After a fine morning at The Cottage, where we were able to enjoy morning coffee outside in the sun with visiting friends and family, we headed over onto Anglesey in search of some sea cliff climbing.

Although we’d both been to Port Dafach plenty of times, neither Clare or I had been rock climbing there, so we climbed on a ‘new cliff’ and an new north wales route (for us)! Fisherman’s Friend takes the crack/corner on the photo below and is described as a ‘two star, minor classic’. All very enjoyable.

The seas were wild, with some big waves crashing in. From the far side of the zawn, the climb looked pretty straight forward, but looking over the edge as we abseiled down the atmosphere was pretty intimidating. I went first and made a belay high enough above the waves to stay safe.

The protection was a bit fiddly, but the holds were all good sized and positive. Best of all, was that we were out of the wind and in a little sun trap!

After topping out, we returned to the beach and after dismissing the idea of a swim (it was very windy and low tide, so lacked appeal!), we moved over to the Range to look at a route there.

Although it’s been designed to be rigged as an adventurous clip-line, we climbed it as a big traversing route, in a few fun pitches. We were heading into the sunset, which became absolutely blinding at the end!

Great fun and in a wild position!

The route finished with a downward traverse back to terra-firma, which we reached just before it went dark.

The rock in the area is old and solid while being amazingly shaped and worn.

On the drive home, we had to stop the van and pull over to see the huge ‘hunter’ moon rising over the Menai Straits. I looks tiny in the photo, but in real life, it was quite a thing to see.

Porth Dafach Climbs:

• Fisherman’s Friend, S (4a)**
• The Traverse (the Range)