UKC

I live in London and am limited to public transport, and need some options to explore. Have already taken a look at Avon and Cheddar, and the local sandstone (which we're going to ignore from here onwards), and want to take a look at crags in the Wye Valley at some point in the near future. Is there anywhere else within reasonable range of London, accessible by public transport, that I should be thinking of climbing at?

I climb up to HS, single or multipitch, but not a fan of bold/run-out routes or crags so much. Any recommendations?

In reply to tehmarks:

Peak district? Easy enough to get to sheffield, then a bus up to hathersage, probably a good bet for those grades.

Even the easy stuff at Avon can be quite bold and cheddar would be a bit of a headache by pubIic transport i would think?

In reply to tehmarks:
Sleeper trains will get you far far away for a weekend... Everywhere is in range if you want it enough!
Seriously... Portland? Swanage? Not sure about transport but know they aren't too far away!

In reply to isi_o:

It's true! I went to skye for a long weekend via sleeper/bus/hitch

Aviemore/fort william for the weekend is a doddle.

In reply to tehmarks:

Also limited by it being cheap to get to - I don't have as much surplus income as I'd like, so crazy train fares are out! Avon was bold indeed, and Cheddar was helped along by climbing with a Bristol-based climber with a car!

Have taken a look at Portland/Swanage, but Portland at least seems a complete pain to get to.

In reply to tehmarks:
Megabus is perhaps your friend then - I've used the overnight services from Glasgow-London and vice versa a few times. I imagine there are others, at least some of which go to useful climbing destinations... They're not pretty, but they *are* cheap!

In reply to isi_o:

ahh, ive done that one. not a bad trip so long as theres not a football club filling the back rows.

off in glasgow in the wee hours, connecting to another bus all the way to kyle of lochalsh.
from there choices to everywhere: skye by bus, inverness via torridon and the cairngorms by train.
easy hitching.

over a decade ago tho. things may have changed by now.
good times.

In reply to ice.solo:
No, it still works more or less... Although I forgot to get the bus back one time and ended up moving here - much better to only have to do the journey a couple of times a year in the opposite direction to see the folks!

In reply to tehmarks:

by train, I'd have thought portland was easier than swanage. waterloo-weymouth, bus (no 1 I think) to portland. I guess it depends how far you are from waterloo though.

In reply to tehmarks:

I saw one of your other posts. You don't seem to have much initiative. How about just googling a selection of climbing areas with the word "bus" after them? How about checking train operators websites for advance fares? Young persons railcard? Previous UKC posts? I can tell you that Portland, Burbage, Millstone, Lawrencefield, Stoney, Birchen, Rivelin are all dead easy to get to for the day; Froggatt a bit more of a walk but not too bad.

In reply to tehmarks: get the train to Hathersage instead of the bus when in Sheffield. If you want dirt cheap get the national express bus up to Sheffield instead of the train, it does take a little longer but a lot cheaper unless you book an aeon in advance. For me and my girlfriend we managed transport from london to hathersage return for £40 for both of us so it can be done on the cheap. 45 minutes walk from the station in Hathersage up to North Lees is also manageable

In reply to tehmarks: Use national express, i got a return coach up to Sheffield for £12...

In reply to tehmarks:

Why on earth would you want to do that? Did it spank you?

In reply to tehmarks:

Portland is a piece of piss to get to on public transport, and you don't need any transport once you are there. Train/bus as mentioned above. But Portland is no use if you are only looking for trad to HS.

In reply to tehmarks:

the most variety at the grades your looking for coupled with easy public transport is sheffield, and peak disstrict grit. good well protected and miles of it at several different crags. but don't discount southern sand stone, there are some great routes there and you can push your grade with impunity, as it's all top rope. i know there's a few slippery offerings, but ask some of the locals for the best route options and technique tips ( pick one that looks as though he or she might have half a clue! if your climbing to HS away from home, then you might try "zig zag" 5a, " the vice"
4c, at harrissons, or maybe "pigs nose" 5a, "funnel" 4a, and "divals diversion" 4b, at bowles rocks, as points of reference for starters, and work your way up from there.

Hi

I second you .

The peaks is not to tough to get to and is one of my fav s . The sandstone are another good one not to overlook . Swanage wouldnt be very hard to get to by public.. To be honest it wouldn't be to hard to get to most places from London , think it's just a matter of how much you want to spend or how far you want to go ..

Good luck

In reply to Jonathan Emett:
Correct - I got mixed up. Having looked into it though, Swanage isn't actually bad either now that I've looked further into it - train to Wareham, and bus.

In reply to Trangia:
It's a cheap imitation of Northumberland and I don't like it...


...and yes, it spanked me

In reply to silhouette:
Err, thanks. The question was aimed at learning of areas that I either didn't know existed or would never have considered. Given some ideas or options I'll quite happily work out how to get there, but I'm not at all native to this half of the country, and beyond the obvious well-known destinations I don't have the first clue about climbing down here. I found that looking at the crag map wasn't the most useful of exercises, so I thought I'd consult the wisdom of UKC. Who, for the most part, are thankfully far more helpful than you.

Thank you to everyone else who's thrown ideas at me

In reply to tehmarks: considering the requirements, I'd suggest to book a chunk of tickets to Spain or France or give more love to your local indoor wall.

In reply to tehmarks:

If you can't climb something, it doesn't mean it's bad.

In reply to tehmarks:

So, just what are you a fan of?

I've done a couple of weekends in the Peaks and Lakes by public transport. Late Friday train or early Saturday morning. Trains can take you right into the Peaks (for example Grindleford station is walking distance from a few climbing spots) but you'll need some connecting buses for the Lakes really, and then it can be a satisfying few miles hike. Take a pack and camp out for the night, climb some more in the morning, and then head back down.

In reply to tehmarks: The peak is only a couple of hours away, train to Sheffield. Go with a few mates and have an early start and a kip on the way home !

In reply to Trangia:

Hear hear! That's what I thought must have happened. Living in London, you'd be pretty silly to ignore such a fine array of crags on your doorstep. When we lived in Kent in the sixties/early seventies we climbed on the sandstone whenever we couldn't get to Lakes/Wales/Cornwall/Swanage etc and I don't think I've been in such good physical condition since. It certainly enabled our step-up (it felt a big one in those days) from VS to these new fangled "Extremely Severes" on the mountain crags

In reply to tehmarks:

Well I commute INTO London every day from north of The Peak, so commuting out of it can't be that bad

Trains or coaches booked in advance can be surprisingly cheap.

In reply to tehmarks:

take up bouldering?