Roaches – along and high

Sometimes rain on a climbing trip can be good thing.  A couple of weeks ago, rain forced me to give up on climbing at The Roaches and instead go for a walk in the surrounding countryside.  It turned out to be a great walk, going to places I had never been and seeing some fantastic sights.  I hiked over Hen Cloud, past The Roaches, through the chasm of Lud’s Church, along the pretty River Dane, under The Hanging Stone, and back along the whole length of the Roaches ridge.  The best bit was the amazing, clear views from The Roaches once the rain and cloud had cleared. Continue reading “Roaches – along and high”

Roaches and Newstones Bouldering

I’ve been climbing at the Roaches many times and never bothered to look at the other climbing venues just next door.  The Roaches is just so big and has so much great climbing that I never felt the need.  I did some brilliant bouldering there on Saturday, climbing problems I had wanted to do for a while and pushing my grade a little.  Unfortunately,  the … Continue reading Roaches and Newstones Bouldering

Pootling Around The Roaches

One of the things I like about bouldering is that it’s great when all you want to do is pootle. That’s all I wanted to do last weekend at The Roaches. I had a creeping cold that was developing a cough. The gritstone was green, wet and strong, blustery winds made sitting belaying at the top of a crag look a bit unappealing. So I spent my time wandering around the boulders, doing low-grade routes that looked interesting and weren’t so slimy and wet that my feet would skate off them. Continue reading Pootling Around The Roaches