a little of where we

I'm missing my daily 20+ KM cycle however, I'm loving the active lifestyle we are living at the moment.  Ceuse for those who don't know it is one of the peaks near Gap.  It sits at approximately 1900 m and we're camping at 1250, so our daily walk to the crag is 750 m rise over 2.5 miles, good to get the blood moving, about 45 - 60 minutes uphill.  Coming back down is fun, point the feet down and run....

A view of Ceuse from the campsite:

Looking out from the campsite towards Gap.

The impending storm.

Camp Irish

sun, shine, rock and rain ...

After 7 climbing days and 3 rest days we are slowly getting into the swing of things.  I'm back on-sighting 6a (3 ticks), have red-pointed a 6a+ (more nerves than anything else here, I decided to top rope it before leading it.... come on head you can do it) and starting to work a few harder routes more to remember what hard moves are like, a lovely crux-y 6c that is definitely within reach at some point.  Hopefully I'll get the opportunity to go back to it.

Andrew red-pointed his first 6c in style. After he flashed it on a top rope, he was not allowed away from the crag without getting on the sharp end of the rope.  He then top roped a sharp boulder-y 7a, made the crux look like a 6a+ and fell on the easy finish.... with a wee bit of stamina he'll be cruising the 7a and and looking for harder stuff...

We both are lacking in confidence, but that is slowly coming back, I'm lacking strength and Andrew's lacking stamina, but both will come...

We were very thankful of our real-estate move (into our giant tent) yesterday when torrential rain hit.  The thoughts of crawling into our little tadpole came with a shiver, however the rain did make for an eventful fun run down from the crag, about 2 and a half mile single track rocky, root-y mudslide off the hill, woooo heeeee, some of the more sensible people chose to walk, but not I, though I didn't come off unscathed, my bag rubbed my back raw....

Still stuck on the photo front... anyone know of a good FREE raw converter that can be used on the old powerbook G4 (not an intel based machine - so most of the latest PS edition won't run on it)??? But here's a couple I took on jpg... hopefully more to follow soon!!

resurrect the blog .....

..... and keep all you good folk up to date with our travels.  We've arrived safely in the south of France.  We are based in the South of France at the of Ceuse.   1060 miles of driving, 2 ferries, a night catching up with Al and Aoife, a night asleep on the motorway and we finally drove up the long windy road to the campsite. 

after 2 nights in our little north face tapole (2 man, minute tent), we found a great deal on some real estate and have upgraded to a very nice large 4 man tent with a stand-up-able-in front...sweet....  3 days climbing in Orpierre as a re-introduction to rock, today we are heading up the long slog to ceuse, a bit apprehensive about what's in store for us up there.  We'll be whipped, but who cares so long as we're having fun.

Photos to follow when I finally manage to get a raw converter on my laptop.  one of the many things I should have sorted before we left.

June July and August

Hmmmm, from 9-5, Monday to Friday, from Oxegen to Switzerland, from Carlow to Lahinch, not having two minutes to myself- here's a few pic's that make up June, July and August.

Main stage in Oxegen

Ben Folds at the O2 stage on Friday eve of Oxegen

Andy bouldering in Cresciano, Switzerland

Beautiful butterfly I saw on the way to Leighlinbridge along the Barrow, whilst walking with Mum

This weird foam on the beach in Lahinch this weekend, kids playing in it - it reminded me of the foam on top of a creamy Latte

Radiohead

Went to see Radiohead in Malahide Castle last weekend and they were brilliant. The concert went off to a great start - with rain in the interval. But this only enhanced the day - as the sun came out as Radiohead took the stage - and a full arc rainbow framed the crowd. How fitting ??

Myself, Andy and John

Siurana / Rodellar

I've just put some climbing, scenic and people shots on my flickr website.

Watching the rain in Rodellar

8 of us left Ireland on Saturday 24th May aiming to climb for 10 days in Rodellar, where we met Al and Aoife. We left blissful sunshine in Ireland and arrived to much the same in Reus. This didn't last long, not long onto the road, the rain came tumbling down and stayed that way for the next 3 days. So much so that we opted out of the seaping tufas in Rodellar in favour of the blank fast drying faces of Siurana and Margalef.

Al falling in Siurana


Sean on ?? in Alquezar

Barry on 7b+ in Margalef, Eoin belaying

Rain and Roses

Much as we complain about the rain - it brings out the beauty in nature!