by Graham Dolman
Eleven of us made the trip down to the west country for a really enjoyable weekend of climbing and socialising. The forecast indicated that Saturday was going to be fine and Sunday wet but, as it happened, the wet weather didn’t arrive until Sunday afternoon so we enjoyed warm dry climbing for two days.
The choice of venue for Saturday came down to the driver’s choice; we had been poring over the Cheddar supplement for inspiring new routes in our grade range but in the end we all went for the scenic option of Goblin Coombe. This is a mainly solid natural limestone crag situated in a lovely wooded valley – the peace only broken by over flights from Easy Jet every half hour. Just about all the low grade classics (and a few not so classics) got ticked off and one enormous hold fell off, leaving Mark to pick himself out of the bushes, luckily unhurt.
Sunday, unexpectedly dry, saw one car head for the esoteric delights of Mells and the rest heading for Fairy Cave quarry. The Mells party soon rejoined the main group after finishing a lesser known classics of the crag. Again, everyone got plenty of quality climbing done against the noisy backdrop of trail bikes racing round the quarry. Fairy Cave is a good venue; it’s not all about the *** Robs Crack – there are plenty of other good, solid slabby pitches besides.
Thanks to the Crown and the Lilly Pond cafe for servicing our breakfast and beer needs!