For those with the time, inclination and motivation, there is a little bit of rock climbing to be found around the Sydney area: the best of which is at Narrabeen. There is a mix of bolted and trad climbs as well as an Australian type of bolting called carrot bolting. I've never come across this particular type of bolt before and can't say I was massively encouraged by it! The idea is that a small (unnoticeable) bolt head is drilled into the rock. The passing climber can then insert the hanger part and clip into this. Sounds good in theory, but the hangers look and feel pretty flimsy to me - and the warning label did nothing to inspire confidence either!
We set off through some pretty dense bush, with Clare out front to ward away any snakes, spiders and other such bad things.
We found the crag quite easily. Yey! But the main area was wet from seapage. Boo!
There was one dry area which looked good, but was considerably harder than our recent endeavours. It was this or nothing though, so we had to pump up our grade a bit!
Just about made it the lower off without too much drama (but with a few rests!). The rock is actually superb. Really grippy gritstone - probably what Stanage in the Peak District felt like before people started climbing there?!.
After climbing the couple of routes that we could, we packed away and went to the beach at Narrabeen, which was empty and beautiful.
Finished of the day with a quick look in at Manly Beach for a bit of surf board shopping! Didn't get one in the end, but have started to get an idea of what I'll need for this stretch of coastline...
Narrabeen Slabs:
- Show us your Ticks, 22
- Kiosks, 22
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