Albarracin

Sunday was set aside completely for packing. As ryanair were robbing us for actually wanting to take something with us we'd jammed the pad into our only check in bag and had the hand luggage to cover all of our boots, chalk, camera and clothes. Due to this, packing was short and left us with nothing to do on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Not for long however as we quickly decided to get horrendously drunk with cocktails on Devonshire green. I awoke about 4 hours from the time at which we had to leave, swimming. I drunk gallons of water before settling back for a few hours more kip. On awakening the water was switched to coffee. I felt OK to drive but it was close and TBH I regretted stepping foot out of the house the day before. East Midlands airport is ridiculously handy for Sheffield residents, just over an hours drive away. At the carpark company the bloke on reception took 45 minutes to check our car in which was an absolute joke. The amount of coffee in my blood made me very anxious to get on with it and I probably ended up being very rude.
On arrival in Spain we bussed it to the hire car company (Centauro Uno) who were absolutely excellent given my claims history, the fact I'm under 25 and the clincher I don't own a credit card. The car? well that was less excellent. A Pug 207 1.4 petrol. Now this was the first LH drive car I've ever driven. Plus I've had a sporty diesel for the last 3 years. The drive was less than smooth, painfully slow and the heavy frenchman drunk a tonne of fuel. Having said that, 2 hours from the Airpot to Albarracin isn't bad, if you go there try EMA to Valencia. We got sorted in our bungalow at the campsite and quickly realised that we'd forgotten our down jackets. No worries, one fluorescent site jacket later and we were ready to go out exploring.
The rest of the evening (6pm onwards) was spent runnng around Techos 1 & 2 psyched out of our minds at all the good looking lines. Sensibly boots had been left in the car.

Nat past Loskot

We wandered out past area Loskot and the view was pretty stunning. I recognized Klem's traverse and chalked it down as one to get on.
Monday - Tune up day. I started the day sensibly and took it steadily throughout but another wander to see the view left me below Klem's. Now before I go further this traverse is actually in a banned area between Jan and Aug, I'd left the guide in the car and managed to miss that fact until later on in the week. Whoops and sorry. I got involved with the traverse which starts on two or three juggy holes and then breaks leftwards on holds that look similar to Jerry's Traverse but there's no nasty top bit to stop you crimping. RESULT! After getting my foot stuck in a heel toe lock at the start I sacked it off and romped along the juggy crimps until the last 'Dyno', in reality its a big slap. I slapped, hit the hold but my bottom hand didn't feel right. I sat down for 5 mins and rested again. Back to the same point I slapped further left (ignoring the idiot line) held the hole, but something wasn't right, my right hand felt bad. Do I carry on for the tick or drop off? Day one, hour 3? I dropped off to see my RH index finger had split along the first joint. NNFN!

Klem's Traverse

So at the end of the day I had finished Klem's without doing the 6b top out and sensibly, I sat the rest of the day out. I was a little disapointed with the problem in all honesty. I'd wanted to do it since seeing a picture a while ago thinking it looked hard but played to my strengths. The reality is that it was a mid grade problem that played to my strengths. In the evening we explored the windy streets of Albarracin, which is packed with nice inexpensive restraunts and quaint bars and shops.

Albarracin Town

Tuesday was spent exploring Techos 1 & 2. These areas are great but you'll find that a lot of lines are flawed in one way or another. Namely the rock is soft at the top of the climp or low down on the climb, some end in the middle of nowhere and some have suffered due to loss of holds. Despite this there are a huge amount of quality, bulletproof lines such as:

Supermafos Macho

Lanky people miss out the crux but despite this its still a great problem up a gently overhaning wall. I got stuck on top of the boulder and tried to kill myself my topping out over the next roof (which was loose) before realising that an easy lip traverse gets you back to tera firma safely. The 6b to the left was Nat's main tick (below) and yet again she impressed me no end in powering up it with relative ease.

Supermafos Tacho

I ran around Techos 1 and 2 on the first few days like a kid at Christmas, ticking pretty much everything I wanted to try. Like a bow, Le Campana and many others which I can't remember the name off hand. The one problem I wanted to try, Cosmos, was still there tempting me despite my injury. As I walked over to it I quickly noticed that the lefthand hold you slap from isn't a crimp as I'd been told, its a pocket. A quick go at the first move out to this hold definately reminded me that pockets were OUT! Darn. Instead I pulled on after this move, crimping hard in the pocket wanting to see how hard the next move is. First slap I missed completely, kick Nat in the legs and end up crumpled on the floor. Next go the same. Next go the same. Then BANG! I hit the jug and once again pain was felt, this time in my palm. The jug you slap for on Cosmos is sharp and had taken a chunk out of my palm. I quested leftwards to the easy top out and dropped off, money in the bank. For people wondering, (dylan) its not 8a+ but neither (dobbin) is its 7C as you have been told.
More laying in the sun was had throughout the week whilst avoiding the midday heat (climbing wise). We wandered around the banned areas and I was quite aggrieved to be missing out on these. The problems at penninsula look stunning in the flesh, ok on dosage they don't look amazing but standing looking at the long steep roofs I can't think of anywhere that offers such a range of independant climbs up ground such as this.

The view past area Loskot




The view from Penninsula (Bird Ban)

The next days were spent exploring the more roadside areas. Parking (covered in sh*t), Aeroline and Techos don Pepos. I think a blow by blow account of each individual tick might get bloody boring so I'll spare you.
In summary, Aeroline is like a small inclosure of gritstone classics
Techos don Pepos is another bulletproof roof in which a classic 7a takes the main line (of the same name).
A group of Bleausards were attacking this as I entered the area (like a sandstone version of the sheep pen) and I was soon invited to get involved. On my flash go I ended up eyeing up the final hold, unfortunately Mr French pointed out the handy nothing hold instead of the 'git big' jug next to it. After this I struggled to get to the same point again until finally I got my sh*t together and powered through. Later whilst resting I realised why the problem felt so hard. I wasn't on the correct line. The actual problem went down without a fuss.

Bug Train

Arasteredo is another larger area at which we spent a couple of days. I'm getting tired of typing now so basically its quite good with the problems being less on boulders and more on sandstone buttresses. Here's Nat on a poblem that she came really close to ticking but to no avail.

Nat's Project

At this area there is a proud line that I think everyone who's tried deliverance will love. Mardi Gras (7b+ I think?) the rock is the same shape as deliverance but the holds are numerous small crimps and poor smears. This leads to an all out leap to the top. The problem wasn't my cup of tea so I didn't really bother, the lines on the same boulder all between 6-7 are extremely worthwile and the highball 7a+ behind the boulder was like a board problem at the school although it was terrifying above my one, old and ruined Metolius pad.

Esperanza

At the same area the above problem is a classic 7a arete. It starts via a long slap from good positve holds. I seemed to be the only person to think that shouldering and locking the press was a good idea. After this you end up quite high with poor slopers having to get your foot up unervingly high.
Two people wrecked themselves on this problem whilst I was watching, one snapped something in his knee and clawed himself onto the boulder thus requiring a rope rescue. The other fell and hit the only hole in the mat badly twisting (nearly breaking) her ankle. Gulp. When it came to my turn I wasn't letting go.

Some 6b+ at Arastaredo

I range of easier steepish thuggy problems are also available close by.
Sol and Macia are two areas that I haven't mentioned. Sol features briefly in Dosage V with Jason Kehl demonstrating an Uber classic 7b, this has broken but is still climamble via a different sequence.

'Funky Chicken'

The Spansih guy pictured above is crazy. He overheard someone saying Funky Chicken and for the rest of the day screamed Fucking Chicken at anyone he saw climbing. They do smoke an awful lot of weed!
Sorry for the post slowly dying into boring tattle, I can't really write "I did this", "I tried that" as on this trip I didn't go with a ticklist, I just ran around crazily ticking everything and anything I could get my hands on. If I bothered with 8a.nu anymore there'd be far too many entries to deal with.
If you're thinking of going to Albarracin, I'd suggest you do. The climbing isn't hugely extensive (i.e. its not FONT) but it is great and it offers you climbing unlike any I've experience before. If you climb well on boards, like crimpy holds and don't mind scrabbling over a slopey top now and again this is the place for you. The food is good, the wine is cheap, the climate is good (and all the problems are shaded). What more could you want?

Solid grades perhaps?

Albarracin Albarracin Albarracin

Tomorrow!

We just had a minor credit card / car hire issue but its sorted now.
Went to the tor last night, felt really off it which was disappointing. The finger feels weak. Earlier on I went a drooled over shiny bikes.

Haha Ryanair

Ryanair want about the same as its cost for Nat and I to fly to Spain for taking 'sporting goods' i.e. a pad. Well, I'm tight so not a chance. Instead I've just managed to disassemble a pad and cram it into a normal looking bag! Victory is mine and the Sellars school of packing is now a total necessity.

Works

A phone call from Tideswell suggested that I give the tor a miss last night. Instead, unwillingly I might add, I climbed at the works. The finger felt fine ish but then again I avoided using it. Most of the comp wall problems went down with me having to use front 2 in quite a few holds to avoid risking further injury. I've still got the yellow problem through the roof to do, I simply can't read (nor climb) volumes. To be honest the current set of comp problems seem exactly the opposite of the last set, maybe a little too opposite? However, despite this, the red circuit is great! I managed to do my undercut board problem as well. Its not hard but I am injured.

Plus, of course, BRUCE is amazing! A remake of the Cordless T-shirt is long overdue.



Afterwards Nat, James, Dense and I went to Zeugma's to top up on protein. Mmmm.

Northern Soul...

The destinations were completely dictated by the weather. Hepburn on Fri morning then when the rain was due, off to Kyloe in for Nat to attempt a crushing of Bad Finger and Bad Company (unfortunately neither of which happened).
In the morning Northern Soul was the only thing of interest. Climbing it without weighting my left hand much at all made it a little more tricky than I expect it really is. Nonetheless a great problem at an ok crag. Sequence:





At Kyloe in Nat got stuck into her stuff while I worked away at a bogey problem of mine; Yorkshireman SS. Its one of those problems that despite spending a small age at Kyloe In, I could never really figure it out. Following the Earl's sequence one day left me sure that I'd never do it. Well helpful local lad A was giving out beta left right and centre and it wasn't long before I was at the top of the crack eyeing up the pocket. Slapping to a two finger pocket whilst injured? Err No. I tried the flip LH round and go with RH beta but its never worked for me on the standup. Therefore, I stopped. Completely made up with progress on this problem. Then a dog stole my chalk bag:




In the evening Laterooms had done well and landed us a far too swanky hotel. So swanky in fact that it had a dress code. The evening meal was simply the best I've ever had. It blew everything else I've ever eaten completely out of the water.
On Sat we headed to Shaftoe for Nat to try Soft Center. Despite piling everything we owned onto the mat's as well as doubling everything over she could barely reach the break. Hmmm. I eyed up blood sport. Its a good line but massively morpho. After this the sun came out and did its worst. We laid around for a while before deciding to call it quits. Sunday was spent with the family.
Monday; Slipstones.



It was hot but not too hot. I showed Nat around the crag and we picked off everything easy in sight. After stopping for lunch it was obvious that the temps had risen and the rock was baking. Again, we decided to cut our losses and head home. Skin still in tact and both looking forward to Spain in a weeks time!

Twatter

Again, I don't have Twatter but if I did:

• Paul is wondering (after flicking through the Northumberland guidebook) why Sheffield seemed so appealing?
• Paul is seriously abusing the recommended dose of Arnica capsules
• Paul's finger isn't feeling too bad today, maybe due to the above
• Paul will continue abusing the Arnica capsules, even if it is just for psychological benefits
• Paul seriously misses the gym
• @Dobbin - you're gay
• Maybe I secretly desire to have a Twatter account?
  

Tenacity No. 2 pointed out that the best thing he ever did for his climbing was taking up surfing, hence not climbing as much and having something to do when injured. He also runs. I'm in awe of how the hell he fits it in. I'm not interested in surfing, well, not in this country! BUT and I think it is a big BUT, I think I could enjoy morbidly torturing myself on a road bike slogging my way around the Peak, my main concerns are that:

A) Someone WILL run me over
B) It's darn expensive
C) Someone will steal whatever I buy
D) I'll spend less time working than I currently do (which I cannot afford)

The cheaper option of running is out due to the impact on my sparrow leg. I could kill the gym cravings and the expense of the bike with one stone but I've never been one to sit on an aerobic machine indoors it just seems silly (well during the summer anyway).

The weekend plans remain unchanged but instead of me dictating where we go I've let Nat (with some nudging I admit) pick the destinations, that way I can just bimble around on anything that looks easy enough not to injure me further. Outdoors, I think its a lot harder to warm up effectively and control what you pull on. Holds are uneven, things are deceptively hard etc. hence I'll have to be extra careful.

Foley, I gave you the low down earlier, I'll be watching out to see what sauce is in your shaker!

Anyway that'll do, thoughts on a postcard...

Tor-ment?

I've been to the tor a handful of times since my injury. Not to climb, simply to drive, spot and then drive some more. Nat's been trying too hard for mark leach and she's nearly done it, but the last move is seemingly a bit of a bogey move for her.
Last time (mon) we arrived to find the crag deserted apart from Tenacity No.2 sat underneath Ben's roof. He swore he was struggling and proceeded to prove that on the hard release move. By the time it was getting dark he threw together a link from move 2 until the end and cursed not doing the start.
Nat's attempts progressively got worse as the light faded which ended up in a tantrum and a quiet drive home.
Tonight we both went to the works, about 7 days to the hour from my injury. I managed to limit myself to the green circuit (many thanks to Ed who stopped me from entertaining the idea that I could do locks on the campus board as long as I was fully crimped!). The injury didn't feel too bad during the evening but then again everytime a hold required mid 2 I found some other way of using it to avoid weighting the finger. During the course of the evening it twinged once or twice when dragging some of the smaller holds, but nothing earth shattering. Arnica, Glucosamine and Chondroitin, Ibuprofen and a bag of frozen peas later there doesn't seem to be any more pain than before the evening commenced. Hopefully it will stay that way.

Thur night we're off to my folks.
Fri - the county
Sat - the county
Sun - back to my folks
Mon - Slipstones, possibly?

I'd be psyched, but i'm injured so it'll be frustrating and really hard work to keep myself off things that I've been wanting to try (/finish off) for ages!