UKC

Hello! I will be visiting a friend who just moved to London. She is a climber currently working in Gatwick airport.

I will be there from the 10th till the 14th June and was thinking about taking my gear with me so I could climb with her on some local crags (climbing tourism!)

I was thinking about doing some easy trad or sport routes. (No harder than 6a). We are either seeking areas that we can get to by public transportation or looking for company to take us and climb with us!
We are both climbing around 6a grade climbs.

Any recomendations of where to climb? Topos would be very welcome too!

If there aren't any, we might just hit the various resin walls of London so you want to join us!

Thank you very much for the help.
Nuno

In reply to ncf:
The nearest crags to Gatwick are near Tunbridge Wellsand are all soft sandstone; and are top-rope only venues. There are strict rules on rigging the top-ropes to avoid erosion; lots of advice on the BMC website, for example this:- https://www.thebmc.co.uk/bmcNews/media/u_content/File/access_conservation/a...

Otherwise Swanage or Portland are both reachable by public transport, but will take quite a time from Gatwick, at least two trains and a bus plus some walking; both areas have lots of easier trad and sport routes.

In reply to ncf:

The short answer is that, unless you have a car, it's unlikely to be practical to do a day's outdoor climbing from London. If you do have a car then Swanage, Portland, Cheddar Gorge or Wye Valley are all within 3 hours drive.

If you're looking for a company, these guys seem to be doing a weekend in Dartmoor then - and I'd recommend them from doing a trip with them before:

http://www.rockclimbingstore.co.uk/courses-2/adult-courses/weekend-away-tri...

In reply to ncf:

the nearest crag to gatwick is probably siurana

In reply to ncf:

Stone farm is a few miles from gatwick and has some nice (if short) routes, and some limited but good bouldering.
It's a lovely spot with a nice view, and a great place to spend a couple of hours.

Don't expect a world class crag but it's be a good alternative to going indoors.
Also there's a good indoor bouldering wall about 40 minutes from gatwick called craggy Sutton.
As others have said swanage, Portland and the wye valley are three hours away, and the Peak District is four hours away.

In reply to deacondeacon:

Southern Sandstone would definitely be a good day out. I don't think that even the locals would say that it's the best that British climbing has to offer, but from my (limited) experience it's quite pleasant and will also get you out into some lovely leafy countryside for the whole pints of beer in pub gardens / watching cricket on the village green experience.

In reply to ncf:

You say your friend works at Gatwick but you don't say where she lives; Gatwick is 40km away from central London. Also you don't say whether she has single days off or two or more consecutive days.

In reply to silhouette:

Hello, she lives very very close to the airport. As for her days off, it does depend, she has a new work schedule every week.

In reply to ncf:

Get in touch with Will down at Freeborn climbing which runs courses down in Dorset.

http://www.freebornclimbing.com

In reply to ncf:

Nuno,

Southern Sandstone is close, but as others have pointed out, it is limited to bouldering and toprope climbing. It's definitely an acquired taste. Stone Farm ( Stone Farm) is a lovely place, but you will need a car or be willing to take a long walk from the train station to get there.

London is a great place to live, but it's not a great place to be a climber. To get to a proper climbing area, you need to drive about three hours. My first choice for a road trip would be Portland ( Cheyne Cliff). A lot of fun sport in the 6a range and probably the best weather in the UK.

In reply to HakanT:

Stone farm is lovely, but you have to wait at least a day after rain before it is climbable. It is also worth taking a towel to wipe feet and step from, as it is very sandy.

The bouldering is good in the lower grades, and there are metal pins on the top of most of the routes as well.