Sikati Cave

So as a group and being Uruttia and Jenny's second last climbing day, we all decided to rent moped and head to Sikati cave.  I can't say it was the best choice of day! When we woke up the wind was howling outside, the chair on the balcony was rocking noisily, however, there were blue skies.  So we packed our gear (or repacked in reality to make it as small as possible) and walked up to the moped rental and picked up 4 bikes (3 doubles and 1 single) and the 7 of us headed off (after a quick coffee en route). 

The boys - trying to figure out where we were and where we were going!!

Initially this was great fun, watching the beautiful sights whiz by (I was the passenger), however as we drove flat out (hitting a whopping 40KM at top speed) around the coast, gradually gaining height the wind felt like it was stronger and stronger, I began to feel more and more vunerable, almost getting to the point that I be let off the bike (almost)! The bikes are so light, you can feel the wind move / shake them as we drove. 

The walk in

So, we arrived at a bend in the road, with about a dozen other bikes parked, parked the bikes and started to walk.  It was about a 40 minutes walk across uneven ground to Sitcati Cave, though I'm not sure I'd actually call it a cave, more a hole in the ground, probably a sea cavern that's roof calapsed.  It was unlike anything I've seen before. 

Sikati Cave (Hole)

Unfortunately, there aren't a huge number of mid graded routes, in fact other than 2 5c's, everything was hard.  I climbed the two 5s easily, though I must admit they were sparsely bolted and hard for the grade.  I spent the rest of the taking photos of the guys working some of the 7's.

Images of Eoin Kennedy, Juan O'Raw, Barry O'Dwyer and Urritta climbing in Sikati Cave