After a steady days birding we had a days climbing at Alcalali, plenty of steady routes 4+ and 5’s to work up a sweat in the 30 degree heat!
Chris managed to second the thuggy 6a Stohlwitter – see below
2 days were spent at Sella. Our first day consisted of a walk up and along the ridge Penon de Sella, a circular walk from the village which took about 4.5 hours giving fantastic views.
It was fiesta week at Sella and we were rewarded with lots of fireworks, loud bangs, flashes, huge rockets and violent explosions well into the early hours-GREAT!
The whole village was out in force as the main square was taken over by 2 rival local Pelota teams. We could not make head or tail of the rules but it seemed all the village were out to watch and support. It basically involves one team serving a small leather bound ball -slightly larger than a golf ball –from one end of the narrow entrance to the square towards the waiting opposition, they have to return the ball which can come off walls roofs widows etc. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the game which went on for hours.
Our second day at Sella was spent climbing on the main local crags at the usual grades 4, 4+, 5; six in all, dashing for shade at every opportunity in between leads.
Returning back to Casa David & Carolina in Gandia we had a trip inland to the edge of the Steppes, an elevated area where cereals are grown on the fertile plains. Here we had great views of Little and Great Bustards, firsts for my Europe bird list.
Our last days climbing was on the Penon at Calpe. Our preferred route was Via Valencianos (5+) the classic and popular climb on the South face. We had hoped to climb partly out of the sun but as it happened there was thin cloud cover which made the temperature ideal for the duration of the route.
The route has a couple of easy scrammbly pitches then the awkward crux pitch, which is now polished to a glass like finish! Chris managed this with relative ease, unfortunately I managed to crush the camera and damage the screen-bugger.
3 more decent pitches followed of 4 and 4+ which lead to a magnificent position astride the ridge overlooking Calpe harbour and then the final summit push. A fine route to finish off.
A great week with special thanks to Dave and Carolina
Our Guides on the Valencia coast
No comments:
Post a Comment