbing in Bielsa, a ramble up the highest peak (Aneto), then on to Pamplona for the bull run before heading to the Picos for the final few weeks. At least that's the plan. Whether it all works out that way is another question altogether! But I'm pretty psyched for it and can't wait...

Rough itinerary for the first half of the summer (yes, I've had a lot of time on the sofa this week!)

Anyway, that's still a few months away so on to some actual climbing news. With a better forecast for the weekend we decided to head over to Margalef to stay for a few days. First day (Saturday) we went to Culample 4 sector and it was an all too familiar experience, with the base of the crag crowded with shouty Spaniards and smelly yapping dogs. But we both had projects to finish off so we decided to grin and bare it. The warm-up routes I wanted to get on were all taken so I had to settle for a bridging 6c. Great route, but not so good to get the blood flowing after a week off the rock! After this, I had little choice but to get straight on the 8a I wanted to finish off ('El Guardia'). This seemed to annoy some Spaniards. Apparently I should have known from the single quickdraw hanging in a bolt halfway up the route (which they'd put in with a MASSIVE clipstick!) that it was 'taken', despite no-one being anywhere near the route! After virtually no warm up, I was surprised by how strong I felt on the first half and, without learning any lessons from last week, I made a decision to carry on instead of going bolt to bolt to warm up. The flash pump came along sure enough though, and I fell off the last hard move. After resting and belaying Tash (she managed a 7a second go!), I got back on the route and it felt fine next time.

There was nothing else free that we wanted to do at this sector, so we decided to leave the crowds and check out some other sectors that I hadn't been to. Can Dit Gros was a welcome relief from the other sector, with only one other couple there when we arrived. Here I did two brilliant 7a's - new routes on pristine rock, the only downside being that the pockets were quite sharp, but you can't have everything! And Tash got frustratingly close to onsighting one of them - would have been her first 7a onsight! After this we had a look at the two other sectors in the vicinity, with a plan to return the following day, and then went down to the reservoir and into the sunshine to cook some dinner, before finding a nice spot for the tent (away from the crowds that gather in the usual free camping area!).

Tash enjoying the last of the sunshine and shielding the stove from the wind!

Next day (Sunday) we went back up to the three sectors we'd checked out (Can Regino, Can Dit Gros & Can dit xic). They were still in the sun and at first it was pretty hot and sweaty, but they soon came into the shade - perfect!

The sectors in the morning sun. From L-R - Can Regino, Can Dit Gros & Can dit xic.

I opted for a day of onsight mileage, as my fingers were quite sore from the previous day's sharp pockets. After warming up at Can Regino in the sun (6c and a 7a) we moved round to Can dit xic and I ticked the crag, including a 6c+, another 7a, 7a+ and then the best of the lot was a fantastic technical bridging 7b called 'Sabore di mare'. Tash also managed to do another 7a second go so she was pretty chuffed. And best of all, we had the crags to ourselves the whole day - didn't see a single other person!

Can Dit Gros - home to two excellent 7a's to the right of the central orange streak, plus two good looking 7c+'s on the extreme left of the pic.

After this, we were both pretty tired and had sore skin from pulling on sharp pockets so we decided to call it a day and drink tea in the sun while drying the tent off :-)