“Pembroke is the unsung heartbeat of modern British trad climbing - beautiful, leisurely and ferocious - in whatever measure you want.” Charlie Woodburn

May bank-holiday weekend in the Welsh sun (although, given the weather last year, Jared is less confident with his promise of sunshine this year).

Accommodation: Buckspool Farm campsite, Bosherston. A relaxed campsite costing £3 per person per night. No booking required. Close to the pub and tearoom in Bosherston, and within walking distance of Stackpole Head, Broadhaven South beach, St Govan’s, Bosherston Head and Saddle Head, and driving distance of much more. Facilities consist of a couple of port-a-loos, a sink and a shower head nailed to the end of a cow shed! For more info see rj-roberts.wixsite.com/bosherston. There are other campsites in the area if the lack of a proper shower is a deal breaker!

Climbing: Good range of grades, although Pembroke Rock leans heavily toward HVS and above in this area. Pembroke offers a pretty reasonable variety of sea cliff climbing. Much of it requires full length abseil approaches to wave cut platforms. There are some venues where once one has abseiled in and pulled the ropes it is only possible to climb a route to get out again! For all the usual reasons associated with trad, it would be essential to have a 50m (or 60m) 1/2 rope for this trip as on all the routes requiring an abseil approach they will be done with a pair of half ropes and you could only expect a climbing partner to supply one half rope. It goes without saying that confidence in your own abseil technique will lead to a more enjoyable experience! There are some venues with scramble approaches as well, but all these routes would normally be climbed on a pair of 50m half ropes.

Food: We’ll bring a barbecue (and a veggie one) and charcoal for one evening (sat/sun) at the campsite and book a table at the St Govan’s inn for the other. Please bring your own food and drink for the barbeque and other meals.

See https://www.karabiner.org/meets/viewer.php?mid=16746 for last years’ meet report.

If you’d like to come, please email the meet leaders and let them know if you’d like a seat for the pub meal.