Having promised a weekend providing a combination of both sunshine and superb rock climbing, the only question, which remains to be asked is, where were you?

When I was asking around to find out who I might be expecting I received a series of very disappointing answers, "Oh, I can't go - its too far", "If I wanted to clip bolts then I could go to Pen Trywn", and many others, which I'm sure you could hazard a guess at if you really wanted too.

For the meet itself, I wasn't that optimistic about the number of people turning up, but I was quietly expecting a couple of members to show up. I was wrong. In fact, I was so wrong that more members of the Carlisle club (which I was a member of whilst living in Carlisle) made the long journey down to Portland.

As for the weekend, the weather was perfect, sunstroke was more of a threat than rain, and many excellent routes were climbed, both features which I had previously promised for the meet.

So, Where were you?

Anyone fancy a weekend in the sun? Maybe we could clip a few bolts and get some hard earned outdoor footage in (or should it be metre's now where all metric?). Or perhaps it'd be nice to just get some big trad routes done in the sun. Who knows, maybe even the taste of freedom might take your fancy, if so why not do some bouldering.

Well, what can I say then, another Easter Bank holiday; four glorious days with which to worship the god that we know as rock!!!!

So far I've been in the club for nearly four years now, and as far as I can recall there hasn't been one single Dorset meet, which to my mind is a shame. Dorset, (as the new guide book proudly states), has something to offer any climber, there's Trad climbing on the cliffs at Swanage, Deep water soloing, bouldering and thousands of bolted routes, so why not give it a go? Myself, I intend on focussing my efforts on the bolted areas around Portland, and in particular plan on having a go at "Reptile Smile" and "Meg's got leukaemia" and a few other less well known routes in the area. So what's there for you? Well, there's well over a thousand bolted routes on the Island, the biggest selection of 4s and 5s in the country and more 6s and 7s than you could shake a stick at (hopefully not a clipping stick either), and for the super strong there's even some 8s to have a crack at!!!

For those of you that are interested, there is a barn available on the Island (no camping is aloud on the island) and can be booked by calling 0976407811, or as I'm planning on doing there are plenty of campsites in the area, the one I plan on using the Sea Barn campsite (01305 782218), if this one's full then we'll be at West Fleet (01305 782218). For your 'tick' on the meets list call in at Blacknor North by midday on the Sunday of the weekend.

So, what more excuse do you need to take a trip to the sunshine and bask on a piece of limestone?