The Roaches

Yesterday was a lovely day chilling with friends at the Roaches in the Peak District. The sun was shining all day and it seemed a real treat. Sid and I climbed Sauls Crack for the second time this year to see if it had got any easier - not much! Sarah and Becky were keen to do some leading and the photos show Becky on her first ever lead on Black and Tan and Sarah on Right Hand Route - both Severes.

Alpine in Snowdonia

As we were planning on being in the Alps this week, but the weather changedour plans, Alec and I decided to squeeze a 2 day alpine climbing trip to North Wales in between more heavy rain.
We drove up yesterday morning, had a late breakfast/lunch in the cafe and then walked into Cwm Eigiau having parked at the end of the reservoir. We decided to climb Ampitheatre Buttress which is a V Diff alpine style route which had 10 guidebook pitches. We were at the foot of the route for 2:00pm and were basking in sunshine on warm dry rock for the whole route.
The buttress offers a great mix of top end scrambling, slab climbing and Alpine style gendarmes with just enough interest throughout. We had a lunch break half way up and enjoyed the views across the Conwy valley and out to sea before topping out at about 4:00pm as the first rain showers arrived.
We strolled across to the Foel Grach summit shelter where we cooked tea - army ration packs left over from a job we had done for them at Easter. As the weather closed in and the day came to a close we headed down to the bothy and curled up in front of an open fire with a bottle of scotch.
This morning was wet and windy again so I am home in the warm and dry again!

Flooding

It was my 30th birthday on Friday and we had arranged a barbecue for friends and family, unfortunately the weather had other ideas!

Thanks to everyone who has sent messages of support during the flooding over the last few days. I have been at home thankfully and Kate and I have been very lucky that our house has not been affected.

I drove home on Friday afternoon and live in a small village just outside Evesham. I had to leave my car outside of the village and wade through the floods to get to our house which sits on high ground and so was not affected.

Many of our neighbours were flooded and Friday night was like living in a war zone, helicopters were buzzing all around us, relatives and friends were missing in flood water, the mobile phones stopped working, our power went off, the phone went down and it felt like the world was coming to an end!
Thankfully friends and relatives were found, some made it home and others sought refuge in strangers houses and the local leisure centre.
Evesham is still very badly affected but the River Avon is now falling. This week I was originally going to be in the Alps but it looks like I will be at home for a few days now!

Rob

Busy times

July is always a busy month and this year is no exception.Last week I spent Thursday and Friday with Valerie & Pete on a Learn to Lead course in Snowdonia. We had a mixture of rain and showers but still managed to get them both leading by the end of the two days.
The weekend was spent on a Hill Skills course with Gerry, Joanna, Susan and Anja which was a lot of fun in good weather. I managed some evening cragging on the Saturday with a friend of mine, Bryn, in the slate quarries.
Monday and Tuesday were spent at Symonds Yat and today I have been putting my new brochures into envelopes for posting. If you would like a copy visit http://www.expeditionguide.com/