UKC

In the new year I'll be moving to Southampton with a job. I'm aware of the rock climbing available to the west at Swanage and Portland, but are there any other crags near Southampton? The whole of this area seems a bit bare! Surely there is some decent rock in the area?

Thanks,

Jonah

In reply to jonah_cook:


Hampshire is basically rolling chalk downland, nothing (natural) to climb here except trees.

In reply to jonah_cook:
If you shut your eyes, cross your fingers and click your heels three times Santa's elves will build you a crag for Christmas (perhaps).

In reply to jonah_cook:

Jump on a ferry at Portsmouth to Caan or Cherbourg and climb at Clecy, few other crags nearby.

In reply to john spence:

...or the Channel Islands.

In reply to jonah_cook:
You've identified your nearest climbing. Swanage and Portland. They are not THAT far from Southampton!!

Think yourself lucky compared to those based further East and in London.

Otherwise take up sailing? Loads of that right on your doorstep

In reply to jonah_cook:


There's a useful Find Crags Map in the Logbooks section on here - zooming in on it will show you pretty much everything.

In reply to jonah_cook:

Seriously the only outdoor climbing you are likely to find is on the seawall at Gosport

In reply to jonah_cook:

Isle of White

In reply to jonah_cook:

Cheers for the replies!

It seems I'll just have to drive to Portland and Swanage. I've been told they are superb crags so all is good!

Jonah

In reply to jonah_cook:

you are fortunate to be moving to Southampton now. we just got a huge and really rather good bouldering wall, before that it was a converted squash court or a long drive to Calshot, or Fareham

https://bouldershack.co.uk/

as everyone else says Swanage or portland are the place to go. the nearest bits of Swanage are only an hour at a quite time of day.

In reply to jonah_cook:

I always looked at the reasonably steep (and slightly less chossy than usual) chalk wall where the Southampton to Waterloo line goes into the tunnel north of Waller's Ash and wondered if it would go... squeezed between the main line to London and the second world war oil storage facility at Micheldever so access might be interesting, even before the trains roar past at regular intervals!

www.secret-bases.co.uk/IMG/micheldever.jpg

b

In reply to ben b:

No trains on the 25th and 26th of December...

In reply to EddInaBox:

http://s1084.photobucket.com/user/scotty_131/media/Micheldever%20Fuel%20Dep...
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1775912

Must be the biggest 'crag' in the whole of County of Hampshire.
Easy top rope access... but remember, careless chalk costs lives!

b

In reply to ben b:

http://www.hampshirechalk.co.uk/
Last I saw it was up for sale, maybe the BMC would like to buy it?

In reply to EddInaBox:

Mum goes fishing just below that tottering pile of choss. It's like the bottom of the chalk holder at school but on a bigger scale.

Kids, ask your parents about chalk and blackboards. Or overhead projectors, or letraset...

b

In reply to EddInaBox:



Agricultural lime quarries don't necessarily have steep or climbable chalk. I know because I've checked one out.....in Hampshire.

Odiham Chalk Pit, which you can see off the road from Odiham to Alton just outside Odiham, looks steep and clean but there are nearby houses so it would not be a low-profile undertaking. AFAIK there is no access and nobody has climbed there. Anyone know different?

In reply to jonah_cook:

Portland and Swanage won't disappoint! If you ever want to lift share etc drop me a message. I drive from Fareham to the crags about three times a week! Petrol costs a fortune.