It was a very clear blue-sky day and we were keen to make the most of it. Without any planning, we took the easy option and headed for
North Berwick Law Quarry.
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| Down safely after leading Wild Iris F5+**, North Berwick Law Quarry |
It was after lunch before we were at the car park and gearing up. It was a fantastic day - not a cloud in the sky. As we headed round to the Quarry, we saw many folk out on The Law and making the most of the good weather. When The Red Wall came into, to my surprise, there were a number of folk already on a number of the climbs.
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| Lots of gorse on route, North Berwick Law Quarry |
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| Down safely after leading Wild Iris F5+**, North Berwick Law Quarry |
I decided that I would warm up by leading
Wild Iris F5+**. It was a little tricky about halfway due to the gorse bushes being in full bloom! Safely down, it was Emily's turn to follow on the bottom-rope. It was at this point that a fellow climber, a middle-aged gentleman who had been climbing just next to us, came over and asked me how the route was. I grinned at him and told him that it was a little "gorsey" and dirty. He smiled back at me and then proceeded to quiz me about what I had done at the top of the route. He asked me if I had placed two quick draws through the lower-offs and I told him that I hadn't; I had just threaded the lower-offs in the usual textbook fashion. For some reason he didn't seem like he was too convinced by what I had done and asked me if I had my
SPA. "No", I replied, "But I climb regularly and have climbed here a few times before". He then left us alone to climb. I'm not sure what his problem was, but Emily followed up the climb in no time.
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| Bottom-roping Old Law Breaker F6b**, North Berwick Law Quarry |
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| Looking up The Red Wall, North Berwick Law Quarry |
Leaving the rope up, I bottom-roped
Old Lawbreaker F6b** and tried to work out the sequence. The climb has a couple of hard and committing moves to better holds higher up, but having worked it out I didn't fancy the lead - perhaps next time.
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| Having a look at the rather bold-looking Darkness Falling F6a+*, North Berwick Law Quarry |
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| Shiny stuff, North Berwick Law Quarry |
Taking down our rope, we now had the Quarry all to ourselves. I had a long hard look at
Darkness Falling F6a+* but the move to the first bolt still looked terrifying. Feeling a tired and far from brave enough, we called it day. Fish and chips on the shore in North Berwick were calling. A great day.
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| Looking up The Red Wall, North Berwick Law Quarry |
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| Emily enjoying the sun, North Berwick Law Quarry |
