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| Rodellar steepness |
The two crazy weeks of travelling started with Saule
and I visiting our friends in Swansea. Always great hosts, Tadas and
Anna took us to the shipwreck cove for some sport climbing. With the
morning drizzle, we were a bit skeptical at first but in the end we
all got happily pumped in this cool crag.
A large Indian curry and some ale
later, we went to Pembroke for the second day. We visited the Mowing
Word area, which was recently removed from the birdban list. Crazy
exposure above the sea, good protection, steep, but never too
difficult climbing provided a great day out on the coast.
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| The shipwreck |
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| Checking out the sport climbing in Gower |
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| DWS planning for the next time |
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| Pembroke climbing |
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| Anna on an epic traverse |
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| Topping out |
The real reason for us flying to the UK
was in fact the wedding of my good friend Titi and his now wife
Jenny. Proper ceremony in a church ensued followed by a party in a
cozy town of Baldock. In addition to celebrating this beautiful
couple, it was also cool to catch up with the Leopold road crew.
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| Who let these guys into the party ??? |
A slightly hangover flight took me to
Barcelona, where the international conference of magnetism took
place. A number of good speakers presented all-things-magnetism,
which was very interesting. But what makes a good conference is the
location. Nights were spent eating great seafood and drinking
cervezas. I also managed to take a dip in the Mediterranean and on a
free afternoon Dan and I climbed some conglomerate in Montserrat.
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| Conference venue |
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| Sardana dancing in front of the Barcelona Cathedral |
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| The Elephant about to attack the Mummy! |
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| Dan with the Monastery complex behind him |
The cool thing about Barcelona is that
it is really close to a number of world-class crags so I was keen to
squeeze a few more days of climbing in. In the summer the obvious
choice is Rodellar, with big caves, soaring tufas and steep, pumpy
climbing. A bus ride to Barbastro and a stint of hitchhiking later, I
got comfortably situated in the Kalandraka refugio, which even had
live music one of the nights! Llulio, who gave me a lift on the last
leg of hitchhiking, invited me to join his group of friends for
climbing. They pointed me to some really cool climbs and were a great
gang to hang out with for the weekend! I got a few more sessions in
thanks to Buster, Mari and Killian. Big thanks to all of them!
Rodellar is an amazing playground, worth coming back for!
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| Rodellar village |
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| Climbing here is steep |
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| Warming up. Thanks Pujol for the photos. Check out more of his cool pics here |
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| Climbing El Team Fumeta |
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| The hunting game |
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| Los hijos del viento |
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| Live band in Kalandraka |
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