Mountain Lifestyle: Coastal Climbing at Sperlonga

It's been another super sunny day that turned out to be almost too hot for our intended plan of rock climbing around the coast near the town of Sperlonga. Getting to our first crag, after a short ten minute drive, involved hiking along a section of main road for a few minutes. It wasn't far, but felt like walking along the side of a motorway when a lorry shoots past you at 100kmh only a few metres from you.

We were glad to be off the tarmac and onto the steep trail that led up to a sector called Il Castello Invisible, where the sight and sounds of the main road were completely hidden. Arriving at the base of the cliffs we took shelter in the shade while we cooled down and delighted at the views.

It's an incredible place to climb and each time we reached the top of a route, we'd just hang there, looking up and down the coast.

The climbing was superb too - slabby limestone, with lots of little pocket holds. We climbed at the furthest sector (Sector 1), as the bolts and lower-offs were still looklng shiny and new! Here's a few pics to give you an idea.

After doing a handful of routes, the rock was getting too hot to hold onto and the sun was beating down. The sea below us looked so inviting, we decided to head down and cool off in the water.

The climbing is on the cliffs above the bridge an tunnel in the photo below.

After a long and cooling swim, we had a bit more to eat then walked up to a diffrent sector behind the main beach, called Avancorpo di Destra. It was another steep walk up through trees then shrubland. There had been a fire on the hillside, but the scorched plants were fighting back!

We climbed three more excellent routes in the (still very warm), cool of the afternoon, before walking down just before the sun hit the horizon.

We put our climbing packs into the car, then crossed the road to watch the sun dip into the ocean as the heat of the day finally started to cool down.