Costa Blanca

Why is it when you have three months to relax, climb and explore you book the earliest flight possible so you don’t waste an hour. That’s how I found myself at Gatwick at 5am, somehow, maybe because it was 5am I got in, checked and through security in 10min. Must be a record of some sorts!

Anyhow, what am I up, in a spate of wondering what to do with myself I emailed the Orange House in Costa Blanca, Spain to see if they needed a helping hand. Luckily for me they did and hence I’m here, doing the house work, filling in pot holes, the odd bit of gardening and then a lot of climbing.

The Orange House

I’m still trying to get my head around this trip, I’m a creature of routine, I like to know what I’m going to do. So having to wake up everyone morning to find out what job needs doing, then hoping at the end of that someone is keen to climb is all very strange to me. So far I have managed to climb every day, so it seems to be working.

The climbing hasn’t been too bad, my six weeks off have left me with poor rock skills and a big lack of commitment. Somehow I managed to onsight a 7a+ on my first day and felt strong on two 7b yesterday. But it’s going to take a while to get everything back how it should. Luckily there are plenty of strong climbers here, so I’ve had the opportunity to get on some harder routes and push myself, something I seldom get the chance unless I am feeling confident enough to put the clips in myself.

This time around on the blog things aren’t going to be that interesting, I’m hopefully going to get a trip to Madrid sometime in Feb, but most the time it’s going to be climbing climbing and climbing. But I hope you still enjoy it.

A big Dudu

Some jobs around the house

Climbing at Sector 'Wild Side' at Sella

Paddy Fields

Please enjoy these shots of Hampi's Paddy Fields by clicking on the link to my other blog below

The Camera and I

Over the Alps and into Italy

Our last few days in France passed very slowly, we moved from Annecy to Cluses near Chamonix, a good location for me to start my journey to Italy and also to drop Yvette at Geneva airport. The bad weather continued, although we managed to get some climbing in and whilst the weather held took a scenic drive along some of Europe’s highest roads to take in the snow capped mountains.

The Mont Blanc Range, Grey and Misty

Monday was Yvette’s final day and also my thirtieth birthday, not quite the way I envisaged my thirtieth, but it was the way we planned it. I dropped Yvette off at Geneva airport and promptly had the car searched by the French police on re-entry into France. Apparently a single guy in a British car is suspicious. After numerous questions in broken French and English about where I was going and where I had been I was let go. The only good part of the day so far was that it was sunny, but as I entered the Alps a massive storm sat directly over Cluses, flooding the little campsite and making any possibility of cooking disappear. I opted for a table for one at the local pizza restaurant and then a beer in town, it was only nine o’clock when I returned; probably the earliest to bed I have ever been on my birthday.

I left as soon as I could the next day, In front of me loomed Mont Blanc, with its snow capped peaks and glaciers stretching down into the valley it was magnificent, but you couldn’t help but notice the factories and warehouses littered on either side of the road. I left the French Alps through the Mont Blanc tunnel, stunned by the scenery, but disappointed by the ramshackle towns and industrial estates in the valleys. Once through the Tunnel and Italy the architecture changed, although the industrial estates still littered the valleys picturesque castles loomed on top of hills and minareted churches clung to the side of the mountains. The driving became much more unpredictable, road works suddenly loomed up without warnings and you always had to be alert to what lane to go in. Drivers tended to start their manoeuvres without looking, although they always seemed to notice you before causing a collision. My Sat Nav worked perfectly until I had the only tricky section around Milan, somehow I scrapped through.

Routes in Sasso Remano, the largest boulder in Europe

Next was lake Como, with the mountains crashing down into its shores I made a note to get back here on a rest day to have a look around. Soon I was winding my way up the mountains to San Martino and the Val di Mello. This is what you want alpine valleys to look like. Lush flowering meadows, a mountain stream cascading through the middle, steep granite cliffs on either side and in the distance snowed capped peaks with their Glaciers winding down to the ancient villages in the valley. Suddenly everything felt good again, and it was sunny. This is going to be my base for the next month, climbing the boulder fields on the valley floor and chilling in the alpine villages. I’m enjoying it already.

Bouldering in Val di Melo