Mountain Lifestyle: Christmas Day Climbing

Sunday, 25 December 2016

Christmas Day Climbing

Had an adventurous Christmas Day hanging off the cliffs of Gozo above some wild, stormy and crashing seas! We had hoped to start off the festivities with a pre breakfast swim outside the apartment, but a strong wind had arrived in the night, making the water in the bay rather choppy and not so appealing.

Instead, we had a leisurely breakfast, opened our presents, and set off in search of a rock climbing adventure. This was quickly located in the form of some sea cliff climbing up the rock arch called Wied Il-Mielah, known to climbers as the (less well known) 'azure window'.

We had brought with us an abseil rope to get us down to the small ledge, just above sea level. It's length was 25m and I'd estimated that we needed about 20m (ish) to get down to the ledge, so it was with a mixture of trepidation and excitement that I set off down the cliffs, buffered by the wind and feeling the spray blown up from the noisy crashing waves.

To avert disaster, we tied a knot into the end of the rope, and was relieved indeed to make it to the semi-security of the ledge with a meer 1m of rope to spare! I made a belay and Clare soon join me. We were still about 10m above the high tide mark, but every time a big wave crashed below, the wind would carry up the spray, often with a brief glimpse of a rainbow. It was an exciting place to be hanging around on a Christmas morning!

We climbed several great routes, utilising the abseil rope to get back down each time.

With the sea being so wild, we gave the final and most dramatic line a miss as spray was blowing half way up the steep and intimidating arête, but we did climb the three star right hand route up the edge of the arch.

At the edge of the ledge, we discovered a 'visitors book' in a waterproof can! We signed it "ian and Clare, The Cottage, N.Wales. Christmas Day 2016" before setting off up our final climb.

Once we'd packed up we took a short walk along the coast to try and get a photo of the arch. We were alarmed to see how fragile it looked from this other side!

There are churches and cathedrals everywhere in this island and I guess, because the island is quite flat and without any other tall buildings, they really stand out. Most of them are works of art and have unbelievable ornate masonary compared to the square houses (although many of these have intricate balconies and steps too). We stopped on the way home to admire this beauty, that was seemingly placed in a random field near nowhere. If this was anywhere in the U.K. It would be a major city cathedral/landmark/attraction/.

We got back to our hometown of Malsform in time for coffee and waffles at our local cafe by the fishing boats and harbour! Christmas bliss indeed while the sun set.