On a climbing trip, the rest days are meant to set you up for the next round of climbing. Unfortunately ours did not! The first week had been really successful and we had begun to get a feel for the rock and the general ambience in Ulassai, so we had high hopes for the second, … Continue reading The return to Ulassai – Week two
By Gaynor Our previous visit to Ulassai in the spring of 2025 was a wash-out, 10 days of mostly rain and only 4 routes climbed. All through the summer we felt like we had unfinished business at this small hilltop town in Sardinia, we had been so inspired by the quality and quantity of the … Continue reading The Return to Ulassai – Week one
By Gaynor. At the end of our first week in Sardinia, climbing around the towns of Iglesias and Domusnovas, it was time to move on to a new area. Our second destination was up in the hills, the Sardinian Mecca of climbing – Ulassai. We arrived in the early afternoon and found a colourful hill-side … Continue reading Climbing in Sardinia – Part 2: Ulassai
By Gaynor We had no idea what to expect when we arrived in Sardinia at the start of a one month climbing trip. It had been on Jon’s list of places to visit for some time but never made it to the top, partly because of the challenges getting here, and partly because we didn’t … Continue reading Climbing in Sardinia – Part 1: The South West
By Jonathan. With temperatures plummeting to a mere 22 C we decided to explore the climbing at Hauteroche, near the medieval town of Flavigny. The crags at Hauteroche enjoy shade early in the day and the surrounding deciduous woodland shelter the base of many of the sectors through much of the day. With over 250 … Continue reading Hauteroche and The Grotte du Maquis Bernard
By Jonathan. Over the past 30 years the popularity of climbing has sky-rocketed. An important trigger for this was the development of sport climbing, which began in France in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Since that time the number of sport climbing destinations has grown exponentially. With a constant stream of new and / … Continue reading Climbing in Burgundy – Escaping the heat at Geligny
By Gaynor. Pushing yourself to the limit and reaching beyond what you thought possible, striving to achieve new milestones. These are challenges that inspire and motivate us as climbers. But if all our climbing was like that we would never be able to warm up and we would burn out quickly, both in our daily … Continue reading The importance of 4b
By Jonathan. I was born and grew up in County Durham and am now living in Northumberland so I can't pretend to be an impartial observer, but for me the North-east of England is a special place. The scenery tends towards a gentle beauty rather than awe inspiring but at the same time it is … Continue reading Climbing at Stanhope Quarries, Co Durham, UK
By Jonathan. Our three month journey, which is taking us between the two capital cities of the Roman empire, is coming to a close. The general shape of our route was set by the start and end points, Rome and Istanbul, and the desire to see more of Sicily and climb on the island of … Continue reading Climbing near Izmir, Turkey
By Gaynor. We arrived in Izmir on the western coast of Turkey after 4 hours driving through the rain soaked country. The entire west coast seemed to be under rain clouds on the day we traveled. We are staying in Izmir to go climbing at Kaynaklar, a climbing area just to the east of Izmir … Continue reading Climbing in Kaynaklar – The Drama of Day 1
Ordinary Climbers 