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Martin and Paul drove to one of Paul's favourite climbing venues, Baggy Point near the village of Croye in North Devon. Leaving at 5:30am, they arrived at the National Trust car park at about 9:15 am and from there walked the mile or so to the cliff. Martin had two cameras with him that day; a Canon EOS400D SLR, which was used whenever possible and a small Sony DSC-P10 cybershot which can be clipped to a climbing harness and used whilst climbing.
Paul did all the leading and the day kicked off with an abseil to the foot of the "left slab". Three routes in all were climbed on that slab; In Her Eyes and Ben, both Severe (4A) and Marion, Hard Severe (4B). Nicely warmed up and used to the excellent friction offered by Baggy's version of sandstone, we then abseiled down the other side of the slab and tackled the "novel" and altogether rather daunting Kinky Boots, Very Severe (4B). Daunting? Because of the quite bizarre start! The guide book says "Falling over at the start of a route is normally taken as a sign of incompetence, inebriation or both. On this climb it is both inevitable and essential. Start (usually with the words "You've got to be joking!") on some ledges, 30 feet above the base of the narrow zawn (chasm dropping down to the sea). Estimate the distance to an obvious handhold on the opposite side and fall across the zawn. Small climbers may well miss! - those who make it should transfer their feet......". In fact, this web site has some photos of the whole process which should make all clear.
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| Paul leading the way along the path to the cliff |
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| Close-up of a curious object.... |
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| ... which in fact is an old whale vertebrae |
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| There had evidently been a recent fire and the charred gorse and bright new growth that had sprung up made for an interesting contrast |
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| No idea what you call what this lot were up to... but flinging themselves into the sea seemed to be the basic aim! |
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| Metamorphosed sandstone. Nice texture to look at. Excellent friction to climb on! |
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| The most prominent slab to the left of the shot was where we climbed our first three routes. The gap in the rock face is the "zawn" we had to cross at the start of Kinky Boots. |
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| Paul at the top just before we scrambled down to the abseil points |
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| Taken by Martin whilst abseiling down to join Paul |
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| Other climbers at the foot of the slab... being a very nice day and bank holiday weekend, it got quite busy as the day went on. |
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| No caption required :-) |
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| Paul on "In Her Eyes" (Severe/4A) |
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| Martin relaxing in the sun prior to starting Marion (Hard Severe/4B) |
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| Martin removing gear |
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| A short video of Martin climbing
Marion...... If the video starts automatically in the web page, you can control it by right clicking and selecting options.... |
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| Paul by the zawn that starts Kinky Books (Very Severe/4B) |
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| Martin looking well chuffed after the first pitch of Kinky Boots at the stance about 60 feet up the main slab. Only 140 feet more to go.... |
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| Some climber belaying at the top of the slab |
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| On the walk back... spot the climbers on both promontories |