After a few thwarted attempts over the years, I finally managed to climb ‘The Long Climb’ at Lands End (well most of it anyway!). It involved an early start from Dartmoor to get over the Tamar and into the slow traffic of Kernow.

The conditions were ideal as we geared up around midday at the Land’s End Hotel. As Dave and I were going to be guiding 5 students between us, I was well laid down with hard wear and even a short section of static rope for ‘just in case’.

The climbing and situation were superb! (Although probably a little harder than the advertised grade).

The route is climbed in 8 pitches, so we had a lot of rope to manage to keep things tangle free!

Luckily, we had the spare static rope as the second pitch’s infamous ‘Elbow Corner’ proved a bit much for the novice hand jammer! We rigged a little hand line for some extra assistance…

Half way up, one student was finding things a bit too much, so I abseiled off the side of the ridge with him. Looking back looked amazing as Dave was bringing up the students to the pinnacle.

With a bit of rope jiggery-pokery, I was able to abseil back down the top pitches of the route to re-join Dave, and we made two separate finishing pitches. My way was a bit quicker, so we were able to greet Dave as he made the final exposed moves!

A well earned drink in the cafe and a classic photo were next…

Then down to Sennen for a pasty dinner by the water. The perfect finale!

It was well into the evening when we eventually got our tents pitches and I was asleep pretty soon after!… a good/long days work!