places to visit > uk and eire
Bristol Bouldering Beta
Plattsy:
Thanks chaps.
I think you might under estimate how much I'd rather scratch around local grotty bits of rock than sight see in a city. :)
Come across this and I'll be keeping an eye on the weather for Huntsham.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17d7bTU2ONVSSMPus5tONyydN2QSNMZOq
remus:
--- Quote from: Duma on February 06, 2019, 03:42:09 pm ---There's no really worthwhile bouldering within 45 mins of Bristol...local interest only.
--- End quote ---
Much as it pains me to say it this is pretty accurate. If you want to go bouldering prepare for some esoterica.
Ladye Bay has some fun problems but the landings aren't the best and the rock can be a bit soft in places. Can be good for a sunny evening though.
Bathford/Sally in the Woods has quite a few bits and pieces, some of which are even pretty good! Combine harvester boulder is the main event. Not much hard stuff unless you like roof crack based link ups.
Crosscombe is also good but probably a bit far unless you're based in the very south of Bristol and/or are happy to get up a bit early.
Cheddar has some good bits and pieces dotted around. Tombstone is the main event, there's a few lines in the same cave to mix it up. It can suffer from seepage though so probably want to try and get a conditions report if you're going to go there.
Meds Cave is pretty much in cheddar too. Personally I really like it (as a limestone cave with <10 lines, anyway) but others hate it. There's an excellent topo floating around somewhere (where excellent = weird, funny, slightly disturbing).
Brean Down has a couple of fun traverses and is generally pretty sunny. Excellent views of the mud flats and static caravans.
Gollums cave all the worst bits of parisellas without any of the good bits. Added crack heads to keep it interesting. It does stay pretty dry though, and the views down the gorge are pretty good.
Avon Gorge has a smattering of problems around the sea walls area as well as a few short routes which can be highballed.
ed: reviews for some of the ones you linked above.
Ring road boulders pretty limited would be a generous description. Nice rock but very few actual lines and very many eliminates.
Bourton combe home of the low ball eliminate traverse, though if that's your bag there's a lot of choice (i.e. there's a lot of holds on the traverse, many of which can be eliminated)
Snuff mills/frome valley sandstone good for some sketchy highballing. Purist esoterica.
Winterbourne down kind of frome valley but worth mentioning separately as it's actually pretty good for some highballing. Nice spot by a river.
monkoffunk:
If grotty is what you like you won’t be disappointed by Bristol!
I have some beta for the approach to the ring road boulder if you like. It’s like a tiny piece of font but without the same quality. (I think it actually is the same sandstone era/formation or whatever). There are a couple of relatively nice problems there, in the 7A to 7B range. There are also the odd couple further down the valley. The lowball ones there are a bit crap looking and the rock quality is variable, but things like Apocalypto 7B are pretty decent by all accounts. Several pads and spot required to be safe. (Or even a cheeky top rope/headpoint required; but I’ve lost track of the ethics there and the sandstone isn’t as hard in that part of the valley).
A few problems from ring road at 8.45 here:
Also have this sort of nonsense: https://instagram.com/p/BTKU85sBMbM/
Apocalypto:
Gollum’s cave is pretty crap really. I did used to enjoy the old French 7a+ circuit there when I was younger. Worth a visit for the pathologically curious.
Avon gorge has a few more problems. The 7A arête problem at sea walls provided a little entertainment when driving past on the way out of Bristol once, not worth any sort of special visit.
Further afield, yes you have Biblins, never been though and unaware of the restrictions, but if you head to Cheddar then you have the delights of the meds cave, truely the jewel in the crown of Bristol esoteric bouldering. The full guide is available, can email it to you, but not on that google drive due to some maybe reasonable censorship.
Sandpoint and Middlehope is closer to Weston Super Mare, Brean Down kind of direction. There you have the Prow which is an excellent tidal 7B and a couple of new problems that aren’t entirely easy to find.
That’s maybe enough to be getting on with.
Duma:
Croscombe is the spelling if you're (very) keen and trying to find it on the other channel.
r-man:
Infrequent Bristol vistor...
I tried Sally in the Woods when I was in Bristol. There was a steep 7B traverse that looked appealing on youtube, but it turns out the holds are grim. Perhaps other stuff there could be fun. Lots of ticks though, beware!
Next time I'm there, I'm keen to try Sand Point. Vids on youtube suggest there are at least a couple of good problems (maybe even really good?) - The Prow and Litany Against Fear/Arakis. Edit: I see this has now been mentioned, alongside the label "excellent."
Heard mixed reviews about Toll Road crag, any opinions?
And what's this? Any knowledge? https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crag.php?id=19578#overview
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