Howdy, howdy interweb world!
This is my first ever blog. Hello! What's happening?
Well, rock climbing mostly - which is what this blog is all about - me, trying to learn to rock climb! Sweeeeet!
Having been bouldering around the faux rockfaces at the excellent Mile End Climbing Wall in East London for just over a year, I decided it was time to try my hand on some real rocks. Yes it's December, yes it's freezing cold, yes there's ice on the ground, no I can't feel my hands or toes, but what the heck! A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do - and this man just has to try and navigate his way around some REAL rock.
So, this morning, I got on my trusty push-bike and pegged it off to the BUCK STONE. A delightful little rock I had previously been introduced to by my good (aptly named) friend, Mr Tom Stone (and equally good friend Amy Wade was there too - Hiyer Wade!). The Buck Stone is right on the Welsh
border - between Monmouthshire (Wales) and the Forest of Dean (England). Technically the Buck Stone is in the Forest.The Stone is not very big - about 10 feet tall, 15 feet long and 5 feet deep in the middle. It faces South-ish, which is just as well, because at least one side of it had seen the sunshine, which helped to thaw the rock out a little. The top of the rock was still covered in quite a layer of ice! Nice! But, I didn't let this put me off - I was super excited to be near REAL rock - even if it was more like a giant ice-cube!!
On first attempt the rock seemed impossibly cold & any climbing incredibly difficult. I couldn't really feel my fingers or toes and holding onto an ice-cube of a rock was not helping. The South-facing side, being the most sunned, was where I spent most of my efforts.
My hands were so numb I had to stop after every few attempts and warm them up on some part of my body that wasn't already turning blue. The fact that the rock was pretty sharp also didn't help
- but my hands were generally too cold to notice when the rock did bite me.
After a bit of searching I found a really good little route, that kept me entertained for a good 20mins and made me forget the cold. It would have probably been really easy, had it not been for the freezing rock, numb hands and, by this point, completely numb toes! but it felt like an E1 at the time!! I started with straight arms on the first good hand holds, with my bum inches from the floor, then heel hook out to the left, to reach up with my right hand for the next hold, them shifting feet over to the right and a bit of lay-backing, floyking and snaking and finishing up about 2 feet from the far right hand side. Only about 6 moves in total, but it took about 7 attempts - mainly due to the fact that my hands just kept on getting too numb! After completing it once I tried to do the whole thing again without any matching, but I was too cold & it wasn't happening.
(I've marked the key hand-holds in red and foot-holds in yellow.)
I had a little play about on the West-facing side, which was bathed in beautifully dappled, winter sunshine, but wasn't quite as much fun as the South-facing side I'd previously been rocking.
The views from the Buck Stone are amazing.
You can see right out over the beautiful, rolling Welsh hills. Properly good for the soul!
For those of you who want to go - the route I took, from Monmouth, is as follows. I'm sure there are easier routes, and more pleasant, depending on which direction you are coming from! Go along the Staunton Road (A4136) until you hit a lorry layby - right opposite a 'You Are Now Entering The Forest of Dean' sign. Following the line of wire fencing right by the 'Forest Of Dean' sign, walk straight up the hill. Near the top of the hill, the wire fencing takes a 90degree turn left. Ignore this turn left and keep on going up the hill - pretty much in a straight line. The Buck Stone is right near the summit, sitting in amongst some trees and a couple of other smaller rocks (maybe an ancient Welsh ceremonial alter??).
Tomorrow brings the adventure of the Suck Stone (as long as it's not raining that is!!)...
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