It’s not often that I get to climb on a cliff that I’ve not already visited around here, but today John and I visited two new (new to us – the cliffs have been there for years!) venues and climbed climbs that we’d not done before. All very satisfying. We thought the first venue in the Lledr Valley might be a bit damp, but looking down from the top, it seemed like we might be in luck. On a warmer day the river would have looked very inviting for a post climb swim!

As anticipated, the bottom section of the cliff was rather green, but not green enough to put John off!

The climbing was really good – steep but not too steep and with enough gear to protect it.

My fingers were a bit nippy by the time I set off up after John, but the holds were good and the moves nice.

In my old ‘Paul Williams’ climbing guidebook, this is one of the few ‘VS’ standard climbs that I’ve not yet climbed, so I was delighted to be making an ascent and ‘ticking it off’. In the new guidebook however, it receives a harder grade as it’s no longer recommended to traverse off left at this point to easier ground, due to some loose blocks.

We had no choice but to continue straight up. I enjoyed the moves immensely, but was grateful that John had me on a top as I couldn’t be sure I could trust my cold fingers to hold on!

The classic of the crag was harder still, so one to save for a warmer day and the other easier route was so green it looked to be unpleasant/dangerous. So we packed up and moved on to a bolted crag near Bleanau Festiniog called ‘Body Chain’. It’s very short and very steep, but with lots of bolts and plenty of positive handholds.

We climbed a few routes until a slight breeze picked up and made it feel much colder – too cold to be enjoyable any more we decided.

I was back home by 15:30 and once Clare had finished work, we took a nice walk up the hill behind The Cottage to visit a friend and swap some climbing guidebooks for planning future trips.

Craig Rhiw Goch Climbs:

• Congl (Direct Finish), HVS 5a**

Body Chain Crag Climbs:

• 5b or not to be, 5b+
• Griff, 6a+
• Move on Up, 6a
• Life on the Edge, 6a+*