Mountain Lifestyle: Climbing at Rhoscolyn

Saturday, 29 October 2016

Climbing at Rhoscolyn - Porth Saint

The difference in the weather on Anglesey continues to amaze us. It's been a dull, wet, overcast and almost dark day across Snowdonia. Never actually really raining, just wet in the air. It's been a day for being indoors, trip sorting and expedition planning. By the afternoon though, we were both keen to get out and have some fresh air, so after checking the tides, took the gamble that the weather would be nicer out on the coast at Rhoscolyn. The new(ish) climbing guide to the area has got some areas that neither of us had visited, so we set off, with the anticipation of a wet cliff top walk.

Miraculously, as we neared the coast, the clouds began to part, the roads dried up and the sun came out! We arrived at the colourful cliffs in full sunshine! Unbelievable!

We quickly found the area that we were looking for and got kitted up. It needs to be low tide for easy access to the base of the routes and out timing was spot on. It was an easy scramble down to the base of a lovely little wall that was glowing in the low sunshine. It was almost t-shirt weather!

From the top of the routes it was easy to scramble back down for another. One of the reasons we'd come out is that the clocks change this weekend, so we wanted to make the most of the evenings. We felt like we really had!

As we were climbing a huge seal popped up in the water next to us and then a few minutes later a heron glided overhead and off down the coast. With the rocks glowing golden and no one else around, it was a really special moment. And the climbing was great!

Dusk was on its way when we finished our second climb, so we packed up and sat on the cliff top watching the spectacular light show out to sea.

All the clouds went pink as we walked back across the fields to the van. It felt like we were on holiday somewhere far away, but actually, we were back home by the fireside in well under an hour! What a diverse and compact place North Wales is!