Cornwall 2025

Spring rolls round, M is away, D is off visiting E, I have my chance to go on the bank holiday 4C's trip to Cornwall, so I take it. Pix here. GPS: Bosigran; Pordenack; Sennen. My UKC logbook.

Friday: drive down starting at 6 am taking James; we've both got quite a bit of stuff so it is just as well no-one is in the back seats; arrive about 3 and set up tents before the rain sets in again. The campsite (Trevaylor Caravan & Camping Park) is good, lovely grass better than my lawn, the toilet block is good and so are the showers, and there's a conservatory to sit in which even has power sockets.

Rain returns so I abandon any plans to climb today, and anyway James is an outdoor novice so it is better to wait for others. GD and others return perhaps ~5, having done Alison Rib at Bosigran; they've booked dinner in the Trewellard Arms so I do too and drive them there; and a decent fish+chips it is too.

And so back, a brief sit and read, and then to bed. It turns out that the tent doesn't survive continuous rain very well; happily I have a bivvy bag to keep off the drips and my inflatable mat to keep me off the wet floor. I already knew the tent was non-optimal in non-dry conditions but this is a bit much; it needs reproofing, or I need to learn how to pitch it properly - though I think I have -, or we need a new tent.

Saturday: Wx looks good, we'll head to Bosigran because that dries nicely and is safe for everyone. No-one is feeling terribly bold so we're mostly on the VD/S end of things, though I think GD and friends went up the top pitch of Venusberg, having VD'd their way that high as the bottom pitch looked seep-y. James, who I've ended up climbing with, and I do Oread HVD and Alison Rib D, both nice, after teaching him how to tie a figure of eight. Laurence, nearby, watches over him belaying me; happily I'm not feeling worried about either climb. We - or was it I? - then start to get more ambitious with Doorway, S, and multi-pitch. But James isn't happy even on the quite generous ledge that Doorway gives you on the short scrambly pitch 2, so I ab him off. I then briefly - well, actually, perhaps for half an hour - consider joining Elen and Chris on Ledge Climb VD, but eventually decide it is better if I ab off myself. That concludes the climbing for the day. Back at the campsite I and some others cook, since I don't want a pub meal every day; and then join the others in the local The Queen's Arms.

Pic: Elen belaying Chris up In-Between VD; Oread is the arete just to the left; James in the foreground. The harder stuff - Anvil Chorus and so on - is off to the left.

Sunday: after much discussion we mysteriously converge on Pordenack as the place to go; I've never been there. James and I arrive a little late as he lost his helmet at Bosigran and we go and fruitlessly look for it; and then when we walk out to the point I remember I've forgotten to pay for parking so go back to Land's End, fortunately not far; and when I get back various including Nick and Josie are coming back, finding the descent below "the squeeze" unfriendly; and since the sea isn't dead calm or the tide dead low, some of the cliff isn't accessible. Brief discussion and we head for Sennen instead, which is fine by me, I have happy memories of Sennen.

Pic: slightly distorting pano of the "main bay" at Sennen; you see the ab rope; it is possible to walk in from the right (as seen on this pic) but it is a fair way round. Perhaps I should have done it at some point to get it onto the GPS trace.

I lead Intermediate Route HVD to Nick; then I think Nick lead Black Slab; and then we added James and I lead Corner Climb. By then the day was aging as were we, and I decided not to push for Demo Route, lovely as it looked. And I was somewhat tired.

I fly my drone a bit; some views of the cliffs; a flight half way to the lighthouse before I lose my nerve.

Ringing the changes again we had dinner at the chippy in Sennen, well I sponged off Elen's excess chips as I'd remembered to bring lunch today. And so back for a pint at the Queen's Arms, but not two as I didn't want to keep getting up in the night again.

Monday: wx again good, somewhat unexpectedly, but Nick is off early, GD etc are for Avon, and I forget the others. So I go for a walk down to the coast then to Cape Cornwall; and James and I leave at 11:30 ish, perhaps not the best time as the traffic is not joyous; we get back to Cambridge sometime around 9 pm.