(by Gerry Moss, November 2007)
A winter’s day climbing in Barnbawn, Co. Wicklow.
One of the advantages of being retired is that you don’t have to wait for the weekend, hoping that the weather will be good – you can monitor the weather forecasts and head off on any given day. Friday saw a short-lived ridge of high pressure establish itself over the country for a few hours, so we nipped down to Barnbawn for a bit of jug-pulling. We started off with a new route, put up just recently – Borderline HS, then tackled Cascarino. This is Herbert enjoying Damp Start Crack (it was devoid of dampness):
It was a cloudy start to the day and, after a night of low temperatures, the rock was very cold, at first. In fact, it was the coldest bit of rock since we were on Shepherd’s Crag in the Lake District last March. But we knew the sunshine was on its way, so we soldiered on. This is Liam throwing his eye over Eye of the Needle:
With the sun shining at last, and creaking bones beginning to loosen up, we bombed up Buachaillí Bána, with a lovely autumnal backdrop.
Emboldened by this mini heatwave, Herbert decided to give Linneker a lash:
And we finished with a quick romp up Bonsai. Just look at that rock gleaming like gold in the evening sun, and check out those blue skies – great for the last week of November. Sure, where else would you get the likes of it, and Christmas only around the corner. It’s true what they say – small is beautiful!
PS: We spent Tuesday morning in the quarry, it was unseasonably mild and surprisingly dry. Even Gwynns Chimney was dry as snuff. Very pleasant. Well, someone has to keep the flag flying. Speaking of which, we’ll leave you with these few words from our sponsors at the Department of Social Welfare (with apologies to the author of The Red Flag).
you can’t surpass being out to grass.
Keep those wheels a-turning.