UKC

Looking to get out for the first time in a long time, for a bit bouldering/soloing. I'm based in Kent, so Southern Sandstone is my nearest.

Just wondering which is the best venue - never climbed at any of them before?

In reply to NigeR:
Southern sandstone needs at least a day to dry out enough to climb on - means it is pretty much unusable this weekend?

There is a southern sandstone bouldering guidebook, but it might be sold out.

High rocks has lots of higher grade stuff but costs a tenner.
Bowles has the best quality rock in a nice compact area and costs about £3. Can be a bit of a suntrap in good weather, but is the quickest of them to dry.
Harrisons is free and has lots of rock, but the bouldering is a bit spread out and with a longer walk in.

Personally I think Bowles is the best, but you could make a case for any of them.

My top tip is to take a towel to clean your shoes ...

In reply to NigeR:

when? After the rain early yesterday morning I would think bowles is your best option today. We went to eridge tuesday and left without climbing anything as much of the rock was a little damp still (and hence easily damaged) much to our suprise - we went to bowles which as expected was in better than average nick although still a little damp in the deeper cracks. Friday will be a non starter due to forecast rain and i think saturday will be too damp on the rock until the afternoon and then bowles is your best option (the other venues will be mostly damp all day IMO allthough bits and bobs may be in ok nick).

One word of warning, southern sandstone can be pretty unpredictable for soloing as the sand on the rock acts like ball bearings under your feet.

In reply to NigeR:

Another vote for Bowles (although not been to High Rocks)

In reply to RobertHepburn: Where we are in Kent, apart from rain the other day, the weather has been glorious for weeks now - we're about 20 miles north east of from Tunbridge, near Maidstone.

In reply to RobertHepburn:

Never leave home without one

In reply to CurlyStevo:
>

Thanks.

In reply to RobertHepburn:

How long sandstone takes to dry varies massively from crag to crag and also down to the amount of rain, how saturated the ground already was, the weather after the rain, how much leaf cover there is, the exact parts of the crag in question, and the climber judgeing if its dry enough Really your eyes will tell you if it's dry enough or not.

Bowles as you say is the fastest drying and can dry on the quickest drying bits pretty quickly at this time of year if the ground and rock are already dry and the weather sunny and / or windy from the right direction, and / or there isn't too much rain.

I tend to agree it's not looking best for southern sandstone this weekend.

In reply to NigeR:

I think it's rained most weeks 1 to 2 times quite heavily for a about a month now (quite often at night). This is why the rock isn't in steller nick just now for the time of year. The majority of the weather has been really good though, but the rain has just stopped the slower drying bits on many crags comming in to properly dry nick.

Even though June was nearly completely dry and may was mostly dry (but pretty cold) the very wet winter meant many venues were much slower drying than you'd expect. I visited harrisons towards the end of June and still found few climbs properly dry. The sparadic wet weather we've had since then has stopped many of these climbs that nearly dried out from fully drying out.

In reply to CurlyStevo:

This weekend's forcast is not looking good

In reply to Trangia:
I tend to agree, although saturday is forecast pretty good in tun wells and we don't know how much rain actaully will fall there tomorrow yet.


That said bowles is in nearly bone dry nick just now, even after a fair amount of rain tomorow the faster drying bits of bowles may be in nick later saturday afternoon and possibly a few other bits hear and there too. However they may not. Only real way of telling is to go look but be prepared not to climb if its damp (even if other numpties are), and carefully choose dry routes.

Sunday looks like a washout.