My partner for my usual winter holiday of sunny bolt clipping is unavailable this year, so I am looking for ideas for a solo trip abroad in November to January.
My main consideration is normally that the destination is reliably sunny and dry. Recent trips have been to the likes of Mallorca, Costa Blanca and El Chorro - spent trying to onsight as many 3star routes as possible. So, cool conditions for hard-projecting aren't a massive consideration. I mainly go abroad to assuage the winter blues, I just want to feel the Sun on my back, rather than push my grade.
However, as this time I'll be on my own, I guess I'll have to try something at least a little different. The obvious choice would be a bouldering area. But, so far as I know, the obvious ones - Font and Swizzy - are not really much warmer or dryer in winter than the UK? Are there any alternatives, e.g. in southern Europe, that will offer warm (or at least dry) cranking? I only plan to be away for around a week / week-and-half, so US or South Africa probably wouldn't be worthwhile - unless any of you know different?
An alternative I'm also considering - to overcome the problem of having no partner - is coached bolt clipping. I've always been curious about whether my chuffing might benefit from a bit of direction and this strikes me as a good opportunity. I'd be happy to pay the extra for even the slightest bit of insight that might help me for the rest of my climbing years (even if it's just assuaging my ridiculous fear of falling on bolts). So, does anyone know of any coached sport climbing courses that are available this winter? Any personal recommendations or experiences of coaching holidays will be gratefully received.
An entire winter spent trying to make the best of the Yorkshire climate fills me with despair, so any ideas or advice will be much appreciated. The start of autumn is already making me feel a bit glum.... I need a light at the end of the tunnel that isn't an oncoming train!
