Chulilla

After a hectic few weeks at work finishing exams, reports and Easter egg hunts, our long awaited Easter holiday finally arrived! Unfortunately so did the unpredictable Spring weather and so we ditched our original plans for Provence in favour of Chulilla, near Valencia, where we hoped to avoid the Spring showers (and snow?!)! 

It turned out to be a good decision and we mostly stayed dry :-) It certainly wasn't a second rate venue either. Chulilla itself is a stunningly located little village and the surrounding gorges contain a ridiculous amount of quality climbing routes. We had eight consecutive days climbing, and I won't bore you with all the gory details suffice to say I had my best ever climbing week (three 7as in three days) and Ali continued his shoulder rehabilitation with six 7c+s and numerous on-sights (what do those doctors know eh?!). Other highlights included some lovely home-made biscuits from the bakery and some nice afternoons reading, cooking and drinking tea in the sun after early morning hits at the crag. 

The pretty little village of Chulilla perched above the dramatic gorges 

Views from a pootle around the Castle walls.

I love the stereotypical mish-mash of "casas blancas" and terracotta roofs...

Chulilla village from the climbing area Paret de Enfrente 

The view down from Sector Embalse - we spent seven of the eight days climbing here as it was so good (and provided necessary shade...but I won't mention that when most of UK was under several feet of snow!).

View of the gorge from the walk-in - amazing climbing on both sides of the gorge and huge trout in the river too. Unfortunately we didn't catch any and made do with pasta instead! 

Not the best photo as it's a shady wall, but behold the endless orange rock and tufa! For any climbing geeks this route  is the 40m 7c+ "El Rey de la Palanca". Far too hard for me but one of Ali's many successful ascents.

Post-crush pasta fest!