Thursday 4th June 2009. Loaded the Mondeo up with a pile of kit. Loz arrived about 19:30 and we loaded even more in, including the snorkelling kit I'd discarded as I thought it unlikely we'd get in the water. Sped north up the M1 to Sheffield, arriving at John and Patsy's about 00:15 with about 225 miles on the clock. Kipped.
Friday 5th June 2009. Eventually got out about noon and headed up to Bamford edge with J&P in their love bus. Weather was good at first but eventually degenerated with rain threatening. Soloed some easier stuff, including Adjacent Slabs (D), Hypotenuse (M), Bosun's Slab (D), Artillery Corner (D), Green Parrot VS 5b, Loz soloed Gunpowder Crack (VS 5b) and I lead it, 2nd John. Loz and I stayed for a while longer. Loz lead Magnum Force HVS, 5b and I lead Shadow Wall VS, 5a. Rain eventually started and we scat. Meal later with Pat, John, Tim and Lucy. Kipped at J&P's again.
Saturday 6th June 2009. Rain - and plenty of it. Packed the wagon and got away about 10:00. Headed into Hathersage to Outside to get a dry bag then the bakers for some buns. North, out onto the M1 to Leeds, then the A1 up past Newcastle and on to Bamburgh. Stopped off for a look at Bowden Doors opposite Holy Island. Cold on the road but less windy and quite a bit warmer up by the outcrop. Soloed Russet Groove - VD, Exhibition Crack HS 4c, and Loz soloed Grovel Groove (MS). We soloed part way up quite a few other routes before bottling and returning to terra firma at a controlled rate... Headed on north at 5pm and crossed the border about 6pm, on up the A1 round Edinburgh then onto the M9 and A9 through Perth. Stopped for fish and chips in Pitlochry. The road was pretty well deserted and it was an easy run through Kingussie, Aviemore and Inverness. The police stopped us crossing the Black Isle near Dingwall - Loz was driving and there was a query over his insurance status etc. Half an hour later we were back on the road. It got darker but remained well short of dark with an glow ahead of us in the north. We rolled into the ferry yard at St. Gills Bay about 00:53 on Sunday morning with 802.5 miles on the clock so my recollection of 780 miles Scrabster to Brighton from 1990 was pretty accurate. Piled all the gear onto the front seats and crashed out in the back of the Motel Mondeo.
Sunday 7th June 2009. Woke about 06:30. The ferry terminal was manned about 08:00 and we got a ticket - £56 in total single. The ferry arrived on time and we were off the mainland at 09:00 heading for Orkney in bright sunlight and heavy showers, passing the islands of Stroma and Swona and up to St. Margaret's Hope on South Ronaldsay. Drove round a bit and eventually located the correct campsite (Don't trust the web type mapping - it was a mile or so out!). Set up camp at Wheems and drove up to Kirkwall for some supplies and a weather forecast. Snuck a look in 'The Times' in Tesco - looking good for Monday or Tuesday. Climbed at Roseness ( Loz 1, 5, me 3 (Blame Boris) and 6) for a while on the way back to the campsite then got a bite to eat and sorted gear for tomorrow.
Monday 8th June 2009. Up early - packed the sleeping bags away and headed out to Stromness. The Graemesay/Moaness ferry was there but went 15 minutes early due to the introduction - that day - of a summer timetable. We weren't the only ones caught out. Slung the gear in the car and sped down to Houghton to get the other ferry. Arrived just in time and got our kit onto the ferry. £6.50 each, return - pretty cheap really. Of course, had we made more searching enquiries at the ferry terminal, we'd have discovered it was only £22.50 return to take the car over! Easy crossing in bright sunlight passing Cava, Rysa Little and Fara to arrive in Lyness on time at 08:30. Phoned for a taxi and he arrived about 09:00, taking us to Rackwick bay and the Bothy for about 10:00. Sorted kit even more then, leaving sleeping bags/mats and food in the Bothy, headed out toward the Old Man. The walk in took us up over Rora head, gaining 150m or so then levelled out along a well worn path for about 3 miles. The top of the Old Man appears as you turn the summit and an hour later, we were standing at the top of a cliff looking directly across at the stack. It is, of course, spectacular and we spent some time photographing and staring at the scene, working out where the route went and trying to get some kind of scale. I wandered ahead a bit and found the route down - steep and green. Eventually the camera shutter got a rest and we worked our way steadily down the cliff. The intermittent rain persisted and we inserted ourselves between two boulders to give some shelter while we changed and kitted up. Eventually it eased off and we set off across the pile of rocks to the foot of the stack. I led off up the first pitch - huge blocks - with quite good gear and was soon on the Gallery. Loz came up and we arranged belays so that I could see him on the second pitch - well, at least, the first part. A few steps down and then traverse right for 20' or so to the foot of the overhanging crack. This is passed on the right and you're very soon into the crux - stepping out left from under a roof and making some upward progress. Above the roof there were wooden wedges around which tat had been tied for running belays. You'd need a rack of fairly wide cams to protect the crack naturally. Above the crux, the climbing eases and you eventually get to a small ledge. Pitch 3 is a bit of a wander, initially traversing right and up a fairly un-protected set of shelves. It was here that we had our first fulmar encounter - 3 of the puking seabirds had nested there and were in no mood to be consoled, pacified or moved. I got a royal covering, Loz, below, getting some idea of the problem by the verbal barracking I was handing out. A good belay station awaits the lucky leader. Pitch 4 was similar in character and ended up below the corner of the top pitch. The top pitch was great climbing up a vertical corner. It's possible to see right through the stack here and a whistling draught issues from within its depths. The top is just above the final belay and we assembled on top for a congratulatory handshake. Lourdes had made Loz some cake to eat on top and Fumpa had given me a Miracle bar. These were consumed and photographic evidence obtained. I even phoned Sarah in Tunisia - it was quicker than texting! I guess we were on top about ten minutes in total before the cold wind started to penetrate and I dropped back to the belay just below the top. Loz came down and we sorted the ropes. The two 60m jobbies gave us the option of longer abseils but looking at each pitch in turn, we opted to reverse the top three pitches as single abseils in order to avoid long Prussiks in case of a rope jam, walking the knots over the edge before the last person down in each case. The final abseil from the top of pitch 2 was airy - almost the full 60m length of the ropes, it was really like flying down the ropes due to the strong wind behind blowing you to the south, back onto the ridge near the start of the first pitch. Had the wind been less, we'd have dropped just onto the shore and had to climb up the talus to the ridge. We dived back into our hiding hole and geared up for the walk out, plodding back up the cliffs to emerge back on top. We'd held off the back slapping until this point as there always appeared to be further obstacles to overcome up to this point. A few more pictures and we walked a few hundred yards to get out of the wind before having 'lunch' and walking the 3 miles back to the Bothy. Here we had a bit of a clean up and then had a bite to eat before crawling into our pits to sleep.
Tuesday 9th June 2009. We were packed, fed and waiting near the toilets when the taxi arrived at 06:10 to take us back to Lyness for the 07:00 ferry. The weather was decidedly more cloudy and we were pleased to have got it in the bag yesterday. However, the sun was bright as we drove down the east side of Hoy toward Lyness with great views out over Scapa Flow. The ferry was on time and we boarded, visiting Flotta on the way back to Houghton on the mainland. A number of children clearly use this ferry daily to get to school. Back on the mainland, we packed the car and headed off into Kirkwall where, with the aid of an internet café and a £1 coin, we got a weather forecast and decided our next action was to get round to Lochinver as there was a potential weather window for Stoer on Wednesday. We were successful in our quest to book a place on the 12:00 ferry so we drove round to South Ronaldsay and took down the tent (just as it rained!), loaded the vehicle, had a shower, paid our dues and headed down to St. Margaret's Hope to the ferry. A sunshine and showers crossing again although this time, the showers weren't quite so much on us. We headed round to Thurso for fuel and supplies then drove along the north coast across Kyle of Tongue and round loch Eriboll then inland, cutting the corner off on the A838 and A894 to Scourie through some beautiful mountain scenery down to Unapool, Newton and the B 869 - an interesting trip along a narrow single track road that had some very steep ups and downs, tight bends and blind summits. Then via Drumbeg, Rienachait, Clashmore and Raffin to the lighthouse at Stoer Head. It was 18:00 when we arrived and we mused on the idea of going and doing the climb in the sure knowledge that we'd not run out of light until 01:00 or later if at all. However, good sense prevailed and we wrapped up against the cold wind and walked the 1.8 miles to the Old Man to suss the place out. Found the lurky route down - steeper than the Hoy cliff - and took a load of pictures before heading back in an increasingly cold wind to the car. Cooked ourselves some food and crawled into our pits at the Motel Mondeo.
Wednesday 10th June 2009. We were awake by 07:30 and walking over by 09:00, laden with gear - the additional stuff for the swim and Tyrolean in a tackle bag that we shared. Made our way carefully down the steep grass and rock cliff to a wide ledge a few feet above the sea. Loz went part way back up for the tackle bag whilst I got the other bags to the base of the cliff and looked around for a place to set up the Tyrolean. We spread kit out all over the place - the luxury of having the place to ourselves. The Tyrolean was clearly longer than the 30-40' we'd been expecting. We used a large cow-bell Hex buried deep in a crack, backed it up with a wire then balanced the two. I got busy with the wetsuit and packed my kit into a dry bag, sorted the rope and swum across the channel. The doubled 45m rope ran out and we reduced it to a single. I tied the Tyrolean off and then while I changed, Loz tightened it up and sent the kit across, closely followed by himself. By the time he was over, I was changed and racked up ready to go. We sorted ropes and Loz lead off - gaining the traverse line about 3m from the floor. Placing gear to protect the second, he scooted off round the corner and after a few minutes was on the stance. I followed and lead through to pitch 2. The sun was bright and this side of the stack was quite sheltered. I belayed in the alcove - huge threads were in-situ making the belaying easy. Loz came up. There were strange noises going on deep in the crack behind me and we squinted down to see a pair of Guillemots or Razorbills (short in stature, almost like a small penguin!) nesting. Loz lead on through for pitch 3 and on arriving at this belay, we spent some time attempting to remove a fairly recently left No.4 Camalot that had been overcammed into a huge slot. We spent ten minutes or more trying unsuccessfully to remove it and were getting very cold now as we were almost in the full force of the wind so I lead through. We'd seen Fulmars on the ledge above us when looking at the route from the cliff top opposite and I went up a few feet, placed some bomber gear and gingerly poked my head above the parapet… nothing! Continued steadily upwards and then up a ramp to the left and the array of tat that was hanging from a large block on the top. Brought Loz up and we scrambled to the top for the obligatory handshake and pictures. It was freezing and we didn't hang around. A couple who'd been watching us for the last two pitched stood and applauded - we waved back and dropped back to the tat. Ropes sorted, Loz dropped over the edge. I seemed to remember that 60m ropes allowed a single abseil from the top but we weren't sure. The rope was taught for a few minutes but eventually slackened and I clipped in, running the knot down to the edge as I went then abbing, not quite a free hang but not far off, to the floor. The care we'd taken to walk the knot down and prevent twists paid on and the rope came down easily, if not a little wet! Gear packed, Loz trundled back across the Tyrolean and I wriggled back into my wetsuit, untied the rope and swum across. Gear was sorted and packed and we lumped it all back up the cliff and walked the 1.8 miles back to the car, stopping to take even more pictures! Back at Stoer Head, we found the (Dutch) couple that we'd seen on the top. They were looking at pix, including some shots of us on top that were swiftly transferred to a memory stick!! Further gear sorting and a bite to eat and we looked at our options. The weather in western Scotland had a poor forecast so we decided to bail out to the lakes where the forecast was better. Kipped at Stoer Head in the Motel Mondeo.
Thursday 11th June 2009. Woke up early and after some brek, set off south through Ullapool and along Loch Broom to Inverness then south on the A9 to Edinburgh and the A702 to the A74(M) and the M6 arriving at the CC hut in Grange, Borrowdale about 4pm. Set off out to Shepherd's Crag and did Fisher's Folly VS 4c,4b, Kransic Crack Direct HVS 5a and Adam VS 4c,5a. A few bugs were biting so we went back to the hut for some nosh.
Friday 12th June 2009. Up reasonably early again after a comfortable night. Brek then off up to Black Crag where we climbed Troutdale Pinnacle Superdirect (HVS 4b,4c,5a,5a,-) and Raindrop (E1 5b,5a,5b,4c). Ate out in Keswick and kipped in Grange again.
Saturday 13th June 2009. Headed off to Quayfoot Buttress but the overnight rain and little wind had left the crag wet. Drove down to Ambleside and raided the gear shops before wending our way home by 20:30.
Mileage:
000 Shoreham
225 Sheffield
802.5 St Gills Bay
927 Back on mainland Scotland at St Gills Bay
1075 Stoer Head
1425 Border with England
1500 Grange (on way home)
Home 1902.3 miles total.
Fuel cost = £241.
Avge cost of fuel = £1.04p/litre.
Fuel quantity = 231.73 litres = 50.93 gallons = 37.35mpg.
Ferry (St. Gills to St. Margaret's Hope (single)= £56, inc car.
Ferry (Houghton - Lyness, return) 2 x £6.50 (Cars about £22.50).
Taxi - Lyness - Rackwick Bay - return = £25
Stoer Head Lighthouse NC004327
Old Man of Stoer NC016532
Old Man of Hoy HY175008
Stromness - Hoy ferry Terminal HY255091
Moaness/Linksness (Hoy) Ferry Terminal HY245039
Lyness Ro-Ro ferry port ND312946
Houton Ferry Terminal HY319039
Burnside Bothy - Rackwick Bay ND204987
Weems Campsite and Bothy - South Ronaldsay £7 /night ND466916