Page 29 - 2020 AMA Summer

Satan’s Slip (E1,5a) all on the magnificent rock sweep of The Devil’s Slide which could well lay claim to being the largest granite slab in Britain. Gary, Ian and their respective teams of Frankie Maynard, Sophie Short, Gareth Twigge and Luke Head joined them to start with before spending the afternoon on an outing to the sea stack of Needle Rock. The stack can be reached at low tide by a boulder hop from the base of the Punchbowl Cliffs. It’s a long abseil to reach this point however and then a climb back out before the tide turns. Down on the stack Gary climbed The Obverse Route (Sev) whilst Ian, seconding for Luke, ascended by The Ordinary Route (Diff).
My own particular plan with Jack Clare and Xavier McWilliams was for a morning at Beaufort Buttress, a crag which can be reached at high tide given a calm sea, followed by the an afternoon at Landing Craft Bay. Chris and Tarquin accompanied by Martin Corfield and Emille For- rest-Jones were on the same itinerary and at the former venue we rotated around the single pitch climbs of Streaky (VS,5a), Capstan’s Arete (VS,4b), Force Eight (Sev), Stuka (VS,4b) and Stuka Direct (VS, 4c). All were brilliant and on superb golden granite.
Access to Landing Craft Bay is by the more typical approach to the start of a Lundy rock climb, a long abseil which when for access to areas not previously visited feels very much a slide into the unknown. Therein lies one of the major attractions of sea cliff climbing I suppose. Will it be possible to get back out again? If one of the ingredients of adventure is having the outcome uncertain then Lundy delivers adventure in spades. There was of course a way out. Ultimately up the three star and three pitch classic climb of Shamrock (VS,4c). This wasn’t before we’d bagged another pitch of magnificent climbing however with Road Runner (VS,4c).
We found the route but also the rain which started to fall just as we started to climb
As any climber would have done we’d all gone on the exercise with the guide book well studied and a long list of climbs that
we’d like to do. Climbing doesn’t often work like that though and that’s I imagine more often than not the case on Lundy. The third day didn’t dawn anywhere near as bright as the previous and with the winds and swell picking up we were much more limited in our choice of climbing venues. I opted for the shelter of the island’s east coast and a route that wasn’t affected by the morning’s high tide. Lundy’s east coast is far less rugged than the other side of the island but there are a handful of rock buttresses to divide the long slopes of grass and bracken. Flake Route (Sev) on The Knight Templar Rocks is probably the best of the climbs here. Three or four short but fun pitches which Harry did a great job of leading me and Jack up. Looking for a similar route for Harry to lead us up again we crossed over the island to seek out Long Roost Ridge (V Diff). We found the route but also the rain which started to
fall just as we started to climb. We could have escaped without too much bother but being at the bottom of the cliff with the bags at the top we thought that we might as well climb it anyway. It proved a nice climb. Appearing on the list of ‘Lundy Esoterica’ there’s a good deal of lichen or ‘brillo’ growing on the upper reaches but it’s a welcome soft touch to the hands after a few days of rough rock and brushes your shoes and kit off wonderfully well as you pass over it. Pretty much soaked to the skin and quite satisfied at gaining two climbs from the day we retreated to join the remainder of the party back in from their own adventures to Flying Buttress Main Cliff and Arch Zawn and now hunkered down in the Marisco Tavern. This fine establishment is another one of the joys of Lundy. An ‘old world’ inn where real ale is still the staple and the art of con- versation holds sway. The technology ban
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