North Devon Climbing
Members present: Peter Johnson, Mark Ashley, Michelle Harvie, Mark Garrod.
Guests: Marilyn Johnson.
The plan for the weather at least worked well, with the final rain of an awful week finishing just as M&M arrived on the Friday evening, to give us sunshine all the way. Good to see Pete taking advantage of a "nearly local" meet, and Mark A joining us en route to a family gathering in Dorset.
M&M&M camped at Mitchum's - we were the ones without bleached hair, fancy long-shorts, and surf board. Pete and Marilyn were in local inn enjoying the relative comfort of beds and en-suite.
Saturday started in the normal way, with Michelle in for her first dip of the day, and then the team of 4 headed off to Baggy Point and Scrattling zawn (Marilyn was getting her sponsored mileage in on foot). The meet leader then excelled himself by dropping a rope into the briny whilst abseiling. Michelle was tempted into a second dip to retrieve it, but was wisely warned off by Mark A and Pete, who thought the heavy swell and washing-machine appearance of the gully it has dropped into was not a good place to be. Nevertheless, Scrattling crack (***) was conquered by all, on one rope or two. We then headed off to Long Rock slab, and spent the rest of day enjoying the various routes there, such as Ben and Marion (both HS). Most care of the day was taken on the descent to the base of the face, via a mod scramble down followed by a drop through the eye of the ridge (you'll have to go to get the full picture). More swimming completed the day, apart from the odd beer amongst the young ones (no, not us).
Sunday was pretty much the same, less the scrattling bit. For those who know Long Rock slab, you will realise that ticking off loads of routes was not top of our agenda, but we did make up some interesting route variations that kept us amused. Thanks to Pete, Marilyn and Mark for making it work.
{Picture: Mark on Scrattling Crack and a fine array of gear to match Roger's. Perhaps best in B&W with those shoes!}
Mark Garrod
