Adventure with a capital K

For anyone foolish enough to believe in astrology, they might have said that the planets were favourably aligned on Saturday. By early afternoon, 23 people had made it to the Downfall Ravine to take part in the fun. Cara-Lyn gets the Moral Fibre Award, having set off from Coventry at 630 am to join in, and Liz Asquith gets the Extreme Cakery Award for producing a box of home made chocolate brownies when we arrived at the crag! At the beginning of the day, we had 70 routes left to check around the Amphitheatre, and by the time we set off back towards the welcoming arms of The Sportsman, we had climbed 61 of those, done 21 new routes between VDiff and E3, and taken some outstanding photos.

There were many well known faces in the team: Jo Bowen, Jon Fyne, Chris Tan and 'Wingnut', as well as other random punters such as Neil Foster, David Simmonite and Paul Harrison who just came along for the ride.

My photo shows a gentleman known only as "Ben Tetler" soloing one of his new lines from the day at E3 and 5c. I have better pictures, but you'll have to wait for the guide to see those.

This is what producing a great guide is all about: a strong and adventurous team, thorough & honest route checking, having a laugh and consuming beer and cake. There are many guidebooks out there, but they are all pale imitations of The One! (and they don't provide cake)