Well, the evenings are longer and it's time to get out to the crags midweek! Unfortunately Warwickshire doesn't have any that are that local, so it means exploring the delights of Leicestershire.
Last night LittleBrew, Simon Ager, Bambi and I piled up to Beacon Hill. We didn't get there until 7 due to work commitments, so made sure we packed the torches! We met the Crow and his mate Steve there too, who had already done a recce and round the best spot.
Despite the warnings from Nick Ward (party pooper) about the weather, it was dry when we got there, and although some of the rock was a little green, it was all pretty climbable. Appparently the rock is Beacon Hill Hornstone, which means some is flat and glass like, and there are also some brilliant (often very sharp) edges.
There's four miniature crags, which have routes on but there's no point getting out the gear, so we worked our way around two of them and bouldered/soloed a selection. As an indication, this is Summit Crag:
http://staff.bit10.net/sarahc/Photos/BeaconHill/CIMG6963.jpg
The grades are dubious too - apparently I soloed a Severe, but it was less about the grades and more about getting out in the daylight, and having a nice sociable evening. Despite the small size of the crags, there's plenty for an evening, and there's also plenty of scope for trying different stuff like hands or feet only to improve on technique. Nice views too!
We left nearly an hour after sunset, and got back about the same time we would have arrived home from the wall.
