A change in wind speed and direction meant that snorkelling has been off then menu for the past couple of days as waves have been rolling into the beach at Datca.

But at least all was sheltered under the palm trees of the harbour at our favourite coffee shop, where we re-grouped after a morning of online meetings to make some plans.

We chose to climb at Yenikale as it had a short walk in time and looked to be sheltered from the gales. Translating the guidebook descriptions took a bit of time, but eventually, with the help of google’s satellite images, we located both the parking area and the crag. Judging by the overgrown walk in, the cliff doesn’t get a lot of attention, but the bush whacking was worth it as we came across a tortoise on the path! Amazing to see this little guy out in the wild, just doing his thing.

The cliff itself is pretty steep and even the ‘easier’ routes were no push over. To get to the cliff, you have to walk a few hundred metres up the main road. We stayed in the drainage ditch for safety!

There was a bit more guidebook interpretation today, as we wound our way up the hillside on some dirt tracks that may or may not have been outside the remit of our hire car!

The drive through the woods did mean we had a short and easy walk to the cliffs of Sucuk, where we climbed five excellent routes on great, grey, grippy limestone. The climbs in the centre of the crag had big tufas, flowstone features and harder grades!

With each climb we did, we got better and better at reading the rock and working out how to hang on. We were both climbing in flow states and really enjoying the rising forearm pump that kept creeping in.

These photos don’t make it look very steep, but my arms thought otherwise!

We climbed until we could climb no more….

On the way home we did some mega veg shopping. Quite literally!

Climbs at Yenikale:

• Minagick, 6a+ (steep!)
• Juar ma tue, 6a+**
• Kaldir Beni, 6c* (with one rest!)

Climbs at Sucuk:

• Tiptop, 6a*
• Fis Fis, 6a+*
• Sucukcuk, 6a+**
• Karia Yolu, 6a+***
• Saliangoz, 6b** (pumpy!)