It was overcast but calm for our return to Cruit Island, but the lack of blue sky was more than compensated by the appearance of a pod of dolphins in the bay!
A short walk along the colourful cliff tops took us to a new climbing area, where the guidebook indicated that there would be some good climbs and one very exciting looking one called ‘Cave Rave’.
John volunteered to ‘check out the holds’ and took one student over to belay him on the alarmingly steep route that overhung above a deep zawn.
Although it looked outrageous, the grade was surprisingly modest as the holds were huge and there was plenty of cracks for protection.
Meanwhile, Bex and I climbed some nice crack lines with the rest of the gang.
The granite was superb and there were some bomber runners along the way to belay from.
While John took the guys to the beach to pump up the paddleboards, on his enthusiastic recommendation, Bex and I took the opportunity to make the traverse across to climb the route too. It takes the leftward slanting arête of the zawn entrance!
We made it up and across to the beach just in time to meet the group and enjoy the last of the afternoon splashing about and paddling out to some small islands. The weather turned as we were getting changed, but it didn’t damped the enthusiasm for an ice cream on the way home.
All that was left when we got back to the bunkhouse was the enormous amount of kit to sort out!
Cruit Island, Donegal
- Cave Rave, S, (4b)***
- Tridents, V.Diff
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