UKC

I may soon be moving to the Gloucestershire area and wondered how others rate the nearby indoor walls, esp. when compared to my current local, Reading Climbing Centre http://www.readingclimbingcentre.com ?

http://www.the-warehouse.co.uk
The Warehouse (Gloucester, GL1 1HY)- 25mins

http://www.farpeakclimbing.co.uk/
Far Peak Climbing - Outdoor...seems for kids (Gloucester, GL54 3AP)- 36mins

http://www.blocclimbing.co.uk
Bloc Climbing - Bouldering Only! (Bristol, BS2 9SH)- 38mins

http://www.undercover-rock.com/
Undercover Rock The Bristol Climbing Centre (Bristol, BS2 9YT)- 40mins

https://www.theclimbingacademy.com
The Climbing Academy Bristol - Bouldering Only! (Bristol, BS5 0FD)- 41mins

http://www.rockstarclimbing.co.uk/
Rockstar Climbing (Swindon, SN5 7DL)- 46mins

http://www.redpointbristol.co.uk/
Redpoint Bristol Climbing Centre (Bristol, BS3 2NW)- 49mins

http://www.vlimit.co.uk/
VLimit - Looks space limited (Worcestershire, WR4 9EL)- 50mins

http://bouldersuk.com/boulders/find/
Boulders (Cardiff, CF24 2RZ)- 64mins

In reply to worthy:
Welcome to the area lots of stuff in the Wye Valley and South Wales!

Gloucester is similar to Reading, shop, cafe ect but bouldering is pretty crap. 3x auto belays. Parking 100m away at a charge.

Swindon is mostly bouldering but has a handful of lines. Top quality venue imo, good feel to the place. It's not long started up. Free parking.

Undercover Rock has some great steep routes, loved it, only been once. Some parking around the streets.

Far peak is great in the summer for the 15m outdoor tower. Lots of free parking, cafe and campsite. Bouldering is okay but not set often.

Not been to the others, dont forget Oxford Brookes though. Free parking, good regular setting with bouldering and climbing. 2x auto belays.

In reply to Oogachooga:

Thanks. One of the reasons for moving is to make use of the outdoors but I wanted to see how the local indoor facilities compared.

In reply to worthy:

UCR used to have the best setting in the region, bar none. With their change of ownership this has taken a bit of a dip but I think they are now getting it together again.

Redpoint opened a new section of wall in Jan this year and it is very good and well set. The rest of Redpoint again I have found rather variable. Part of this is that they very much assume you will smear on the rough walls so there are none of the splats and screwons that UCR uses on their smooth wall. NB traffic in the Cumberland Basin in Bristol can be pretty dire so I'd take your google estimate of approach time with a bit of a pinch of salt.

Warehouse - I've only climbed there once, several years ago. At the time I found it quite dingey to the extent that route reading could be a problem, but hopefully they've fixed the lack of light by now!

Boulders - I used to go there regularly as the main wall is a decent height. Stopped going as I got monumentally piddled off by the seemingly random and frequently sandbag grades. It was as if they didn't have anyone of around that grade fore-running the routes, just relied on what the setter reckoned.

Bouldering - TCA & Bloc are bot hvery good. For my tastes, Bloc feels too high as I don't feel happy going for thin moves at the top of the walls. But I know other people say TCA is too low so horses for courses. Bloc resets one panel at a time but TCA resets one graded circuit at a time which means it is easier to see waht it new and binge on it.

In reply to worthy:
Gloucester wall is good, lots of interesting routes at a wide range of grades. I find the bouldering to be okay, it's not fantastic but there are different angles etc. and some of the problems are great if you pick the right ones - and there's a caf£! Parking free after 7pm I think.

Far Peak is excellent, it may be smaller but the tower outside is great in the summer or even in the winter with the floodlights. Again interesting routes from about 3+ to 7b for lead and toprope. Definitely not just for kids, though there is a specific bouldering area for them (though that has some proper hard stuff at about 6c too!). The walls inside are a bit short but do have some fun routes. The setting is good (I think it's partly set by the same people who do Gloucester) and the bouldering is small but quality and seems to be being reset more often now. Always friendly people there bouldering and the staff are really helpful too.

Brookes is okay but I'm not too keen, the bouldering is better than the routes that can be set quite badly. Really hard to park too, at least at the time I've been.

UCR is also really nice as a bigger centre - as has been said there are lots of steep routes!

I don't live around this area though, so this is based on places I've been while visiting family here......

In reply to worthy:

One problem with the Warehouse is that they do not change the routes nearly often enough and when the room is busy it's unpleasant. Redpoint are building a new wall just outside Worcester which is due to open mid-june. It looks as though it will be very extensive. I live in Cheltenham but I will be able to get to this new wall quicker than I can get to Gloucester and the parking should be free.

Al

In reply to worthy:

The bouldering area at Oxford Brookes is quite small, and it's very much a 'bring your own psyche' kind of place. I'd much rather go to Bristol.

In reply to GridNorth:

And the Warehouse try to make you wear shoes to belay, and get grumpy about bowlines. Combined with very few new routes since early February, I expect to move across to Redpoint Worcester when it opens.

In reply to worthy:

Rockstar Swindon is an excellent airy bouldering wall with well set and regularly changed routes.

The leading wall is nice but quite limited.

I find the Gloucester OK wall OK but a bit dingy.

In reply to worthy:

I climbed at The Warehouse for years when I lived closer and it was always good. It definitely went downhill in the last few years though, seemingly gearing itself towards birthday parties and less towards regulars. The routes are good, but (and I am mainly a boulderer) the bouldering wasn't brilliant...

I moved to Bristol a couple of years ago and boulder at Bloc a few times a week - and its great. The routes are re-set enough to keep you interested, but not so often that regularly you lose projects.

I pay a monthly subscription to climb at Bloc so tend not to boulder at TCA.

Undercover rock is good, but I don;t go there too often as I don;t do a great deal of sport. I've never been to the newest wall in Bristol - Redpoint - but I've heard some good things.

All in, I'd recommend Bristol for your climbing needs... the only problem is getting down the M32 at rush hour for a post work climb!