Stanage North End

Loads of cottongrass
A few boggy bits
Two little rabbits
One dead lamb
And a partidge in a pear tree his mate and three youngsters!

I had the all-clear from the eye consultant yesterday and so today I went climbing.  Stanage North End has a longer walk in - we both parked on the A57 and walked for 20+ minutes - and so it's not as popular as... well, Stanage Popular End, and we saw no other climbers and only a few walkers all day.

The gritstone is slightly grittier than at the Pop End, and that's not related to the relative lack of polish!  We did five routes of varying difficulty, the sixth was hopeless and he fell off... twice, before it was left for a better day, but it was interesting for me.  I've only caught a falling leader outside, as opposed to at an indoor wall, once before and that was in Majorca.  When P fell today I was ready for it because I knew he wasn't secure, and thank goodness I was because he wasn't very high up and there was a spiked boulder underneath the route. Anyway he was ok, both times, phew!

I have plenty of gritstone bite on my hands, not from jamming because very little was called for, but simply because it was sharp and my skin is older and thinner.

A good day!