The change in forecast led Mike and I to abandon our Tower Ridge plans and head to the Peak which has the best weather for the weekend. With the autumn colours and warm sunshine, it was a good call.
Mike chose the crags based on where he hadn't been before so Saturday we went to Millstone, not the greatest of choices early on as the damp can stay there hidden in the bays. But the rock was mostly dry, we climbed some easier routes and some HVSs at the Cioch area before wandering along to a crowded Embankment, stopping at Great Slab to tick the eponymous HS. Mike led Embankment 3, classic jamming crack with tons of gear, but hard on the toes, and we finished with a romp up the Mall in a glorious orange sunset before heading to the CC hut under Frogatt.
The hut is comfy but was rammed and a tad warm and stuffy but we slept well. The morning did not bring the promised wall to wall sunshine, but rather mist and a hint of drizzle. Like a few other teams we walked up the hill to Frogatt edge (10mins) after Mike had let Simon & Carmen and Russ and a few YACers know where we'd be.
We had a great day, after a slow warm up on Trapeze Direct with its tricky move, doing a few VSs and Mike cruising on 3PS when the sun finally showed itself and it got hot, and Sunset Slab as the sun was starting to decline. Simon and Carmen joined us at the crag and pottered along ticking routes they may have done before ! By the end of the day Mike's toe was giving him a lot of grief (he kicked a rock , then i lent on it – oops) and I twisted my ankle en-route so we hobbled back to the hut for a cuppa leaving S&C to enjoy the best part of the day.
dont fret too much, I stayed closer to home and climbed on slipstones on sunday, where it was blowing a hoolie and cloudy and we gradually piled the layers back on. nice afternoon out, but we too were wondering what had happened to the heatwave
I'm still broken so was mainly there as belay bunny, but did lead Heather Wall as I've never led it before and it happened to be free as we passed. Other than that, Carmen repeated a few things she last did between 2002 and 2005 so might as well have been on sights!
Worth the drive though, and was even warm and sunny when the sun finally appeared about half an hour before it set.