UKC

Just got back from a weekends cllimbing in Pembroke but where were the other climbers? Haven't been down there in a good 5 or so years but there are loads of guidebooks so someone must be going, maybe its the bird bans this time of year.

Range West briefing next week.... :P

In reply to Mark Collins:

I think if I'd been to some deserted crags and done some great routes... I'd keep really quiet about it!

In reply to ERU:

That's a long way for a day trip?

In reply to Mark Collins:

hmm its getting to be like the First Cuckoo of Spring....the spotting of the first post saying "I went to xxxx crag but where were all the other climbers?". The answer is usually "on yyyy crag instead...its just the way things work out sometimes. A few weeks ago there was a "why is nobody climbing on yorkshire grit" thread: ten days later I went to almscliff to find it absolutely rammed.

In reply to Mark Collins:

Strange... Every time I have been there in recent years (and this year) its been busy! What was the forecast? Wasn't so good up this way... plus its the Bank Holiday next weekend so maybe most folk are waiting for that?

In reply to Mark Collins:

Because it was scheduled to shit it down all weekend, and it did so until like lunchtime on Sunday. Therefore, unless you were already there (like you) it's unlikely you'd have made a big trip.

In reply to neuromancer:

People were climbing on Saturday afternoon.

In reply to neuromancer:

Yes, the weather forecast may have something to do with it. It was fairly jam-packed the previous weekend when the forecast was good even though the tides were 'wrong'.

In reply to Mark Collins:

There are large parts of Pembroke that are nearly always quiet. Part of the charm of the place for me.

In reply to John2:

Well, best of luck to them! If they caught some dry, steeply overhanging e6 techfest then they deserve it. I fear it may have been a bit more wet on the gumby slabs i'd be after.

Or, if suddenly the forecast was completely wrong (it wasnt in Swansea an hour or two away) then that's lucky - but you can't expect people to travel on that.

But op was admittedly just looking for someone to aplaud them for being super hardcore and climbing no matter what.

So bravo, did you climb anything special?

In reply to neuromancer:

People were climbing The Arrow, which looked completely dry. It had been raining all night, but it always amazes me how quickly the rock dries out. I wasn't climbing, I was looking for chough nests.

In reply to John2:

I missed out then!

In reply to neuromancer:

When I lived in Reading my rule was to travel to Pembroke if at least one day of the weekend was forecast to be sunny and the other wasn't forecast to have heavy rain. 9 times out of 10 I got at least one and a half days climbing.

In reply to neuromancer:


When I looked at the weather forecast on Friday morning it was due to stop raining at lunchtime Saturday, so we made the long journey after work based on that. Definitely not super hardcore, as the weekend could mainly be described as a mooch between tea shops interspersed with the odd climb. However, I do think the weather probably put folk off as you say. It just got me thinking what with other threads about people not climbing anywhere in the Peak District other than Stanage and such like.

In reply to Mark Collins:

We've just got back after three superb days; the rain had stopped by the time we arrived Saturday lunchtime. Saddle Head, Stennis Head, Mowing Word and Mother Carey's. We only saw four other pairs climbing.

In reply to Andy Hemsted:
I was kayaking down that way over the weekend. The forecast was looking grim most of the week before, and the weather actually was pretty grim right up until the Saturday morning too.

I joined a group to paddle over to Skomer on the Saturday, and the tourist boats weren't running. Very surprised to arrive at Martin's Haven and find the NT car park empty.

We didn't get right round the island, the tide race around Garland Rock was still looking a bit too wild for us, but the crossing was very easy. Chatting with the wardens on the island they said they'd clearly made the wrong call cancelling the boats but it had still been looking bad first thing when they had to make a decision. So on what turned out to be a really nice day the only visitors to the island were a couple of folk still at the bunkhouse from the night before and a handful of kayakers. (And umpteen thousand puffins temporarily in residence.)

Sunday's nice relaxed rock-hopping around the coast from Lydstep, past Mother Carey's, Skrinkle Haven etc., having a proper nosey in all the caves and wotnot was just delightful. Just enough swell and the odd bit of surf to make it very mildly exciting now and then. We saw only one pair of climbers all day, doing Sea Groove I think, on White Tower. (That wasn't you was it?) To my shame I've never climbed there. Looked fantastic, and they certainly had a great day for it.

Edit to add:
Photo... http://www.deepsoup.f2s.com/UKC/seagroove.jpg
(Annoyingly, of dozens I took during the day this is about the only one without a blob of water on the lens. Bah.)

In reply to deepsoup:

In my experience Pembroke crags are nearly always empty, even during fine weekends May-Sept.

The exception is bank hol weekends when, for some unknown reason, hundreds of climbers descend on the area and prospects of getting dinner at St G Inn after 7.30 is nil.

In reply to Mark Collins:
It's hardly surprising. As soon as you're north of Birmingham is a 4.5+ hour drive. That, to me, is only worthwhile if there's a decent prospect of getting 2 days of climbing in. Hence why it's busy on the bank holiday weekends (added bonus that MOD firing won't be a problem). Bristol is about the only city with a big climbing population (forgive me Swansea and Cardiff residents) in the UK from which it is feasible to go for a day trip and even that is pushing it at 2.5 hours! For us Yorkshire residents you're looking at a 6 hour drive (the same as to Glen Coe and Fort William, for context), whereas you can drive for three hours and get to the Lakes/North Wales/any crag in the Peak/Northumberland etc etc.

Everybody wants to be a Pembroke local but unfortunately, as it stands, it's a long way to go for >95% of the UK climbing population and you have to drive past a load of other great areas to get there!

We went on the early May bank holiday and had a great day at Mother Carey's on Saturday. We knew it would lash it down on Sunday and Monday looked fairly dry so we chanced it. We had to call and end to it when it was still coming in horizontal by midday on Monday. We had a great day on the Saturday but 12 hours of driving is not a good trade for a day's climbing when we could have gone elsewhere.

In reply to Andy Hemsted:


...and I was in one of those pairs you saw, I fancy. Must get around to having a go at Blue Sky myself one day, only just capable of climbing the stairs at the mo, and scared of my own shadow.

In reply to Mark Collins:

What we can be sure of is that it won't be empty this weekend!

In reply to Will Hunt:

Good points there, thanks for clearing that up.

In reply to deepsoup:

That's a lovely photo, but the climbers on Sea Groove were a pair of Germans. We'd done Sea Groove several hours earlier, when the tide was much higher; we'd tried to reach the base of Sea Groove round the bottom of the White Face, but would have been washed away.

At this time of the afternoon, we were fighting our way along the roof of the cave on Inner Space. It's a fantastic route!

In reply to Mark Collins:

Yes, Blue Sky was just the start of a great set of routes. We ended up learning a lot about abbing down to semi-hanging-belays, keeping the ropes out of the water etc etc...

In reply to Andy Hemsted:

I was just checking out the photos on here. Wow. It certainly looks it!

In reply to Will Hunt:


There's about 2 million people in the Swansea-Cardiff-Newport + Valleys area

In reply to andrewmcleod:

Yes but all the locals go greenlaning and poaching rather than climbing.

In reply to Andy Hemsted:

I was climbing with Mark at Saddle Head on Saturday - pretty sure I spoke to you Andy shortly after you topped out on Blue Sky.

In reply to Mark Collins:

I was there!

In reply to Neil Henson:

Hi Neil

Yes, it was me. We decided to move on from Saddle Head to Stennis Head as it was Paul's first visit to Pembroke, and I wanted to show him a variety of places.

I've sometimes wondered how many different Pembroke crags you could climb on in one day if you started early morning at the western end of Range East. We do a Gritstone Challenge sometimes and I've managed 12 from Stanage southwards, but of course there's no abbing needed..

In reply to Andy Hemsted:

Sounds like an interesting idea / challenge. With my abilities I would imagine my Pembroke crags in a day tally would be pretty low though.

Cheers

Neil