Timings, weather and conditions all came good for us today, allowing us to rock climb at one of the best cliffs in the region. A bit of logistics were required (an abseil rope being one and five euros to pay the farmer being another), but it was well worth it.
Amazingly, due to land access issues, barely any of the cliffs along this coastline have been climbed!
Having negotiated the fields, we arrived at an intimidating grassy cliff edge, with no sign of our cliff - just a tiny grassy path leading towards a definite 'edge'. Gingerly, we made our way forwards and were relieved to find that just out of sight was a nice big ledge to sort our kit out on as well as a fantastic viewpoint of the needle sea stack. Wow!!
The guidebook suggested waiting for a calm sea, but below us, waves were crashing and exploding all over the place. There was a dry ledge though on the left (looking out to sea), that seemed to be keeping out of harms way, so after a bit of investigating, down we went.... (note - it is possible to scramble down to the main ledge, but it's quite exposed and easy to rig a rope - even just for the last 15m, which is what we did).
It was super wind and noisy at sea level, but the climbs were of the most excellent quality. The rock was solid and well frequented with both hand holds and protection. In contrast, up at the top, the gearing up ledge was a real sun trap and roasting hot!
A pair of other climbers (from Cambridge) also turned up and very nicely let us use their abseil rope which we used to access some of the other climbs further along the cliff as the tide receded. In between climbs, we swapped tales of travels and watched the gannets dive bombing into the sea.
Eventually, we stopped for a bit of lunch and some more bird spotting. What a lunching ledge it was!
Then it was back down the rope to where the waves were still crashing!
The Cambridge pair, decided to give the needle an ascent! The climbing up was actually relatively straight forward they said, but the logistics of getting to and off it again seemed a little trickier! We took some photos for them before we left - it was quite a position!
While we still had some energy left, we retrieved the abseil rope and set off back to the van. A cup of tea and half a Guinness on the high street in Dingle was a fine way to celebrate the day! Brilliant!
Dun Senna Head Climbs:
- Openers, S (4a)*
- Thievery, HS (4b)**
- Panache, HS (4b)***
- Deliverance, VS (4c)*** - amazing!
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