I'd planned to go to Longridge but I had time to kill. As I passed the turn off on the M6 I was reminded of Chris's comments - 'its only 20 miles further on' so I continued. I'd printed the topos off
LakesBloc, and I'm acutely aware that I rarely stray from the Peak so I put the pedal to the metal and carried on up norf.
It did only take a few minutes more to get up to Carnforth, then its a short drive through Warton towards Silverdale before you turn off for the well. You park up in a quiet bay beside the well which looks to me more like a giant cattle feeding trough, then out came the topo and into the trees I went in search of steep slimestone. I was not disappointed! Its only about 100 metres to the first bits of climable rock - Pylon buttress, I was initially disappointed so I carried on past to Toms roof which is where Gaskins V14 - Kaizan creation lives (there are no holds!), I stopped there and did Whats this for, Screaming Slave and some of the easy traverses before a lakes dude turned up and told me to check out O'ert Road. I flailed on The beauty of being numb (I'm claiming that it was in the direct sunlight and thats why rather than admitting I'm crap on pinches) and then walked back to the car.
You leave woodwells car park and drive about 200 metres back towards Warton to park for o'ert road, then you must bushwack through fairly dense forest to get to the crags, but its worth it! As I arrived at the main buttress, my first thoughts were that I had found a giant sharp cragx with killer landings! the rock quality is awesome and some of the lines are inspiring, make sure you take a pad with you though as there are massive boulders underneath and the climbing's all quite hard! I did Blood Sugar Sex Magic and Angel Deelight before packing up and heading back down to Manchester in time for tea.
O'ert Road has some of the best Limestone bouldering I have ever seen, I throughly recommend you check it out! Its easy to find, theres next to no walk in and the climbing is incredible. Mr Gaskins is f*cking hardcore too. Some of the stuff he has put up looks sick sick sick hard! Get to it!
