[mark]

Off to North Devon (staying near Clovelly) for a week in early October. It's a family holiday but I'm hoping to get a bit of climbing done in between playing on the beach and visiting the Eden Project. I have the recent OTE with Simon Young's article which gives me plenty to go at but anyone have anything in particular to recommend? Ideal would be perfect problems up to 7b on the edge of a beautiful, child-friendly beach. That's not much to ask, is it?

[Stu Littlefair]

Nope.

You want either

a) Northcott Mouth. A very nice beach, much like the busier sandymouth. Try the Pinch (7a) or Red Quinnie Cave Traverse (7a).

b) Hartland Quay. A nice beach, nice pub, lots of parking, and you can toddle off and do the Trench Problems (6a-7a) and Clinical Edge (7b).

Both the above are within 10 miles of Bude, so rather handy for you.

[mark]

Brilliant. I'll check out the map when I get home but these places sound great. Thanks.

Is the bouldering on Bodmin Moor worth a look? Again I have an OTE article about it and it looks like a lovely place, but does the bouldering warrant a visit?

[SA Chris]

Sandymouth is not too bad either but, as with Northcott, its a good idea to keep an eye on tides, especially with kiddies around. We got caught out at sandymouth and had to wade out through chest deep water and big waves in near darkness. Not fun. Bouldering is very good though, but a decent sized mat is advisable.

[T.H.]

Don't forget to stop in at the Bude climbing wall.  It'll be great for if it rains, and Simon will give you good topos of all the problems.

[mark]

Thanks for the suggestion re the Barn. Are topos a good idea for finding the problems or are they fairly obvious, so the basic diagrams in the OTE article will be sufficient? Given that I'll be limited in the amount of time I have to climb, I'd like to spend as much of it as possible falling off things rather than stumbling around looking for them.

[Stu Littlefair]

If you've got Youngie's OTE topos you should be OK. However, one of the bizarre things about this coast is that a lot of really good problems look very unassuming, so keep your eye's peeled.

At 7b, make sure you tick this bad boy at Hartland Quay - the slopiest sloper that ever sloped awaits.