Escaping winter

This year Alex and I are lucky enough to have 5 months away travelling in the van. To escape what can be a grizzly, wet winter and hopefully enjoy some warm dry weather on the continent.

We had four days to put some finishing touches on the van in-between Alex finishing work and our ferry to Calais.

Van update highlights include:
Shower (on the back of the van)
Running hot and cold water in the kitchen
Heater
A safe!

To keep our bouldering ball rolling (so to speak) we headed straight to Ticino, Switzerland. I’d never visited Cresciano, Chironico or Brione before so knew I was in for a treat. We spent the first few days in Cresciano and Chironico, it was pretty warm and not necessarily ideal temps but it was perfect for starting the trip. We enjoyed lazy breakfasts in sunshine and afternoons exploring the boulders.

Brione had to be the highlight for me though, everyone told us how world class the granite is but you can’t believe it could get any better Cresciano… then you arrive and see it! It is beautiful, amazing shapes and colours that look like they’ve been painted perfectly onto the rock by an artist.

Next up was a long 15 hour drive to Albarracin. We called in here last year but sat in the rain and cold for three days and I was reluctant to return after this experience. My fears were confirmed after we spent the first day dodging rain between dripping caves but luckily the weather perked up after this and we were treated with a few days of sunshine. We visited some classics in the forest and were also lucky enough to be shown around a new(ish) area by the wonderful Jorge (of Don Pepo’s Guest House).

The original plan was to boulder until the end of the year but the beautiful long limestone crags were calling and it had been far too long. We haven’t sport climbed in over a year and the dripping tufas and sun kissed orange rock was too close for comfort so we bailed on the bouldering and drove south again to Andalusia. We arrived just a few days ago, the psyched is high, our knees are bruised, forearms burning and I can’t wait to see what the next few months bring.