May!

Wow.... Where to begin?
It's been a while, a whole month. I left you back in Spain, climbing with Ciaron and visiting Pablo and Marina in Margalef...

The blog has been accused of being all about me me me, and selfish... As far as I know, its kinda meant to be, it's my blog, it IS about me!! At the end of the day its just like TV, if you don't like it, don't watch it.

Right now, I'm sat on A Brittany Ferry from Caen to Portsmouth contemplating the last few days and weeks, and just where May went!

Ok, so you all know I went back to Kalymnos.
After discussing the idea of driving back to the UK over a couple of months with Themi, once I'd got back to Spain that all went to pot. After 8 days I was reversing the journey to Parking de Caravans, St Vicence (still with my dodgy wheeled suitcase in tow), Sants, El Prat, Athens, and Kos to eventually get ferried once again to Kalymnos.

It was an interesting few days. We chatted. We fell out. We broke up. We got back again......
An emotional roller-coaster with occasional climbing. You won't see that in the holiday brochure!
I totally accept that a lot of our issues are mine, not all, but most. It felt to me that whatever I did or said was wrong for a while, but I tried to face my demons, tried not to fall back to my default setting - cold and heartless, but to turn and touch and talk, not run away and hide.
I recognised a pattern but wasn't sure just what to do. So we chatted about that too. We talk about stuff. It's mostly good :)

In the end I want this to work, we both do, so we sorted things out and here we are.... It's ok to talk about the past and in so doing, open old boxes buried deep in the back of my mind.... Its how we deal with the aftermath that can cause problems. The last thing I want is for these things to be used as sticks to beat me with again and again.... And equally, I have to deal with them, finally. For good.
Honestly, I was dazed and confused sometimes.... But I am awake. I'm heading north gamoto x.

What else happened....?
I did a little work with Drossos on my shit scooter...... I want to learn about the bike.
The weather got warmer, and sunnier.

Honestly, could it get any better!!!!

I went swimming, at last! A couple of times we all went to Kantouni beach at sunset for a swim. marvellous!!

Teo's, Arginonta.

Dave 'boggy'Marsh was there, and Dave Stainthorpe.. Great stuff !!
Did some good routes with Themi, Lloyd, and the American guys that we've got to know and like over the month they were on Kalymnos, Noah, Adam, and Cheese (and Sam) :) Great guys and really good to meet them. I had one of those days at J'Ataime.... walked up 'We are the Road Crew'.... Lovely route, sweet sweet moves.

 Noah and Colby at Teo's place.

Adam and the road crew wall.

I found some cheap flights back to Barca and while trying to put Themi's mind at rest about the ideas we had discussed, I still felt reluctant about booking the flights. On the 23rd I flew Kaly to Athens (with the Americans for company), and 2 hours later, Athens to Barca, bus.... Train.... Train...Walk....Van!!!

Spain. Hello again, good to be back, but boy its hot. Driving off, I wanted to get away, somewhere new and not back to good ole Siurana again. I set the sat nav for Santa Anna crags and set course, via a gas station for fuel and LPG, and milk... Trusting the sat nav I arrived seemingly in the middle of nowhere, in the pitch dark, and found the lay-bye's mentioned in the guide along with a little V-Dub van with a Swiss family on board. After a brief chat in the shadow of the crags, very atmospheric, it quickly became apparent that they were not climbers and I probably wouldn't get a climb tomorrow.

Santa Anna. Fantastic crags!

In the morning I awoke to find myself surrounded by Orange limestone!!!! Really nice looking crags all around and a lovely river flowing from the damned lake about 200 metres up stream. What a beautiful place. A place I'd love to come back to and climb. A very nice surprise. Its so nice to do the morning stretches and rehab in glorious sunshine, top less, and in peace, perfect peace, only the sound of the river and the birds broke the gentle whisper of the Spanish breeze. A wonderful morning.

Onwards then, no partner so no time to waste gazing at rock I can't climb!!!
To Riglos.... It's north, heading in the right direction, it's popular, so maybe a climbing partner?
It was a pretty long drive and as I gazed at this utterly amazing crag while approaching the village, I finally arrived to find the car parks all full. While trying to turn around in one I managed to hit the rear left corner and break the plastic bumper... The Armco barrier curved and I didn't notice it was closer on the left than the right. So that set the mood! I bought a beer and a pack of cigarettes!!!!! Arse!

Yeah, Riglos!

I drove up the hill to the mast for a while and parked, but the constant buzz was really annoying, as was the delirious French babble from arriving climbers, high on their awesome multi pitch adventures... I was feeling very frustrated and annoyed for some reason.. Neither was I very inspired to climb here. I don't really understand why, maybe it was the hugeness of it, maybe I was actually a little psyched out by it!?

I drove Sparky back down to the now empty car park and set up for the night, then wandered down to the refugio for a vino and some wifi, which of course didn't work, just to top of my shit day!
Thankfully while in France I can use my 3G, when I have a signal.. Usually it's been ok.
In the morning the crag was still breathtaking, huge and very impressive, the line of 'Fiesta Del Biceps' clearly visible, along with huge Gryphon Vultures circling around the buttresses.

From here, west or north? West to Teverga or north and France? I fancied the Pyrenees for a change, and was now looking for bouldering so north it was. The Jingo Wobbly guide to Euro cragging has been a constant joy during this trip providing me with destinations aplenty, all off the beaten tourist track and usually with somewhere to park up. Used along with the UKC crag finder for more detailed info, I've never really had a problem finding crags so far... I also used the Camperstop guide pretty often for places to stay and over the next few days as the crags and climbing thin out a little, the Aires became much more important.

Into France.

I headed to Jaca for shopping and then Laruns via the Pont Du Camps boulders. Road side bouldering with a great quiet Aire just up the road. The bouldering was fun but God it was cold up here in the mountains. The drive up was great fun, and those views!!!! Stunning. Like Scotland on steroids!! Snowy peaks everywhere, jagged edges and pointy tops don't mix well with bendy roads so I had to focus on the road. There were many stops!!

Pont Du Camp. Good bouldering.... Good landings!

The bouldering was good fun, once I'd warmed up! I met a Spanish group there and we bouldered about together for a bit, sharing problems and solutions, as you do. But it had been a long day and I felt hungry and tired so I said goodbye to the Spanish and walked back to the van. It dawned on me that I'd left Spain now. I got a real feeling of sorrow. I've been in Spain, on and off, for a while and I like it there a lot. Its such a massive, diverse country in every sense not just geologically. Why its not a much bigger Euro player I do not understand.

It was cold and drizzly when I woke up but as I headed further north it turned into a glorious sunny and hot day. I left the mountains behind and headed to Ceou on The Dordogne. Another massive drive. Avoiding the tolls must have added many miles to the journeys I've had, but there's been no rush and I've enjoyed seeing the sights, towns and villages along the way. It does mean however that I've been driving on country roads a lot, bendy roads, and having to navigate around narrow lanes searching for elusive crags and camper stops in the fat boy.... It all adds up and sometimes by the evening I was knackered. I guess Sparky really is a little too big for some of the places I want to go....

There's been things on my mind too so sleep hasn't been great at times .... Themi, Kalymnos, the trip, the van, the elbow (still not right, but usable, then it needs a good rest). All these things combine to make it fairly tiring at times, but as usual, worse was to come. I'd also been waiting to hear from the kids, Sam re HMRC (apparently I have to self asses now, and if I don't do it in time, I get fined.... What a fucking farse!!! HMRC really are rubbish) and Kyle about his test for a prestigious hair styling company in Aberdeen. It would be brilliant if he got a job there :)

The Dordogne.

Ceou was fabulous. Just before I arrived in Castelnaud la Chapelle I drove passed a small touristic place called La Roque....something. The Aire there was chokka with motorhomes, like little French sardines all lined up in a row... Literally 2 kilometres along the road at Castelnaud the car park/Aire was virtually empty and while there isn't that much there, the view up to the Château was really nice, I could see the crag too and honestly the Dordogne was crystal clear and beautiful. I took a walk to the camp site 'Camping de Maisonneuve' for brief look around and a good view up to the crags. Lovely. I 'sort of' chatted to a French couple, pigeon styley, about the climbing and they mentioned a couple of English lads that might be there tomorrow. I watched the glowing sunset slowly strolling back to the van along the cycle path from the camp site.

The Chateau above the village. From the empty Aire.

After sunny stretches next morning I wandered through the camp site and up to the crags hoping to find climbers but doubting it. I checked out the rock and the route names and wandered along the base of the crags...hope fading. Then at the last buttress I found 2 guys climbing! English too...!!! Result. I hooked up with them and had a brilliant time bagging 5's, and low 6's. I tried, and failed on a 6c+ ( Mort something, in the Jingo guide there's a photo of it...7a). Honestly I've climbed much harder 7a+'s!!!!! Phew. These Frenchies eh!! It got sunny and hot so we parted company, them to return later and me to swim in the river... Fantastic. Skinny dipping in French France in the Dordogne no less, well actually Le Ceou, but it flows into it. Honest :)

Balloons in the morning mist.

Another lovely warm sunny evening. It felt great here. I felt great here.
I strolled back to the camp site and chatted at reception, ordered a vino and sat gazing up at the crags in the evening sun. They'd mentioned a good place to swim on the site so I wandered to the river, followed it along the pitches, mostly empty in this early season, until I came to a wonderful natural pool with a great place to park the van right next to it. I thought about moving but really, why? I'd just had a lovely swim and I'm already parked in a good enough place for nothing, and I don't need any facilities so it would be 14 euros wasted really.... Tight wad!!!
It was a lovely spot though and I'd seriously recommend this camp site.

 Ceou

 Andy and Marcus

Camp site. Crag view.

I could have stayed another day easily. I think Andy and Marcus were climbing again too, but no, time to get going. I headed for the crags at La Forge Du Diable with Les Aux Roches as a back up target for the days journey. Deliberately a little shorter, but it still turned out to be a long enough day.

Briefly... La Forge was tricky to find and when I did, disappointing! Not a solo venture for sure, On to Les Aux and they were less tricky but involved a recon on foot first to see if the van would fit. Some nice compact white and grey limestone here, 30 - 40 buttresses scattered in a line along the valley, some small enough to solo/boulder and most with routes and bolts. Good place. A bit hot and sticky now in the warm evening glow, and the mozzies were around too. I felt a little vulnerable wandering around the little crags in shorts and flip flops!! Down past the old water mill I followed the track to the more remote crags. Spiders webs and an actual real snake made me think not many walk this far to climb these days, preferring to step out of the car and start climbing with the least amount of effort...

Les Aux

I drove 8 km to an Aire as I didn't feel I wanted to park up here for the night. When I found the Aire there was a French couple sat by their van (parked over the drains), picnic table and chairs out, a bottle of malt whiskey in front of the rather portly French Monsiur. As I sat looking for a level spot to park, he wandered over and in good fun pigeon English apologised for hogging the drain and the power source and asked if I wanted any. I needed nothing but a flat spot so he was happy enough, and once parked I went over for a chat. Johny and Monique were lovely. I had cheese, home grown radish and great red wine and shared with them my home made cookies (thanks Themi), mature cheddar and my Spanish Chorizo. We exchanged numbers, shared photos, discussed our children and grand children and slowly got pissed together. In the morning I gave them my spare EHU cable and they gave me a bottle of red and e20 in return. I didn't want the money but the wine was very welcome!!!!!

Johny and Monique

The crag options start to fade a little now as I head into north west France. I planned to visit Clecy and some boulders to the south but first, along the way I found a nice, easy little crag called Thore La Rochette, a pretty little village with a little tourist railway running through it and many vineyards and famous brand wines. Normally I wouldn't have given this a second look but I was solo, it was short with a great landing and I could park the van right opposite, not 5 metres away... I found it in the evening and then continued into Mointoir for the night at a very nice Aire on the Loire, very mucky in comparison with the Dordogne! I wandered around town a bit, had a vino at one of those French Tabac's and then found a cool pizza place and sat in for supper. Nice. Lots of cheek kissing and happy French babble going on.... A nice atmosphere.

The weather forecast was good for the next day but then rubbish after that so I decided to go to Thore and have a couple of hours bouldering about in the sun. First I did some shopping and refuelled the van. I did try to sample the local market in the square but it had packed up and gone by the time I returned to the village centre. So, off to Thore, top off, shoes on. Its a really short crag, maybe 5 metres high at the righ end and only 3 on the left. Well bolted, with a metal rope anchor cable running along the top off the whole crag. An outdoor climbing wall no less.

Thore.... pre!!!

I found a couple of good problems on the right. Some of the yellowish rock looked a bit suspect but the grey/black looked good, and anyway, this has been climbed on for years and used by schools and groups forever right!!!! I found this wicked problem but sadly not the required balls to complete it as it got a bit high for me. I moved left, close to the van at the short end for a final few problems before cooking supper. I found a couple of good problems based around a stone embedded in some yellowy rock. Great little problem up pockets to the left with a nice easy scramble decent, and a good crimpy problem up and right moving off the stone, right hand up to a sloping hold, left up to good crimp, feet up, pull.... The crimp broke, then I'm spinning left, just time enough to turn and land feet first on the nice flat easy pebbles below.

Only that easy landing hurt like fuck!!

I knew straight away. I'd been worried about my right knee but holy shit my left foot hurt so much! I missed the bouldering mat by a metre or so, only really using it to wipe my shoes, and now I lay on it, on my back, knees up, holding my left foot. It was still hurting a few minuets later but had lessened in intensity enough for me to stand. I got on the rock and traversed a bit. It seemed ok but I was really kidding myself. I stood for a while swearing. Quite a long while I think. Of all the places I've bouldered, this has to be one of the easiest, safest, most gentle, best landing crags ever!!! And I've managed to fuck my foot, or ankle or something.

I limped back to the van and got an ice pack onto it and raised it onto the table. A car sped past. Then another, horns tooting. That's all I need. A party at the house along the track about 100 metres. Loads of noisy French teenagers arrived. I'm outa here!! I decamped, limping around the van, then drove back to Mointair. Amazingly, working the clutch was absolutely no problem, apart from the fact that the foot was now lower than any other part of my body, obviously.... RICE... First aid basics.

Thore. post!!

Back at the lovely Aire on the Loire again and I limped back around the van setting up for the night. The foot was really sore and I couldn't put any weight on it at all without pain. I fished out my hill walking stick to help. Thankfully while in the van, pretty much everything is at hand or very close by. The hardest bit has proved to be getting into and out of the loo.

By bed time the pain in the foot was intense. More ice, and 3 pain killers and still I couldn't stop gritting my teeth in bed with the pain. I was really worried it was broken but there wasn't any bad bruising or huge swelling. I strapped it up, elevated it and tried to sleep.

Next morning it was sore but a little better. Less pain. It only hurt if I actually put weight on it. I now had some new thoughts.... I couldn't walk let alone climb....
That's it I think. Game over.

It's like a series of messages isn't it... some small enough for me to ignore or work around, like weather, and elbows, but this? Maybe its a wake up call. Time to grow up perhaps. Time to stop playing boys games and realise, think. In the words up John Mayer's 'If I Ever Get Round To Livin', ''when you gonna wise up boy''!!

Stop This Train... Also John Mayer. He seems to have a song for most moods :)
I think its time. In my mind that's it, its finished. Time to sell and leave, say goodbye to Sparky and go back to Kalymnos. Soon.

Last night I parked up at Clecy, ironically in view of the crags! Earlier I'd driven via La Fosse Arthour crags near Domfront and tried to walk in the rain with the stick a bit to see the crags. Pointless and sore. Now in the van for the evening I removed my shoes and socks to reveal a nasty swollen ankle as well as the small original swelling on the instep just below. Think I need an X-ray really... but to me it looks like a nasty sprain. More ice. More up, and more rest. Bugger!

So here I am, sat on the ferry to Englandshire, an easy, instant decision to find a ticket, book it and head home to see the kids and mom while I get the van on the market. I'm happy enough. I gave it a whirl, learned a lot and had some fun and good climbing, but mostly its been about injury hasn't it... dealing with them and accepting them. For sure from that point of view it didn't go as I'd wished.. But from the travelling and van point of view its been brilliant. I've really enjoyed seeing all the new places, new faces and friends. Finding places to stay has been fun abroad rather than a major problem, like in England, for instance, and climbing has helped there for certain, providing me with some amazing camp sites, out of the normal tourist areas and in wonderful scenery... Brilliant.

For Sale.... Sparky. Awesome van!!!!!!

The van has been a revelation (never liked Fiats). Utterly reliable, great fun, very comfortable and user friendly. Everything has worked (sat nav issues aside, not the vans fault), and the only little problems have been 'pilot error'. He hasn't used any oil, started first time every time, stopped when I've asked, actually hustled when needed and been very relaxing to drive most of the time. Yes he's slow, yes he's fat and tall, but he's been fantastic. I will admit that his size has made me very nervous on several occasions and a smaller van would be better for my general climbing needs, but then I'd have lost those creature comforts, the storage, the loo, all that water and the amazing shower. Good lad Sparky, and thanks.

It's not the end though.... Themi and I have a plan!

PS....

Kyle got the job.
I may be an absent dad, but I'm a very proud one. Well done son :)
I'm so pleased he didn't just stick it out with his first college course, but dumped it in favour of another. Then he had the balls to admit that was wrong too and go into hairdressing, where he seems to have found his niche, his talent and hopefully a happy and successful future. Love you. Nice one :)

PPS....

Thanks to Basingstoke hospital - Its a bad sprain and nothing is broken... Keep Ricing.

Agapi mou. xx

Split Personality.......?

I'm back. I'm here. I'm alive and well......

Last Thursday was hard. I left Kalymnos.

Themi and Kalotina were there to see me off and we were all sad. I'd been there 2 months and we had become used to a nice normality, a picture of life together. The weather was good, the climbers gave the place a nice buzz and it was all SO nice. The idea of life there is good.

          Themi at Noufarou. A lovely pic from Selina Chen :)

            Themi and Lloyd, sunset at Symplegades

However, there's the prickly subject of the motohome and what to do with it..... There's also the feeling of unfinished business re the road trip and climbing. Its like I'm split in two sometimes. Wanting to keep Themi happy, and both sides of me happy is really difficult. Half of me wants to stay, and half of me needs to continue something of the trip. Maybe a compromise? I think if it wasn't for the van and the need to sort it out, the money tied up in it, and the fact that as I suspected, I'd left the water pump on and the light switch on, then I might have left it and stayed.

Sitting in one place and not moving for long periods is not good for anything, especially cars, so I had to go back and sort things out. If I left it there it would rot, the tyres would go bad, it would still need an MOT, and I'd still need to insure it, meanwhile its value would decrease and right now there's around 13k tied up in it. Money I could use for other things.

Thursday night was surreal. I spent the night with 3 strangers in a dorm at City Circus, in a bunk above Luigi, the loudest snoring American I've ever heard. I hardly slept at all. We all met up at the happy hour in the hostel and went out for a wine and some chat before hitting the sack. Luigi slept well.

                 Athens. The view from the rooftop terrace.

Friday morning there was a national strike in Greece so 3 of us shared a cab to the airport and after a nice sleep on the flight to Barcelona, I caught the shuttle bus to T2, the train to Barcelona Sants station and then the coast train down to St Vicence De Calders. From there I dragged my reluctant suitcase the short walk to the van, dreading what I might find...

The first piece of good news - the place was open! I waved at the girl at the desk and pointed into the compound and continued to drag the case over the rough ground to Sparky.... He looked ok, 4 inflated tyres, all windows in tact. So far so good. I opened the cab doors and drew back the curtains. it was hot and I needed the breeze to cool him down. Opening the side door I saw the bag of rubbish I'd forgotten to take when I left. Surprisingly the smell wasn't that bad but in the bag the mouldy contents was disgusting.

I checked the engine battery. Looked ok :) The oil levels were good too.
Then I packed up the solar panels and got everything ready to go. I sat in the drivers seat with the keys in the ignition for a long few seconds before turning the key. Was I ready for this? Was I really about to do this again....? I've left a sunny Kalymnos, a gorgeous women and here I am about to set off alone again with my dodgy elbow. What am I doing!!!??

He started first time!!! Happy day!
I drove down the gravel track to reception, paid the bill, filled up the water tank and then hosed the van down to remove 2 months of Spanish dust. After a quick pit stop to fill up with fuel (1.17 euros...So cheap) I set off again. The brakes were noisy, sitting still is bad for so many things on a van this size but after a few kilometres things began to settle down and he felt like the van I knew.

            Siurana. Pre chopper!!

It felt strange to be driving again. It felt like I'd been transported back 2 months. The only difference was it was a lot warmer now. The idea of climbing through the winter in good conditions was a good one, but now it felt pretty hot and I'd certainly be looking for shady crags to climb on. I had talked about heading north, and this now looks to be a plan A of sorts.... But first to Conudella De Montsant and a visit to Pep for some resoling on 2 pairs of climbing shoes, and some restocking of supplies at the excellent Repsol garage there.

Up at the Siurana car park, again! I found a nice level spot and parked up then jumped in the back to start tidying things up, spring cleaning the inside, removing the winter quilt and sorting out the storage under the bed. All the windows were opened and the under bed outer door was open too while I sorted out boxes and climbing shoes and all the other odds and sods.

I heard the distant rumble of a helicopter. I know that sound well after years at Aberdeen. It grew louder. And louder..... There it was, a little yellow rescue helicopter. It took a few seconds to realise that he was about to land here, on the car park, and as he descended in a deafening crescendo, spraying dust and stones everywhere, I ran around trying to close doors and windows as fast as I could.

Sparky was buffeted by the down draft and covered with small stones and dust again, some of which had got inside and into the under bed storage. It wasn't too bad considering. The pilot very nicely came over to apologise and said there was another chopper coming soon and would I like to move.
Too fuckin right mate!!!!

I drove sparky to the other end of the car park, taking shelter behind a very smart Spanish motorhome.... I aint daft, and we all watched as another, slightly bigger yellow chopper swung into land. More dust.

As I expected a small crowd of rubber necks started to gather as a casualty was transferred from one to the other, lots of pictures and videos were being taken while I pottered about collecting gravel from inside the van and sweeping the dust of the dash board and all the surfaces inside the van. After a while, once the dust had settled (!) everyone left bar 3 or 4 vans staying the night and all became normal again. I hadn't heard from my friend Cioaran and was a little worried but I thought I heard the casualty speaking Spanish and later found out that it was a local climber that had fallen from the lower off. An all too common accident these days.

So that was Friday May 1st. A national holiday in Spain. Yesterday I was in Kalymnos with my Greek family, and today I'm alone in a hot and sticky Spain, not sure what I'm doing, where I'm going and how Themi will cope with her man disappearing again. It's hard, for both of us, but especially on her with no definitive end date in sight and no real plan as yet, and this was always part of my 'dream road trip'. I'm sort of used to being on my own now. Sometimes I like it. Sometimes I don't. Hence the split personality. Things have changed now though, I feel torn by my desire to return to Kalymnos and the need to sort everything out. It's going to take a little time to combine a bit of climbing with selling the van and heading back to Greece.

For my part, and my thoughts.... Its a bit hot now to continue here so once I have my climbing shoes back, I'm thinking of going north toward the mountains, to climb along the way, then maybe west to Taverga and the ferry to Portsmouth...? Or maybe up through France with the odd day climbing there along the way. Then into the Uk for a little summer trad before seeing the folks and selling the van.....

There are uncertainties, who knows what life will throw in my path as I head north so any plans and ideas are exactly that and I need to take each day as it comes.

Being with Themi these past 2 months has been wonderful and I've continued to learn from her about how the past needs to be released, about focusing too much on the future........ Both of these things have been ruining my 'present'. There's a saying that goes something like..... while making plans for the future life passes you by, or along those lines anyway. I know for sure that my past has been hard to let go and has in fact been holding me back, I guess that's part of my personality though.

I'm not sure what good it does, if any, but thanks to her I can see it now and understand that I need to let things go. For good, somehow. It's hard to realise sometimes that while I learn about 'me' and put her through the ups and downs this process inevitably involves, her resolve and patience grows weaker. She often says that she hasn't so much got a man, more like she's adopted a third child and I can see what she means...  I miss her very much and it feels weird to be apart now.

So..... I'm here again. I climbed yesterday!!!
At Siurana no less.... I did 6 routes with Cioran, including an awesome steep juggy 7a. At first I said to Ciro, "just strip it, it's too hard for my elbow and I have to be sensible mate ok".. But when he said it was SO good he'd happily do it again if I tried it and felt sore, in a flash I said "OK!!!!!!".

It was awesome too. I cruised up to the techy bit in the scoop below the massive overhanging flake, made some nice thin crimpy moves to the clip, then took a few deep breaths before launching up the flake to a brilliant rest an a ledge at the top. Amazing. However, Ciro made the top section look easy and I found myself getting pumped trying to lay back up a small corner. I didn't want to blow it now!!!!! I managed to find an excellent finger jam and make a move right so I could find a way that suited my weak arms and eventually found a high left foot smear to rock up on, and the guts to make the move! Clipping the chain was a wonderful feeling.

           Awesome! Ciro on the top section.

Yes I'd probably hung on the right arm a bit too tight but I'd felt no pain, only an ache, and anyway it does need to be worked. The mental side of climbing and the fear I now have that I might do more damage to the elbow, or slow down the healing process is a very powerful thing. As always Ciro was very positive and encouraging, I like climbing with him. We had a good day and once back at the van we both had a good stretch session and I worked on the elbow rehab.

                             Rehab!

While in Kalymnos I met a Spanish couple, Pablo and Marina. Pablo and I climbed for a day together at Illiada sector. They live in Margalef and said when I got back to Spain to pop in for a visit, so after climbing with Ciro, I legged it over to their place for a lovely evening meal and some good chat. I bought a bottle of wine over with me, as you do, only to find they don't drink wine or beer, so it was with a heavy heart ( ;) ) that I forced myself to neck half the bottle on my own... I may have talked. A lot... haha. They have a lovely flat (and the greenest fridge contents I've ever seen!) over looking the river and the camping ground where Sparky is currently parked. Literally a 5 minuet stroll. Later on we're all going for a shady climb along the valley on some of Margalef's famous pockets.

Bring on the 6's!!!!

      Pablo and Marina

Paradise Regained.....

Ahhhhhhh Sunshine and warmth!!

Normal service has been resumed and Kalymnos is basking in sunshine again. Has been ever since Easter Sunday. Climbers have begun looking for the shade and some hardy souls are even swimming!

It's been really great to see some old friends here from Scotland and renew some old acquaintances with people I've met here before. I'd always intended to be here for most of April to catch up with the Glasgow wall posse, but seeing a few old Aberdeen friends here too has been a very pleasant surprise.

Entertainment Kalymnos style today was provided by a half decent cup of coffee at Soul on the main drag after a quick and free dental check to see if my broken crown and remaining route was ok. Then we watched a coast guard vessel being lifted into dry dock after a crash during a chase. This drew a fair crowd... but we had a far more important appointment, my first non UK hair cut! As my hair thins with age its vitally important that the hairdresser knows how to hide the empty spaces as much as possible with the remaining locks, so I was a little nervous when I sat down and tried to convey what was needed in my pigeon Greek. 10 euros later and I'm relived to say that all is well and I survived in tact. :)

       Coffee at Soul bar.

    Crowds at the harbour.

          Hair!!!

The new plan for the elbow had begun to show good signs, real progress had been made with the mind following suit and I was beginning to feel more confident on the rock again as the elbow felt like it was getting better and I begin to get a touch fitter too.

The Theraband has been very useful and I'm certain the sunshine has helped keep things warm and moving a little more freely, along with the exercises and stretching.

I enjoyed 4 nice easy gentle days climbing in a row, the elbow has been supported, while the urge to climb harder had been fairly easily resisted until a couple of days ago at Secret Garden. I still 'felt' the tendonitus so I was aware that it's far from fixed and up to now, this had helped me to reign in my urge to get on harder things and ruin the good work we'd done so far!

As for the climbing, I had a good day at Ghost (Seaside) Kitchen with Ben Hicks, and another with Themi when I climbed the excellent Resista again. This is a wonderful route and remains one of the nicest soft 6c's on the island. While it's intimidating in appearance, the holds and the moves are utterly brilliant. I managed to on sight the 7a to the left of it with no problems and felt much happier in myself to see that I didn't break but managed to hang in there and make the moves fairly easily, even though I didn't actually find the best pockets to pull on but just founds things I could use and cranked.

Ben and I had another good day at Ivory Tower and we both enjoyed the excellent Aypa. We did Happiness too, for me the second time I'd been up the fine lower wall on those lovely cauliflower edges to be stopped by the ridiculous final moves to clip the lower off on the lip of the roof! Not one I'll choose to do a third time, unless the extension needs a tick :)

          Ben Hicks on Happiness at Ivory Tower. 6c

Then we had a rest day, sort of........... and went up to Symplegades to do a couple of routes, just to keep things moving. After a good Theraband warm up and a nice easy romp up the first pitch, Climbers Nest Extension went ok and was very good indeed, as was Kamari up the steep pocketed wall away to the right and I felt really pleased to climb both of these well with little complaint from the elbow. Two routes was enough and once back at the store some stretching in the afternoon sunshine and some good chat with passers by followed by dinner out with friends made a very fine day indeed.

Then came Secret Garden. It was Ben's first visit here so we joined Lloyd and Christina for the day. After warming up, and queing up, we climbed the excellent and easy Frapogalo, followed by the equally fine Melodrama, and then I decided to try Trick Katy.... The final steep and crimpy moves to the jugs made the elbow sing a little so I stopped and didn't climb any more. A nice easy day with Themi, Steve and Selina at Noufarou followed, Themi climbed 3 routes in borrowed shoes while Steve and I did a rather tricky 6b+ which made my elbow feel even more tender.

       Lloyd starting Tricky Katy 7a+

       Themi climbing Jive at Noufarou.

       Mr Golley checking routes for the Kalymnos Climbing App.

I really should have seen the warning signs.... The final straw though was getting off route at Iannis while trying Bepikoko and accidentally trying some hard moves (La Manna, apparently..) on the wrong route after getting confused by new bolts to the left and totally missing the ones I actually wanted. This has made the elbow feel pretty sore and deflated my hopes that we were heading in the right direction. As I type now it feel like it's burning and I get sore twinges every now and then. Hey ho. Rest tomorrow and see how it feels after that, I guess its back to the slabs again and maybe apply a little more patience!! Bugger!!!

I'll be leaving again soon. I may have been a little premature as I thought the injury was progressing nicely when I booked the flights.....  It was a hard decision anyway as life here is good and I feel very lucky to have found Themi, and pretty much everything else a man needs here, but I have to sort out the van and decide whether to journey on, if so where to go and where the weather might be best for some more climbing, or whether to just slowly head back to the UK, see the family and make plans to sell the van and bring all my worldly goods here somehow? Time will tell.

What I do know is that it will be hard to leave.

Elbows and Easter

I've had 3 sessions with Karin, the German Osteo/physio and felt able to get out and climb. That coupled with the encouragement of Themi to stop sulking and try to get fit again, has lead to a change in diet, work pattern and a plan to climb, or at least get up the hillside everyday in an effort to regain the fitness I've lost feeling sorry for myself. Regular stretching, therabar and theraband are also being used, so far to reasonably good affect and I feel like at long last, progress is being made, in the right direction. Its been a long time coming.

I'm not fixed of course......It takes time and while I'm feeling ok about the elbows progress, its very fragile and could easily go backwards so I have to be careful and patient still. I could feel the elbow during the climbing, but no pain, and nothing that felt like I'd made it worse. Relief. I have been amazed at just how many climbers have had epicondylitis or golfers elbow... and just how many are carrying it. There are so many tales of how to cure it that it blows my mind, but all bar none say it takes ages and never goes away. Fan-bloody-tastic!!

                      At North Cape.

The 7th of April was a good day. Mark it down.
I climbed my hardest route since the day I fell off in Chulilla today, in fact 2 6c's were dispatched in quick succession and I felt good. The 8th was not quite so good. I did 6 easy routes with Ben Hicks at Ghost Kitchen. Nothing hard and nothing steep but I felt it after. Maybe I'm silly but I need to go for a climb! I would dearly love to get on steeper stuff now though.... Hmmm. Yes, patience...!!

We had dinner at Miltos with Ruth Dawson, Simon and Miriam, and Briggite to celebrate Ruth's birthday. The chocolate cake was tasty and I scoffed 2 slices. Diet going well :)

           Little miss Montmeroy :)

It feels like things are coming alive here in Kalymnos with so many nationalities and languages floating through the air as people walk past the store. The bright colours of the climbers clothes are as wonderful as the sunsets which grace this island most evenings. A curious mix of shorts and flip-flops can be seen in equal measure with duvet jackets and beanies as this long Kalymnian winter maintains its grip and summer tries hard to fight its way in. As the sun set this evening the temperature plummeted and I went from a T-shirt while at the store, to a 4 layer duvet combo, hat, gloves and snood for the scooter ride home.

I'm enjoying chatting with customers and helping with their choices, both of shopping and routes. I like that having spent a lot of time here I can pass on some useful beta about crags, weather and sometimes routes if I'm asked about them. I can even manage to do the till and some basic arithmetic on a good day :)

Its Easter here and a big week in the Kalymnian calendar. We delivered to St Nicholas some fabulously decorated waving palm leaves that Themis made over the preceding days and weeks leading up to palm Sunday, and the noise of dynamite explosions and fire crackers can be heard regularly now in rehearsal for the big day on Sunday coming, when all will gather in Pothia to be deafened by the massive and at times just bloody dangerous bomb fights either side of the town. Yes its a local custom and something Kalymnos is known for, but for me, once is enough. However, I dare say I'll be there to see it, and hear it again, but maybe this time I'll take ear plugs!

After all my years raised in a religious family, my knowledge and understanding of Easter is not good and I can't remember it being a particularly big day in the calendar, though I do know that the death of Jesus was recognised at passover, rather than his resurrection. To be honest, as a child I wasn't really interested in our religion at all, other than the fact that it made me 'different' from all my friends at school. The story of Jesus last days and his death and resurrection have meant nothing to me other than chocolate eggs, the bread and wine used to represent the blood and body of Jesus, and the fact that I wasn't allowed to have anything to do with it. Same with Xmas, and birthdays, school assemblies.... The works.

Being brought up in what I believe now to be almost a cult religion, without a choice, has made me very negative toward religion in general. I've closed my mind to it. Children should not be force fed a diet of religion or made to feel outcast. My mom, my sister and I left the religion when I was 15. My Father I believe is still a member, as are many family members. However normal Mom tried to make us feel, the powers that be meant that the main rules of the religion were abided by.

I feel very strongly that baptising babies is wrong and my kids have not been baptised. Everyone should be allowed to find God in their own way as they grow up and understand more. That's if they want to! While every member of that religion I know or remember have been basically good honest thoughtful people, I can't imaging life in a strict religion again and one day I hope they can see the pain they put their children through, the heartless way they separate families if one member should be brave enough to have independent thoughts and see a different way.

The Greeks take Easter very seriously and my upbringing and subsequent rebellion made me have agnostic, bordering atheist views all of my adult life. I do have an open mind though and I'm more than happy to accept that others have, or maybe need to follow God and have faith in a greater being. What I do object to is people trying to force their opinion on others, be it peacefully or violently. I believe we are all entitled to our opinion, but not entitled to belittle or abuse someone else's.

While I don't believe in God as such, I happily sat and watched the beautiful version of the story of Jesus as seen in the glossy 'Jesus of Nazareth' starring Robert Powell. Having watched this Themi told me of her beliefs, and the interpretation of the story that she has learned. I was fascinated to listen to her talk about Jesus and God and I found myself thinking a little more about it. More than I ever have in fact.

It reminded me of my old English teacher, Mr White and how he could bring Shakespeare to life for me. He could dig into the words, peel back the layers to reveal meanings and hidden depths that I had never dreamt of and he made plays like Macbeth and Hamlet actually come alive and I could understand the meanings and sub-plots held within those funky olde English words. It's like when I watch TV, I rarely see below the surface and take it as pure entertainment rather than thinking deeply about any 'message'. It's like something washing over me, and that's how I feel about religion, and perhaps many other things too. I skim them. Don't let things sink in. Deep down I recognise that I've always had a great deal of respect and admiration for people that can think and see inner meanings and hidden depths. I wish I could understand more and decide a little more wisely about the things I do choose to think deeply about!

Now bear with me here and assume for the next few lines that I'm a believer ok......

And so with the story of Jesus, there seems to be more to it than I had ever thought, especially around how much he suffered for 'mankind'. Yesterday I watched Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of The Christ', a far more powerful and bloody realistic version of the last 12 hours of Jesus life, and perhaps a far more realistic portrayal of the actual physical suffering this man called 'Jesus' went through before finally dying on the crucifix at the hand of his fellow Jews and Roman governors.

The beating and torture he went through....I never realised. Twice he asked God to spare him from the pain. I'd never understood that this was the human side, the weak side of the 'man' breaking through as it battled with his powerful, miracle performing spiritual, son of God side. The taunts as to why he couldn't save himself.... I'd never thought much about these things but with a little more digging and helpful explanations, its clearer.

Maybe the story of Jesus is just that. A story. A really good one mind you... But, what if it was true? What would we do if someone arrived today who was a little bit weird, a little bit magical, out of the ordinary and declared himself to be here to save us all....? Would we listen? Would we laugh and ridicule? I'm sure we would, just as it happened then. If it happened?

       Moon over Pothia

Rain and Rooms

The past week I have mostly been............

Avoiding rain.

Finishing Breaking Bad....Wow. Wasn't it awesome!!!! A good ending I think.
House of Cards is next. Probably not so much 'bitch' in that......? Ah Jesse.... :)

Getting used to not having to rush.

Exploring.

At the annual parade in Pothia to mark the start of the revolution against Turkish rule. It was dry but rained later.

Helping to celebrate Christina's 25th birthday party in Nadir. It was dry but had rained all day.

Had a cracking meal at Meltos restaurant. Paid 4 euros for a half litre of good house red. It was raining.

Visited the new art gallery wine bar 'Azul' in Armeos and paid 10 euros for 2 glasses of good red wine plus a bowl of nuts and raisins!! 10 feckin euros!!!!!!!!!!!! Good luck for a long and prosperous future there then! Glorious sunset. No rain.

                      The view from Azul. Free :)

Just for a change it rained this morning. Turned out good though.
I saw an Osteopath today. A visiting German lady called Karin.

Not only did I see her, but I lay on her table and paid for pain. I'm feeling sore and tender in all sorts of unexpected places now! I'm hopeful that maybe she can unlock things and good quick healing of the elbow can begin. The body is an amazing thing. Obviously everything is connected and my old neck and back injuries are playing their respective parts in slowing down the elbow's recovery.. Straight away she spotted my misaligned hips and knackered neck and began by pulling my head this way and that.

I've realised (at least I'm admitting it now) that I've been a little down about the whole thing and also that I've been eating far too much since I got here. It's an easy thing to do but now I feel heavy and very unfit. All this affects my confidence, which means the 5 routes Themi and I did together yesterday, in my head, felt hard.... At least too hard for the grade when they should have been easy. I was wearing a pair of baggy 'all-day-comfy' shoes which made things worse on the tiny flakey edges but I swear this 5c+ (yes Tsarouhis....5c+), felt steep and hard.

It was a lovely couple of hours in the sun at Kastelli and Themi was entertained at my expense by the expanding midriff and cellulite bulging over the top of my harness when I took of my T-shirt in the wonderful warm sun. Before we went to the store, we snoozed for an hour on the steps to the chapel, well, at least Themi did, I just lay topless, exposing my flab to the late spring sun and watched the action across the road at North Cape as a climber tried the new 7c I did in January, resting at all the places I did on my first attempt. I reckon I'd struggle with 6c just now :(

                 Angry clouds above the crags.

As an interesting aside, and a little personal admission, I see on Facebook the friends I met in Chullila having the sort of trip that I'd hoped to have. I find this a bit hard sometimes. It feels like jealousy and I hate myself for feeling this way. I am really and truly pleased for them all, genuinely, even though I admit to these strange feelings.

I'm hoping that admitting them, by writing them down here, I will let them out and purge the system. I hate Facebook sometimes. I've mentioned before, its amazing how quickly this thing we call social media has taken over our lives in one way or another. At times its such good fun, bloody useful too, and it is great to get in touch with old friends and keep in touch with new ones, but it can be so evil at times. I let it get to me once before, a few years back, like a bad addiction. Back then it took me a couple of weeks to realise the harm I was doing to myself and managed to erase the problem once and for all. This is different, its just my state of mind at the moment and I still hope to get to these places and climb as hard as I can.

It was nice to see Carl and Ruth Dawson this afternoon, we stood and talked in the evening sun above Masouri beach, very welcome warm sun after all the rain overnight and this morning. We chatted about Carl's new book on the walks and scrambles around Kalymnos, featuring Ruth on the front and rear covers. There's some great walking here as well as the well known world class rock climbing.
Injuries featured too, funnily enough! We mentioned W.O.R.K. I think.......?

Strange things are happening here at the moment with some of the climbers arriving over the past few days...... It seems that some are booking rooms by email weeks in advance, as usual, then when they arrive, they take a walk and try to find a cheaper place. They are breaking the trust of the Kalymnians who rarely if ever ask for a deposit. Don't they realise that when they book a room for 2 weeks, that room is then theirs, it's reserved for YOU and the owner subsequently refuses other bookings because you have it, so if you then decide to go elsewhere and haggle the price down at another studio, that costs the owner 2 weeks rent!!

As far as I'm aware the only reason you walk away from a booked room is because its crap and not fit for purpose (as I have done here in the past), not because you fancy trying to get somewhere cheaper!!! Very cheeky. Assholes! If you don't like the view or something then you pay your dues before looking for other rooms right?!?!? These days you can pretty much see everything on line so there's no excuse for not being happy with your choice, assuming its quiet enough to actually have one. Try this trick in October and you'll probably find yourself sleeping on the beach, and out of pocket.

Yes perhaps the Studio owners could organise themselves a little better, maybe cooperate and have an agreed rate for rooms of similar size and quality without caving in so bloody easily, but since when has this behaviour by tourists been acceptable? If this continues to happen this season then things will change for sure. You will have to pay a deposit with your booking, and if you choose to leave for no other reason than you fancy something cheaper, then you will lose your deposit, or pay the going rate for cancelling, which is about a third I believe.

It's true the Greeks have been suffering over the past while and times have been hard, surely all the more reason to stick to your booking and help the climbing tourist trade rather than trying to hammer another nail into its coffin and take advantage of some perceived need. Its really weird, those owners that we've talked to have never had this happen before and are worried that it may be the start of a nasty trend.

The weather has been very hit and miss so far, one day sunny and warm, then 2 or 3 days of variable cloudy rainy days, still pretty chilly then too. At the weekend the taxi fleet began arriving from Pothia and lots of climbers disembarked to start the now usual Easter climbing season. There's been few complaints about conditions other than it being a touch cold, plus of course a few dripping tufas and wet pockets, otherwise its all good and there are many happy faces already. It's good to see, now the clocks have gone forward, people out strolling in the late evening sunshine.