Climbing at Marin, Costa Blanca, Spain

Temperature change. It was zero degrees at The Cottage when we left and an astonishing plus twenty-one when we arrived in Spain later that same day.

It was one of the smoothest airport travel experiences we’ve had in a while (or ever?!). Within two hours of leaving home, we’d driven to the airport, parked up, checked the bags in, cleared security, and found ourselves sipping drinks in a champagne bar! This week marks twenty-two years of adventures together, so a little extra pre-flight treat seemed in order.

We got some nice views from the plane, including some snowy mountains as we passed over the Pyrenees.

Apart from an accidental detour onto a toll road heading in the wrong direction, the journey continued smoothly from Alicante airport to the nearby town of Novelda, where we have a ‘compact’ apartment.

There is a kitchen on the ground floor, bedroom on the second, and a tiny terrace with minature swimming pool on the roof! (sounds very glamerous, but it’s basically a very big bath and not in use until May!).

Good news is, that the skies are blue and look to remain that way while we’re here. On street parking is limited!

A short drive north gave us our first real views having arrived in the dark and it was exciting to see the landscape and palm trees.

It’s only a short ten minute walk from the layby to the crags of Marin. The silence up there was stunning as we hiked up to the little col. The crags don’t come into view until the last minute, making us enjoy the further views as we walked, rather than eyeing up the routes.

It feels quite barren, but there is colour and life everywhere and lots of blossom on the trees.

We climbed the classic two-pitch pillar (Jhonny) at the end of the ‘Classico’ sector, which was a great intro.

It felt great to be high up, but on a route that was well within our capabilities. We could just enjoy the journey, the views, and the feeling of the sun on our arms.

And as a bonus, or new ‘long’ rope (80m) that we’d got for the Greece trip at Christmas, meant that we could abseil back to the ground, and avoid the walk off down the gully at the back.

A splendid afternoon of nice climbing. There’s a small chance that we’ve climbed here before many years ago, but we couldn’t remember! The rock is getting a little polished, but many of the routes have been re-bolted with shiny new, confidence inspiring bolts. A fine start to our time here…