In reply to Alun:
> The sadder thing about the bolting is that it seemed to be full-on sport climbing bolting, as opposed to 'bolting when necessary'.
But one person's "necessary" is not the same as somebody else's "necessary". I'd prefer to see properly bolted sport routes than "designer" routes. Although widespread in other countries (and I've enjoyed many such routes) I've always found something a bit unsatisfactory and contrived about partially bolted routes.
I think some people are imposing a British perspective on this bolting, particularly our more or less complete no bolts ethic on sea cliffs and our pretty clear demarcation between trad crags and sport crags. The fact is that other places do things differently and, as much as it might sometimes grate with us, there's not a lot we can do about it. But it does mean that we should all the more jealously preserve the strong and almost unique bolting ethic we have in the UK (and that includes, in my opinion, resisting bolts at Castell Helen!)