UKC

Hi folks, I've recently been offered a transfer with work from South Lakes to the Pembrokeshire area. I grew up in Gower and have spent a fair bit of time climbing there and in Pembroke and have always loved the placed.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience of actually living in Pembroke?

Is there much of a local climbing scene? (I've always had the impression that most people climbing in Pembroke have travelled there) and if so is it friendly? I've always found Gower/Swansea area to be very friendly and the South Lakes area quite the opposite!

What about training? As far as I'm aware there aren't any indoor bouldering/climbing facilities of note in the county, so that would mean plenty of finger boarding. At least you can climb year round if the sun is out!

Thanks in advance,

Rob

In reply to robhowell:


Was climbing at crags near Overton yesterday (on the Gower). Fantastic weather, wonderful spot, we were the only people in sight all day. Walking back to the car, we saw one woman with a child in the village - apart from that it could have been a post-apocalypse scenario. Parking is a major issue on the Gower, so buy a cottage there with car-space and loads of people will come and visit you, myself included if you ask me!

In reply to Andy Morley:

Thanks Andy, but like I said above I grew up in Gower and I'm asking specifically about Pembrokeshire.

In reply to robhowell:

There is a local climbing club who are very friendly, but I'm not a member myself because they tend to climb in the evening and I'm retired so I prefer to climb during the day.

There's a smallish climbing wall in Tenby, and I've heard rumours of a larger one being developed in Haverfordwest. The climbing club also make use of one in Pembroke Dock during the winter. If I want a bit of exercise in summer I prefer to shunt a few routes rather than go to a wall.

It's definitely a friendly area, and I think you'd enjoy it if you moved here.

In reply to robhowell:

I lived there for a while almost 20 years ago; for my sins, I wrote the first bouldering guide to the area (!)

Two words: do it.

In reply to Martin not maisie:



Don't happen to have any parts of that guide left around anywhere do you?

I'm from down there and heading down to visit me mum soon, so was considering trying to find some nice problems near were I used to dick about as a youth.

In reply to Steve nevers:

It actually got incorporated - and much updated - into the latest Pembroke guides; the rest got lost in the mists of time.

Whereabouts will you be visiting? I may be able to give you some pointers, and there are probably active local boulderers on here.

In reply to robhowell:

I live just outside Fishguard, I love Pembrokeshire, loads of footpaths all over to explore. There's the occasional bit of decent live music in Fishguard, Newport or Cardigan, I don't go to Haverfordwest much, and there's bigger gigs in Narberth occasionally. Local pubs are generally local and friendly enough.

I've been trying to get in touch with the Pembrokeshire climbing club for about 2 years now, they don't like answering emails, and when I left a message on their facebook page they told me they'd check the emails and I heard nothing more.

I've started a facebook page for climbers in Pembrokeshire, there's a few members chatting regularly, but it's only been up a month or so so it isn't heaving yet https://www.facebook.com/groups/348066962063587

As far as training goes there's Tenby wall, it's alright, but very small compared to the walls I've been to elsewhere. Better than nothing, but I couldn't spend a whole day in there.

In reply to robhowell:

Hi Rob, I moved from west Cumbria to Pembrokeshire (near Tenby) about 8 years ago. There seems to be less outdoorsy people in Pembrokeshire and not really an outdoors scene like there is in Keswick, Ambleside and many other parts of the lakes. So it does take more work to get to find climbing/outdoor partners.

When I moved to the lakes I never joined a club as I met so many outdoors people at work, in the wall or pub. When I moved here, joining the climbing club was definatley a good step for finding partners and making friends. There is a canoe club and running, cycling surfing clubs also.

The climbing is great, and accessible, down here people thing a 25 mins to mowing word or rusty walls is along walk in. As you probably know climbing below E1 is a bit limited and you could run out of quality routes in a year or two of getting out regularly. Plenty more to do once you get into the low - mid extremes.

Year round climbing is a lot more pleasant, surfing is a good additional activity, and I do love living by such a beautiful part of the coast, but I do miss the mountains sometimes and it is a slow 3.5 hours drive to Snowdonia.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any more specific questions. Where are you likely to be living?

In reply to Happeuss:

Hi,

Sorry if you have not had a proper response from Pembrokeshire climbing club. My excuse would be that we are a small club and seem to struggle to get people interested in running the club we are more interested getting out climbing. I am currently the membership secretary, because no one else wanted to do the job.

We have just started our outdoor meets, this season we will visit a different crag each week on a Wednesday night, meeting up at 6.00pm, climbing until it gets dark, then visiting the nearest pub.

I am just going to e-mail you some details of the club, if you want to come out with us on a Wednesday you are welcome to join us as long as you are competent to abseil and climb unsupervised.

Hope to see you soon, let me know if you have any questions.

In reply to robhowell:

Thanks for all the input folks, definitely food for thought.

In reply to robhowell:

Living in Pembrokeshire as a climber is totally amazing! The Haverfordwest wall should be open by the summer and looks to be OK, if your not into the outdoors or cant entertain yourself when the weathers bad it might not be ideal, but most people that go there never leave!

I haven't come across the Pembroke climbing club and I've lived there on and off for 6 years, but there are plenty of local climbers and all the ones I know are friendly!

As said above, there is good local music, great pubs, and now we even have a TKMaxx, what more can you want?!

In reply to Martin not maisie:

Ah ok, had a look for a Pembrokeshire Bouldering guide but seems to be out of print.

Will be just north of Haverfordwest so anything arounf there would be ideal, also around St. Brides Bay would be a winner.

In reply to Stu McInnes:


Whereabouts in the town are they opening this then?

The leisure centre. Their facebook page has been posting updated pics of the build..

In reply to Stu McInnes:

Is there any more than the one video of the bloke in a helmet stood in front of some 2x4 holding a volume? Couldn't see any pics on there but they do have a lot of pictures to sort through. I'd not heard about the wall there before.